Seattle, WA, 9-29

During our final hours in Seattle, we made a pilgrimage to the Fremont Troll.  This very cool 20-foot tall by 30-foot wide concrete sculpture depicts a nasty-assed SOB slithering from the dark recesses under a highway overpass while crushing a VW bug with his left hand.  Every year for Halloween, the good citizens of this Seattle subdivision give the Troll a bicycle wheel-rim nose ring, and plant a giant spider on his shoulder.

Our last stop in Seattle was the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Chinatown.  Beyond this replica of an internment camp barracks lies a thoughtful multimedia exhibit examining the Japanese-American internment during World War II.  (“Letter Cloud” by Erin Shie Palmer)

And thus "ends" our stay in Seattle.

 

 

Seattle, WA, 9-28

Our first stop today was at the EMP Museum (Experience Music Project).  While we did not join the crowds of young people waiting to make an audition tape or watch their avatars dance on a 4-story screen, we did enjoy the guitar gallery with its guitar tornado and huge collection of vintage guitars—many signed by famous musicians.  The building housing the collection is as colorful and twisted (literally) as many of the musicians highlighted within.

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch we visited the Chihuly Museum.  Dale Chihuly is a Pacific Northwest glass sculptor.   

 



 

 

We have learned we were very fortunate to arrive in Seattle on one of the 51 days in the year when the sun shines and the skies are clear; we were able to view and photograph "the elusive" Mt. Rainier.  It has been cloudy and rainy ever since, but the Seattle weather did nothing to diminish, maybe even enhanced, the viewing of Chihuly's works placed in the outdoor garden. 

 

 





From simple glass, he creates dimensions, colors, textures, and forms which, in their profound complexity and stunning beauty, rival the glorious handiwork of our old friends the thermophiles.  His art, like nature’s, can make you weep with joy.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Seattle, WA, Friday, 9-27

This morning we went to the Pike Place Market, a massive six-block riot of colors, sounds and people, near the waterfront. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second stop was the Seattle Aquarium located on Puget Sound near the Market.

 

 

After downtown Seattle was destroyed by fire in 1889, there was a dispute about how to rebuild.  Local businessmen decided to rebuild on the existing tidal plain.  City fathers, however, wanting to prevent future flooding, constructed walls around each city block and filled in the streets with dirt to raise them above the tidal plain.  In order to travel from block to block, pedestrians had to climb ladders to street level, cross the street, and then climb down again.  (Some inebriated pedestrians didn’t make it home alive.)  When they finally built sidewalks into the buildings at raised street-level, the second floor of each building became its main floor.  The lower level became neglected, rat-infested, and eventually was condemned and forgotten until the 1960s when it was “rediscovered” and opened for touring—which we did today.

 

 

 

The Seattle Public Library occupies an entire city block.   

The sharp angles of the building’s exterior create sweeping vistas and monumental spaces within its 10-story interior.  The use of wood, color and lighting, however, and the presence of books, warms the interior… 

 

 

…especially on the 4^th floor.

 

A Henry Moore sculpture across the street from the library.  No sharp angles here.

 

 

Seattle, Washington, 9-26

After spending the morning doing laundry, cleaning out the car, etc., we left the Olympic peninsula this afternoon and travelled to Bainbridge Island where we caught a ferry that took us across Puget Sound to Seattle.



Mt. Rainier.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 9-25

We took the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington, to Vancouver Island, in order to visit the provincial capital, Victoria.

Our sun-drenched seven-hour walk through downtown Victoria was a relaxing stroll through a beautiful city with charming people.  We even met a Scottish bagpiper who got his BA from the U of Illinois in Chicago.

Fan Tan Alley in Victoria's Chinatown.  The narrowest parts of the alley are four feet wide.

A kitty who spends her day in a shop window in Chinatown, watching the tourists stroll past.

Near the British Columbia Royal Art Museum is a small park packed with totem poles soaring higher than the surrounding trees.

Bastion Square is picturesque today, but had a different "charm" in its early years when it contained a gallows where criminals were executed.  Unlike modern gallows, the prisoner was hoisted slowly by the neck, and death could take 20-25 minutes.  Meanwhile, the good citizens of Victoria wagered how long it would take for the prisoner to die.  If the prisoner took too long, the spectators threw rotten vegetables at him/her.

An exhibit at the British Columbia Royal Maritime Museum shows an effective discipline for pirates.

Travel Tip:  Always know where to exit gracefully.