Apparently the weather really is abnormally cold, rainy and windy here now as storms are coming in from Alaska! Quite a few people have sworn this is the case, so it must be true! So my friend Matt wasn't pulling my leg! We slept in and made our way out for breakfast at a fabulous greek restaurant. There was a wait, so we sat in the adjoining lobby in front of the fireplace sipping coffee. It was really wonderful though at one point Divya jumped up and away from the fire saying that she smelled burning and was afraid she was on fire! Shameem's umbrella blew up from the wind which is the kiss of death, because it blew up with every wind gust following (at least 100 times.) We started laughing speculating on our demise. So, Div was going to incinerate by a fire, Shameem is going to blow away, and I am going to drown in a puddle of Seattle water (note, read the section below as to the historical quality of Seattle water..)
Breakfast was amazing and huge! Our waitress had a german/UK/something else that we couldn't identify accent and was really great, as was the hostess. We each got eggs of different types, with toast and some of the most amazing hash browns It was horizontal raining again after breakfast so we warmed again by the fire, and then headed out to the Underground Seattle tour.
The tour was really interesting and the guides great. Their humor was really sarcastic and the tour was really fun. The first guide talked about the history of Seattle and the fact that the old Seattle was actually underground and was burned down in a fire. He told us about how the original Seattle was a logging town and known as the 'crappers' due to a toilet designed by Thomas a Crapper. They realized that they need a way to dispose of the waste and the citizend developed an above ground wooden pipe sewage system. The next few minutes of talk was, oh, a bit off-color, but my favorite part was when he mentioned the plethora of crappers that were brought into Seattle by sea, or a 'shipload of crappers.' Rather hiliarious though it did make everyone a little cringy with the detail provided. So, then he shared that the pipes went out to the Puget Sound, and when they noticed the water came flooding into the town, they essentially extended the pipes to Takoma. There were many funny cracks about Takoma (which is now off my travel list. ha!) So, needless to say, that when I referenced the quality of Seattle water.. well, I say no more.
The city was then destroyed by fire, and when they rebuilt, they built over the existing city. Apparently the city decided to regrade, however, the existing businesses didn't want to wait so apparently the sidewalks and streets were quite a distance from the bottom floor of the businesses! Between 8 to 30 feet at points! So the businesses ended up building up, so the second floor became the first floor, and some nefarious business went on underground! They also talked about the fact that there was an 8:1 ratio of men to women, and it was interesting that when the first census was done, there were 10% 'seamstresses'. Lots of funny jokes eluded to the actual business of the seamstresses, many of whom died because they didn't use their 'thimbles.'
When we were done with the tour it stopped raining (!!!) so we made our way over to Pike Place Market. What a blast! We bought some dried fruit, pasta in fabulous and different flavors, and Shameem bought a ceramic pig that was so cute! I was quite enthralled by kaleidoscopes and Shameem and Divya had to drag me away, kicking and screaming. Hey, they won't recognize me by the next time that I come back for the one week that it's dry in August (according to the tour that we took.) The market was really wonderful and had a really fun fish stand where the guys would do shout outs and sing, reminding me of a fudge shop I saw in New Orleans! There they would sing and heckle people, but it was very similar. There were several veggie and fruit markets which were so beautiful! And they smelled so fresh and wonderful!
We made our way back to the hotel to drop off our goodies and rest our feet a little bit. Then we went to Barolo Ristorante for their happy hour. Fabulous! We got some wine, a cheese and veggie/meat plate, a lamb burger too. Great deal and yummy! Very nice place actually, and just behind our hotel. We were there for a while and made our way to a place with live jazz which was really good. It's the last weekend of the local jazz festival, and this was part of it. We made our way back to the hotel and could actually see our breath! The nice thing was the rain cleared up mid afternoon and it stayed clear, so we're hopeful that tomorrow will be nice. Playing the day by ear..
Have a great night!
Sam
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