Farewell to Seattle

Day 3 - Seattle: Breakfast at 8 am at Lowell's Restaurant & Bar in Pike Place Market (on the pic: my eggs benedict with smoked salmon). This is an almost 100 year old institution, starting out as a coffee and peanut roaster and cafeteria that served the clients of the “Public Market”.

Well fed, we had some free time to explore the market in the rain (Seattle lived up to its reputation during our stay!) before we headed on to the Seattle Center. Originally built for the 1962 World's Fair, it's a park with museums and entertainment. Its landmark feature is the 605-foot (184 m) tall Space Needle, at its completion, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. Views were somewhat restricted due to the weather, but, nevertheless, it's always an experience to stand on the open observation deck of this ufo-like building.

At the basis of the Space Needle stands the EMP Museum (Experience Music Project) - founded by Paul Allen, the founder of Microsoft. He not only commissioned famous architect Frank Gehry to plan it, but also provided it with a stage, with studio space and with a great collection of musical instruments and memorabilia of pop icons like Jimmy Hendrix, Nirvana and other famous groups of the 1990ies when the Seattle Grunge became famous.

We visited the Chihuly Museum - one of the greatest museums in the U.S.: glass exhibits not only indoors but, also, in a winter garden and in the surrounding park. Gorgeous glass work in amazing colors, shapes and dimensions! Dale Chihuly the world-renowned glass artist, was born in Tacoma, but lives in Seattle. He also is an avid collector, e.g. of Pendleton blankets, Curtis photos but, also, of profane items like pocketknives, bottle openers, porcellan figurines, accordeons etc. Part of his collections are shown in the museum’s Collections Cafe, where we had lunch (on the pic my roasted beet salad) after our visit. Nice to have a space like this to store your favorite items!


Besides the eight galleries inside, the garden with its color-wise perfectly fitting plants is just gorgeous, and with the Spaceneedle as its background simply unique.

Who could refuse a little wine tasting in the afternoon? Our two chinese tour participants did and voted for shopping instead. Therefore we became an intimate group of only four in total for the excursion to the wine country. Woodinville is one of the hubs for wineries in the Washington Wine Country. We had a nicely arranged and interpreted wine tasting in the beautiful wine library of Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, one of the state's founding wineries in an historic chateau, followed by a tour. Lauren Ashton Cellars, our next stop, was much smaller (only a tasting room), but wines were equally good. Washington State counts over 800 wineries, plus over 250 breweries and destilleries. On the way back to town (fortuantely we had not to drive!), we stopped at Woodinville Whiskey for a tasting of their whiskeys and wodkas.

Dinner at "Aqua by El Gaucho" in the evening was the absolute culinary highlight in Seattle, couldn't be topped anymore. A little apart from downtown, at Pier 70, it not only offered great views of the Bay and the city, but also highly creative food.