A week in Seattle! June 9, 2019 6 full days in Seattle… and boy, were we lucky with the weather. Yep, I could live here! View fullsize We begin this journey to Seattle with breaking news: EVA flies to Trat. View fullsize Doing a quick tour before sunset on the Saturday I arrive. (The monorail passes right by my hotel.) View fullsize The famous Pike Place market. View fullsize Looking south toward the Great Wheel... with great views of the Alaskan Way Viaduct being dismantled. View fullsize This pig is getting ready for tomorrow's market. View fullsize Are these bangles in lieu of love locks? Or do they just show sponsors? View fullsize Gauging from the crowds (and the logo), this is probably the original Starbucks. View fullsize The iconic Public Market sign. View fullsize More market buildings resting up, before tomorrow morning's chaos. View fullsize Another lucky pig, resting up before the big day. View fullsize The monorail ends (or starts!) only a few blocks from my hotel. View fullsize Sunday morning: the view is great from my 37th-story room. View fullsize 16 hours later, early afternoon Sunday, it's a totally different scene at Pike Place Market. View fullsize Everyone's out: the sellers and the buyers. View fullsize Almost a festive atmosphere: the great weather probably helped. View fullsize No place to park around here! View fullsize Too many shops to visit. View fullsize Lots of fresh local veggies. View fullsize Several flower vendors (mostly Asian) indoors. View fullsize Really giant donuts on the bottom row (see top row for scale). View fullsize Fresh west-coast fruit. View fullsize And some pretty sad mangosteen! View fullsize Too many people to walk about. View fullsize Eateries tucked in alleys. View fullsize The market, as seen from the water side. View fullsize Same view as last night, under the bright blue west coast skies. View fullsize Giant cruise ship in town, behind the Alaskan Way Viaduct. View fullsize You can lie like a dead corpse enjoying the sun... View fullsize ...or just enjoy a home-made organic mint choc ice cream! View fullsize Boats in the bay. View fullsize The cruise ship casts a significant shadow over the other boats in the bay. View fullsize Up close: check out all the guest rooms, safety boats, water slides. View fullsize Back-seat driver enjoying the nice day. View fullsize First sighting of the space needle. View fullsize And the entrance to the Olympic Sculpture Park. View fullsize Echo - the 46-foot, 6-ton giant head in the park. View fullsize Great views, from this park. View fullsize More blue skies over the Emerald City. View fullsize Park over the tracks... View fullsize ...and the road. View fullsize More red sculpture in Space Needle Park. View fullsize Chihuly flowers at the base of the space needle. View fullsize And here it is, at long last: the space needle, herself! View fullsize I was there, too! View fullsize Gehry's Museum of Pop Culture. View fullsize With the retro monorail passing straight through! View fullsize A very cool playground. View fullsize Gearing up for my ride on the futuristic 1962 monorail. View fullsize Crusing along, just like the Jetsons did. View fullsize Great views! Don't find that in monorails these days. View fullsize Last stop of the day: the Seattle Central Library. View fullsize Just walking to the entrance offers great pictures. View fullsize One of the most architecturally-distinct buildings in the city, it was apparently very controversial as well. View fullsize Looking down over the main entranceway. View fullsize An auditorium space, for shows and speakers. View fullsize One of the many illuminated escalators: handily labeled. View fullsize The construction of the 11-story library only took 2 years; I'm surprised!. View fullsize A very nice reading room on the top floor. View fullsize I could comfortably work here! View fullsize Great views of the streets down below as well. View fullsize And that's it for the library. View fullsize Despite the library's flashiness, the Rainier Building was my favorite building in Seattle! View fullsize Later in the week, we visited the BCG office. Here's the fantastic view from the 56th floor. View fullsize Looking out over Elliott Bay. View fullsize And 2 Amazon experiences to round off the night: first, picking up a delivery at an Amazon Lock Box -- seamless! View fullsize And next, visiting an Amazon Go store. View fullsize You swipe in with your App... View fullsize ... and then you take whatever you want! View fullsize Whatever you take off a shelf and don't return is automatically charged to you. View fullsize The execution is pretty flawless, thanks to all these sensors! View fullsize People have tried all sorts of tricks to fool the system; nothing works! View fullsize The Amazon Spheres - a distinctive landmark at Amazon's headquarters. View fullsize On Thursday evening, we're back at the Space Needle - this time as exclusive renters of the venue. View fullsize We had the observatory all to ourselves! View fullsize And it was a perfect time to be up there: right before sunset. View fullsize Looking toward Lake Union. View fullsize And great views of the 1962 elevators that shuttle up and down. View fullsize One of the 12 motors that rotate the glass-floor observation deck (which only opened last year). View fullsize Marvelous sunset. View fullsize Beautiful city! View fullsize The Pacific Science Center down below. View fullsize Sun setting behind the bay. View fullsize And a quick pop into the Chihuly Glass Museum, after dark. View fullsize When illuminated, the sculptures do look quite brilliant. View fullsize Inside the Glasshouse, which Chihuly also designed. View fullsize Bye-bye, glass. View fullsize Last stop of the night: Museum of Pop Culture. View fullsize Dorothy's dress was there, too. View fullsize Finally Friday! Time to check out: but not before one last pano from my hotel room. View fullsize No trip to Seattle is complete without a visit to the Boeing factory in Everett. View fullsize The factory is apparently the largest building in the world by volume. View fullsize No photos on the assembly line: but this is more-or-less what it looked like. View fullsize Some familiar aircraft wait outside the DreamLifter ops center. View fullsize And lots of aircraft from (or destined for) around the world at Paine Field / the Delivery Center. View fullsize Inside the Future of Flight Museum. View fullsize A scale model of the 777X (which we also saw on the production line!) View fullsize Which model to buy? Too many to choose from! View fullsize Back downtown, the rain has passed and the last remnants of the sun are trying to shine through. View fullsize Posing with... the famed Seattle otter?? View fullsize Pier 55. View fullsize The Seattle Great Wheel, with dramatic backdrop. View fullsize Pier 57: with amusements throughout. View fullsize Miner's landing... a long arcade. View fullsize Also home to the world's largest Pacman, apparently. View fullsize A bright merry-go-round. No rings to catch, that I could see though. View fullsize And the 175-foot wheel, up-close-and-personal. View fullsize Interesting city profile (sans-needle). View fullsize A final sunset over Elliott Bay. View fullsize Unique, locally-made candles. View fullsize A very cool map store... which, sadly, was closed by the time I stumbled upon it. View fullsize But I did chance upon a hopping sundae shop. View fullsize Final Seattle scoop for me! View fullsize And a final farewell to Pike Place Market... View fullsize ... with a brilliant sunset tonight. View fullsize Au revoir, Seattle. May your Alaskan Way Viaduct be completely gone next time I'm back! View fullsize And suddenly, it's Sunday morning sunrise in Taipei! View fullsize A sight to behold in the boarding lounge. View fullsize Can I sit here? View fullsize And finally, back on my favorite Thai Airways. These magazines were waiting for me at my seat. Now that's the Platinum service I'm used to! ;)
