Seattle Day 2 - Part 1

Seattle Day 2 - Part 1

EMP Museum - Chihuly Glass Garden - Kerry Park

In my attempts to keep this short and sweet and let the photos speak for themselves with a few travel tips bullet points, I bring to you my second day in the touristy section of the beautiful city of Seattle. After sleeping in a bit I hopped on the lightrail and got off at the monorail station stop.





A leftover wonder from the 1962 World's Fair, the Seattle Monorail only has two stops, one in Seattle Center and the other in Downtown Seattle. Also make sure you have cash, as I believe that, that is the only way you can pay for a ticket, but the fair is cheap and the ride is neat so hop aboard. Once you get off at the Seattle Center station, right across is the perhaps the structure the city most famous for, the Space Needle, which is also another feature leftover from the 1962 World's Fair.

While I'm sure the view from the Space Needle must be impressive at the 520 feet tall and 360 degree Observation Deck, I decided to skip the elevator ride to the top and save my money for other things, like entry into the EMP Museum.

Formerly known as the Experience Music Project Museum, EMP has expanded its collection to all things pop culture and music and now is officially known as just EMP Museum. If you're a music and pop culture geek like I am, prepare to spend a chunk of time here as I ended up spending nearly 4 hours full on nerding out.

My initial main reason to stop by this architecturally interesting place was for the exhibit, Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses, which came complete with an audio tour narrated by bass player for the band Krist Novoselic. Seeing handwritten lyrics from Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl's drum set and Novoselic's guitar was a huge experience for any Nirvana fan, including me. 

But the nerd out session didn't end there, other exhibits featured artifacts from Jimi Hendrix's life in London and equipment from his band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience were featured.

Then weaving through the various floors of exhibits there was a room dedicated to letting you try out different guitars and other musical instruments. Then came the pop culture nerd out, with an exhibit featuring the Icons of Science Fiction where props from everything you could imagine were on display from one of Ed Wood's flying saucers from Plan 9 From Outerspace to an original Cyberman suit from a Fourth Doctor episode of Doctor Who.

The Angel of Death from Hellboy II and The Shining's Jack Torrance's infamous axe greeted you on another floor dedicated to the world of horror movies. And the nerdtastic fun didn't stop there, where another room featured props, costumes and manuscripts from the world of Fantasy where you could see Cersei and Tyrion Lannister's costumes, the face of Fauno from Pan's Labyrinth and pages from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

After grabbing lunch at EMP's cafe (moderately priced and tasted delicious) I exited through the Sky Church (a term coined by Jimi Hendrix where people can come together and enjoy music) where a crowd had started to form watch the Michael Jackson classic Thriller music video.

Next stop was Chihuly Garden and Glass, a museum dedicated to showing the glass sculpture art of Washington State native Dale Chihuly. In retrospect the exhibit provided a unique experience to photograph Chihuly's art, but I found the price of admission lofty, despite a discount due to part of the museum being closed, and the often very crowded space filled with campers (photographers of any ilk, mostly with iPhones and DSLR's who stand in one spot taking a photograph for what feels like an eternity) who would not budge, took away from the experience.

If you do decide to spend the dough to go, I would avoid high tourist season and the weekend (I went on a Friday) and perhaps then you might enjoy it. Or if you find yourself traveling to Las Vegas, stop by the Bellagio and other hotels on the strip and you're bound to see similar sculptures by Chihuly on display without having to splurge on a ticket and wait for the person in front of you to learn how to master their iPhoneography and watch as they decide on just the right filter to apply before posting it on Instagram as they then contemplate on whether or not to move on to the next art piece.

I had originally intended to go to Kerry Park either at night to capture the ever famous Seattle skyline all lit up, or at sunset, which would hopefully provide a golden view of Mount Rainer in the distance. However I was tired and trying to conserve funds for the second half of my summer journey, so while I was in the area, I hailed a cab for a short drive to snap a quick pic before returning to Seattle Center.

Regardless of what time of day you do you end up going, if you're looking for a Seattle skyline shot, Kerry Park is one of the best places to go.

I managed to cram a lot in, in the two and a half days I was fortunate enough to spend there, so next up on the blog will be the second half of my exploits in Seattle. Stay tuned!

Quick Tip: For pretty much all Seattle tourist attractions, it's always cheaper to buy your ticket online, before you go.

If you would like to see more photos of Seattle, click here.

Photo of the Day

Shot for the Times Herald-Record

Seattle Day 1

Seattle Day 1

The Panama Hotel - Pike Place Market at Night

Once the car was dropped off at the airport, it was time to find the light rail so I could check in to the Panama Hotel and drop my bags off and explore the city of Seattle.

Now After using  the light rail for a few days I got the hunch that paying for the privilege of traveling aboard its clean, easily accessible and the nifty mode of travel that it is, is done so mainly on the honor system, but I digress. It wasn't hard to find and it was only a few stops until I reached the International District/Chinatown stop; the location of my hotel.

Did I mention though that while only a few short blocks from the light rail station, it's up a rather large hill? Well it is. And then of course there was the matter of going up two flights of stairs at the Panama Hotel to check in.

After going up those stairs I waited a couple of minutes and then I was greeted and helped by a very flustered, but friendly staff member who started my check-in process, which is done entirely by hand with no computers (and yes that means taking down credit card information by hand and making photo copies of licenses and such for records and security). While I was a little concerned, I didn't mind that part so much since the Panama Hotel is a historic landmark and at one point in history the hotel was a way station for Japanese American citizens (this particular section of the International District was once known as Japantown) who were egregiously placed in internment camps during World War II. In fact one of the things that the Panama Hotel is known for is that when the hotel was purchased and reopened, the owner found the belongings from many  of the families who used the hotel as storage for their belongings until they could return home from the camps. Suitcases, art work and other memorabilia were simply frozen in time, waiting for their owners, many of which never came back to claim them.

Now back to the check-in process, when I arrived unfortunately the rooms were not cleaned and ready for a new occupant, but I got to look at the available rooms and make my selection. I was given a key, left my bags in the room and went out to explore a bit, grab some dinner and hop on a night ghost tour of the Pike Place Market.

The Panama Hotel is more so in the style of a hostel/old style European accommodation with a shared bathroom facility for the floor. Each room comes with a sink though for your basic needs.

Deciding to stretch my legs I went for a walk and as I found my way towards grub and the Pike Place Market I noticed there were lots homeless folk walking/chilling/sleeping about, especially in the Pioneer Square area. In fact just Google homeless in Seattle and you'll receive thousands of hits about the issue and what you can do to help. 

Eventually or rather accidentally I found the famed Pike Place market at a time when the crowds were long gone, leaving the market to look more like a ghost town than a top tourist attraction, which was quite enjoyable when juxtaposed to the madness I would later witness in my trip. I walked up and down a bit exploring and snapping photos before I decided on a place to eat.

I ended up having a tasty and affordable meal with a view and a cold glass of Naughty Nellie beer at Lowell's.

Before venturing off to start my night ghost tour of the famed Seattle market, I made a stop off at the more infamous and sticky landmark that is the Gum Wall, which is exactly what it sounds like, a wall covered in gum. And although I myself am not a fan of chewing gum, I commandeered a few pieces from a family member from home, brought it out, chewed it well and stuck it on the wall to make my colorful and minty mark.

After a little sight seeing and well another glass of delicious and refreshing Naughty Nellie Pike Place beer, it was time for my Ghost Alley Espresso Night Market Ghost Tour. I would also like to preface this by saying how incredibly nice the staff of both Ghost Alley Espresso and the folks who run the tour are. The barista who served me a yumtastic salted nut latte actually remembered me two days later when I inadvertently stopped by her stall at the market to shop. I also ended up having an online ticket purchasing issue, which I was helped out with at the cafe and on the tour I went.

Along the way you get to hear some fun ghost stories and a whole bunch of neat history that surrounds the market and the early story of Seattle. One story in particular that was fun concerned an infamous woman by the name of Nellie (the namesake of the Pike Place Brewery's Naughty Nellie beer) and her gentleman callers. I highly suggest taking this fun and informative tour if you can, not only do you get to learn about the seedier side of Seattle and the markets long history, but the fun ghost stories and the ambiance of an empty market make it complete.

When all was said and done and my camera's memory card was nearly full from Pike Place Market night shots, I hailed a cab back to the Panama Hotel and delightfully collapsed into bed.

Next up, Day 2 in Seattle

If you would like to see more photos of Seattle, click here.