Seattle Space Needle & Museum of Pop Culture
Seattle July 7th 2017 7am
This apartment is so cozy and is why we always go down the AirBnB path as opposed to hotels. There is the obvious risks but we have never had issues. The big difference is you can spread out and feel like you’re at home and part of the local community. The owners here have nailed it except the bathroom. Everything is spot on except the pitch of the roof prevents anyone over 4ft tall standing for a shower! The bath is lovely and I’m assuming was all that was required when the house was built 100 years ago. There is a flexible shower head installed and a bucket on the floor of the bath so you can sit and not stoop over. It brings back nightmares of sitting on a bucket naked in a bath house in Japan. At least there is no mirror here to reflect the years of physical neglect!
Home Seattle July 8th 7.15pm
Had a break from writing last night, so I’ll try and pack 2 days in without boring you too much. Let’s start though with this morning. I had a good sleep in then ran to the laptop to check the Saints v Tigers scores with my usual trepidation. As the laptop was warming up I read an email on my phone from my work mate Adam who has sent it to me 10 hours earlier. It read, “you are missing one of the great AFL ‘reaming’s’ being dished out by your mob”. I go straight to the highlights in the Saints website and there it is. A comprehensive spanking right there 10,000 miles away! Oh my giddy aunt! My boss Drew, a Richmond supporter on selective occasions texted me yesterday for a margin. I said Saints by 47 points. He replied that I might have been smoking some of the local product. Well you were wrong as was I…it was 67 points! Oh I’m loving life right now.
Anyway, yesterday we headed to the famous Space Needle which was built for the 1962 World Fair. As we approached this impressive structure we realized that perhaps we weren’t the only tourists visiting Seattle. It was chockers and we waited approx. an hour in a queue to get in the lift. There are 3 lifts and I’m sure they fit more in them in 1962 versus the obese -ridden punters of today, hence the wait. The view was stunning as you would expect from 520ft and I did my normal vertigo thing. I stepped out into the outside viewing platform confidently but within 2 minutes I pushed back against the wall like Spiderman. Lynda’s bungee jumped so she runs around like an errant child while I walk like a 90YO with constipation. Here’s some photos from below and at the top.
The top of the needle has lots of interesting stuff to look at. There is some excellent interactive screens to play with and to relieve the boredom of the queuing up, the walls on the way up have the history of the tower and some amazing photos of the lunatic metal workers who constructed it without any regard for OH&S. Incredibly no one died and it was completed in 400 days, a lot quicker than an extra lane on the Tullamarine in Melbourne.
The precinct around the Space Needle has lots to do and eat. There was a really cool playground with a maze painted on the floor that you walk. It was great to see groups of families put their phones down and complete it in 15 mins or so. Lynda and I did it also. Such a simple but effective idea to get you up and about. The maze sits right next to the Museum of Pop Culture which was brilliant. Architecturally it’s stunning and there were exhibitions for Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and the NFL team The Seahawks. There was also an exhibition dedicated to scary movies which amongst other things had authentic memorabilia like real Aliens from the Alien films and my favourite, the actual axe Jack Nicholson used in The Shining! The other exhibition of note is a guitar museum filled with priceless guitars and lots of history. Out of all that was on show, our favourite bits were the hand written notes that Jimi Hendrix wrote on his travels and the Bowie photos taken by Mick Rock. Absolutely stunning and these photos below could never do them justice.
We ended the day on an underground city tour which was a bit disappointing. Seattle burned to the ground in the mid -1800s and was rebuilt above the original buildings. That’s about the crux of it so for 90 minutes and $50 lighter we got taken on a pretty run of the mill tour under a few city blocks. There was a vain attempt to scare us with a ghost story and the turning off of lights but may I say if you want a scary tour try the underground one in Edinburgh or closer to home, the night ghost tour at Port Arthur. I nearly crushed the hand of my 11 year- old Corrie at the time. Scared the bejeezus out of me.
Before I go, our hosts have a gorgeous white Labrador Charlie and this cat below which just jumped in the bathroom window this morning and made herself at home. This why we love staying at these places. Ooroo for now.
