Seattle - liveable and beautiful

It isn’t hard to see why Seattle is regarded as one of America’s most liveable cities. After being there for a very short time I thought to myself, I could easily live here. It has a wide range of restaurants, bars, varied cultural attractions, is safe and reasonably easy to find your way around. It is surrounded by Eliot Bay, Puget Sound, Lake Washington and Lake Union and is close to Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountain Range. On the downside it rains a lot. The people seem to take great pride in where they live, but not in a boastful way, they are laid back and easy. What seems to be the prevailing attitude was summed by the response from the hotel concierge to an inquiry about dress codes in restaurants. The response, “Don’t worry, this is the West Coast”.

The smart Sheraton with its twin towers was a great place to relax in comfort and style. Some people would find it all a bit impersonal, but we really liked it. We were on the 22nd floor; the room was well appointed and had some nice personal touches such as Dale Chihuly prints on the wall. The location in the centre of town was excellent. The only drawback was the pool and Jacuzzi were undergoing maintenance.

If I had to chose one thing that made me feel like I could live in Seattle it was the abundance of fantastic food shops. Market Place lives up to its’ name, you name the food and you can be sure you’ll be spoilt for choice by a stall selling it, in this part of town. It made me want to do a big food shop and go home and cook.

It was some consolation that the restaurant scene was so good. The first night was a Pan Asian fusion adventure. When restaurants present themselves as doing fusion food I'm very weary, fearing the ego of the chef is way ahead of their talent and that they’ll create something which is daft and tasteless. Not the case at Ginger Spice, where the food was good quality and well executed. All the meals in Seattle were good, but this was the best.

The most famous building in Seattle must be the Space Needle. It is inevitably very touristy, but worth going up there and watching the sunset. A less well know building, but one that is worth a visit is the Smith Tower. You get good views from the top of here too, but if nothing else go into the foyer and admire the grand marble entrance. Look out for the brass post box, it is linked to and gathers mail from all the 35 floors of the building. It was a little sad to see that not all grand old buildings had been maintained. The main railway station’s once great architectural features are in need of loving renovation and largely hidden behind boards.

Bainbridge Island is a commuter Island, which is an easy ferry trip. It offers a good way to spend a few hours, but isn’t Seattle’s Sausalito (see earlier post).

Some parts of Seattle have beaches and you can still enjoy the waterside views in the areas with no beaches at a cafe or public areas such as the Sculpture Park.

This part of the world isn’t known for its wine, but that is because they don’t produce it in big enough qualities. What a pity that is, because it is really rather good.

In just a few days one can only do a few things. There are enough things which weren’t included and enough onward destinations to make Seattle a city which deserves to be on the list of places to visit again.