So, what would you call a day where you walk around an entire city, see a famous fish market, see the Space Needle, the Science fiction Hall of Fame museum, a rock music museum, are extras in a small movie, eat some great sushi oh and see Stephen Hawking up close in person? Monday.
Today had it all, and I'm so tired writing this one...
We arrived in Seattle just shy of 6AM Seattle time. We get our bags and make it to the Grand Hyatt Seattle at around 7 AM. Somehow, our room is READY(!), so we check in to a really great room with a view of the Space Needle, a bathroom larger than some apartments, a nice king sized bed and a vestibule. We snag an hour and a half of sleep, giving me a total of 3.5 hours for the whole night when you add in the plane sleep. Up and out at 9, we head to the orignal Starbuck's (the first one), and over to Pike Street fish market. For training geeks like myself, this is the famous fish market where the FISH video was based. While there, they are filming what looks to be a small film called "Marry Me" where Marlene and I are in the background while they film a few scenes. A cool way to start the day. We wander around the market some more, then make our way out to the space needle.
We take the monorail that runs directly there, and head up to the top of the Space Needle for some great views on a surprising cloudy day that oddly had a great view anyway. We head down, and I make a snap decision that winds up changing my life.
We head to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame museum which turns out to be beyong amazing. Why? The museum itself is really good, and while y'all are saying, oh, "Todd's being a geek again", who do I see with a fairly large entourage at the museum? Stephen Hawking. A living legend. One of the greatest humans, one of the smartest humans to ever grace the planet Earth. For those who are going, "who the heck is he?" Stephen Hawking is beyond genius. Wiki him. But for perspective, it's the equivalent of walking into a museum and seeing Albert Einstein wandering around. Rarely do I get awestruck, but today I was. All this because I decided at the last second to go to the museum.
Ok, I'm done being gobsmacked (look the term up, it's real). But it was amazing. The Sci Fi HOF museum also includes the Experience Music Project which was a museum that felt like a mini version of the rock and roll hall of fame museum. It was a cool museum, and was a good snap decision.
From there, we walked along the Seattle waterfront stopping in various stores along the way. We had lunch at a restaurant on a pier and then made our way over to the Pioneer Square area where I found this amazing bookstore that felt a lot like the Strand in New York and Afterwords Bookstore in Chicago, only, it was amazing large. From there, a quick walk into the International District and a long walk back to the hotel.
Quick naps later, we headed over to this great sushi restaurant called Red Fin (http://www.redfinsushi.com/about.html) which was a great way to end the day. By this time we were both beat due to jet lag/lack of sleep/walking around an entire city. So we walked around a little bit then back to the hotel for an early wakeup...
Next, more flyin'
