I have had no problem sleeping in Seattle, I have been exhausted after all the walking and therefore sleep comes easily. I am writing this on the train back to San Francisco, we have a roomette which means we are classed as first class and therefore can use the parlour carriage to travel. It's quite good and our room is upstairs so plenty of opportunity for Linda to take pictures and pictures.
Anyway, back to Seattle and whilst we did not see Meg Ryan, we did see lots of Starbucks and other coffee shops. We may be in a recession but people are still buying coffee judging by the queues. Every time we went into a shop there was a queue.
The Edgewater is the only hotel on the Waterfront and it juts out over the sea, it was a posh hotel, with an intimation log fire in the rooms making them very hot, but also useful for Linda to do some washing.
As the Prime Minster recently said 'wake up and smell the coffee' which is not a problem in Seattle, you can smell it everywhere as you walk past the shops.
On the Saturday we did the world famous coffee tour. Seattle is home to the world’s largest concentration of coffee roasters (more than 70) and it’s the birthplace of the world’s dominant purveyor of coffee drinks. On this coffee crawl, we delved into the history and the mystery of Seattle’s obsession with coffee–from the inside story of Starbucks to the emergence of latte art. We sampled a variety of blends, roasts and brews at some of the city’s best-loved coffee houses. This tour was more than coffee…we walked through several different downtown districts and visit some of downtown’s most impressive towers, buildings and views. Our guide was Ed and was very knowledgable, even Linda enjoyed the tour.
We did visit Starbucks first shop for 1971, even though technically it was the fourth shop, the other three burnt down in various fires. Initially Starbucks only sold coffee beans, it did not make drinks. It was named after a character from Moby Dick called Starbuck. This was not due to any affinity for coffee, but because the name "Pequod" was first rejected by one of the co-founders.
There were several actual whalemen of this period named "Starbuck," as evidenced by the name of Starbuck Island in the South Pacific whaling grounds, which lies 336 nautical miles south of the equator. It was discovered by Obed Starbuck 1822.
Breakfast at the hotel was quite filling, if you had pancakes then there were five of them and the omelettes were very large and long it filled us up for most of the day. I did have a coffee I. The original Starbucks, it would have been rude not to. Linda found a shop that made cheese and she spent ages looking though the window watching them and of course taking pictures. We, the people, also visited Pike Place market, in existence since 1907.
On August 17, 1907, Pike Place Market was born. On that first day, a total of eight farmers brought their wagons to the corner of First Avenue and Pike Street—and were quickly overwhelmed by an estimated 10,000 eager shoppers. By 11:00 am, they were sold out. Thousands of would-be customers went home empty-handed, but the chaos held promise. By the end of 1907, the first Market building opened, with every space filled. Today, Pike Place Market is internationally recognised as America's premier farmers' market and is home to more than 200 year-round commercial businesses; 190 craftspeople and approximately 100 farmers who rent table space by the day; 240 street performers and musicians; and more than 300 apartment units, most of which provide housing for low-income elderly people.
Capitol Hill was recommended as an up and coming place to visit, with independent coffee shops and book stores. It was a dive. It took ages to walk there and then it was not very interesting, and no good coffee shops. We also visited the Seattle Space Tower, because its a tourist attraction, and we were tourists. We did not go in, that cost money, but took some photos to say we had been there.
The hotel is very relaxing some have spent time in the room reading books and I have visited the gym a couple of times. So now we are travelling by train for 22 hours back to San Francisco to get the plane to Viva Las Vegas.