Thursday, 2 May 2019
Seattle, Washington, USA
Alcohol is the answer. Another half decent sleep in the tumble dryer that is my cabin aboard the Empire Builder train. Beer, wine and whisky allows for a number of hours of much needed deep sleep.
Arrive Seattle station an hour earlier than anticipated and finally see more of the passengers ‘de-training’, as they like to say over here and wonder if Jeremy Kyle is filming in Seattle this weekend, given the clinically obese, frankly weird looking and tattooed dregs I see waddling along the platform (for non English readers, think Jerry Springer instead of Jeremy Kyle).
Last came to Seattle in 1999. Remember it as being a bit on the ‘weird’ side of life. Yep. Nothing’s changed. Check in to the Pan Pacific Hotel (https://www.panpacificseattle.com/). In desperate need of laundry. Have missed the collection time for today’s laundry. They recommend a laundry across the road but they can only do laundry to be collected on Monday. No good. Leaving at 0800hrs tomorrow. Need it now. And back by this evening. Conundrum. Don’t really want to be dicking around in a ‘local’ launderette all afternoon. The nearest of which seems to be in a dodgy neighbourhood. No. Have better things to do. So imagine my delight when reception call to say that their sister hotel can do an express service this afternoon in their in-house laundry. But there’s a 50% surcharge. OK. Can live with that. Need laundry doing. Have already been doubling up the past few days. Oh yes. It’s that’s desperate. Dump laundry bag and leave them to it.
Much needed walk and a bit of fresh air to the Space Needle. Seattle’s iconic landmark. Built in 1962 for the World Fair, it transports you up 500ft to the open air observation deck. Very impressive views over Seattle. When I last came in 1999, we had dinner in the revolving restaurant but sadly that’s been removed and the revolving floor is now glass such that you can see 500ft below. As I have a head for heights, it’s a delight to walk across the glass floor looking straight down to the ant like people below (much like as when I walk normally).
The adjacent monorail nips into Downtown and after a few minutes am walking towards Pike Place Market. Not as I remember it but it’s famous for its fish market. The wild Alaskan salmon are big. Huge. Even. The prawns are gigantic. And if you like King Crab and Dungeness Crab. This is the place. The Pike Place (or should that be plaice?) fish stall is renowned for flying fish. I kid you not. The fishmongers tending to the fish and ice take your order and help you choose which fish you would like. But then the fish needs to get from the ice display to the weighing, filleting and packing station across the gangway. This is the fun bit. In unison, all the fishmongers chant as one of them picks up the fish you’ve chosen and throws it across the gangway to be caught for weighing. There’s fish flying about every few minutes. It’s not just a simple throw either. You know how as a kid, you used to throw a ball at your mate so hard, so as to try and catch him out such that he dropped it, well, they seem to be doing the same thing. It’s a hard and fast throw. On one occasion a fish comes flying back to the ice display and, thrown a bit too hard, is only just caught by the fishmonger who narrowly avoids slapping a wet fish into a Japanese camera toting tourist. She does get slightly splattered in fish juice though. Note to self. Stand to the side and away.
Back at the hotel, patiently waiting for laundry to be returned. Promised it would be 1800hrs. By nearly 1900hrs it hasn’t appeared. A timely phone call and it’s soon brought up. Desperate to change into some clean and fresh clothes.
Well.
Dear reader.
I knew it would be a few quid to have laundry done plus 50% express service.
But.
Even as I type this now, the following day.
I.
Am.
Still.
Reeling.
You ready for this?
Because I wasn’t.
It cost…
Are you sitting down…
$260.00
Yep.
I can hear your gasp.
Can you feel my pain?
Bloody hell. Thought I.
It’s only after dinner, that I examine said bill.
And discover an anomaly or two.
There will be an argument in the morning, dear reader.
An argument.
One response to “131. Not so sleepless in Seattle”
Your photos brought back some great memories of our Seattle visit. Our son was on student exchange there in the late 1990s. We were staying in an hotel near the Farmer’s market and I loved eating
the seafood chowder soup.