Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel, with a quick side-tour to Walmart where we found almost all the products hidden behind lock and key (?!?!). Dinner was at a nearby Indian restaurant, and I’ve rarely gotten so sleepy in my life. Back at the hotel Finnur thus got to pack the bags for the next hop, while I lay near-comatose in bed, yay jetlag!
The following day we found yet another hipster café to eat a bit of breakfast, before taking the train to the airport. This time the mental patient on board was a young overweight man with random splotches of blue paint on him who sat facing us on the side, who constantly talked to himself (somewhat threateningly), while staring intently at us, like he was waiting for something to happen. We did our best not to make eye contact. Some fare-checkers came on board, talked to the guy, handed him some leaflets and took off. Thankfully, the guy left the train a stop before we did.
“Come on all, there’s still a bit of walking to go!” Grumble…
Seattle’s waterfront is steep. We found some impressive stairs.
Our cruise booking. Again, figuring out timings weeks in advance is nerve wracking!
Finally, at the pier-houses. We were aiming for the red one, #55.
About to board our boat.
We were late enough that all the side seats were gone, so we plunked ourselves down on the middle of the deck.
Off we went! Passing the Ferris wheel we’d go on later.
The Space Needle and red art thing.
Emma was not impressed.
A skyline selfie!
We turned around and sailed southwards again. Our guide told us that the crane-driver jobs are so sought after that thousands apply, and the hundreds that are deemed suitable are entered into a lottery!
A. Lot. Of. Containers.
Approaching our dock.
We survived!
I agreed to take the kids on the Ferris wheel. The embarkment zone is behind Bjarki.
Waiting in line is hard.
Going round and round.
Pretty high up!
Looked pretty solid.
Looking north-ish. That blue building in the foreground is the Seattle Aquarium.
We needed to find lunch, so we headed back to the market area. On the way there we wandered into an antiques shop.
Replacement items galore.
So. Much. Stuff!
Then we set out to really find lunch. There was much disagreement over what to get, so we split up, boys and girls.
Us girls accidentally found the Gum Walls, and they were rather Ugh.
Looked kind of like barnacles, but coming off of covid it just felt unclean.
An unwelcoming but arty wall.
The boys told us the Public Market restaurants all had huge lines, so we walked in the other direction, and found a hole in the wall that sold fresh pizza slices.
Yay, food!
The boys liked what they finally found!
Walking back towards the sea-side, I was intrigued to see actual signs of people living in the area.
Our next activity. We had booked a 2 pm entrance to the aquarium. The map shows the indoor layout.
At the Seattle Aquarium building. There was a ton of road works going on in the area which made traversing it a bit tricky.
A big tank.
Emma’s favorite part was this tide area simulator, where a bunch of fish were being thrown all over the place.
Stuff to gently poke.
This was pretty cool, they had jellyfish moving around this circular shaft.
We found a seal or two in the outside area. Emma continued to find the wave-flowing water most interesting.
Classic!
Yet another blue-screen photo.
Walking towards an ice-cream shop we’d spotted.
At 3:30 pm we made our way back towards our hotel.
The food was good! Then I promptly crashed into bed, while Finnur packed.
Wednesday 03 August 2022
In front of our hotel. We tried the café opposite it, but it didn’t suit our needs.
I’d spotted another café behind the hotel, which proved to be friendlier.
Not the most healthy of breakfasts, but everyone was happy.
Walking to the train station.
The train station in the basement. That was not our train.
We made it to the airport in one piece, although the mentally disturbed young man on the train freaked us out a bit. At the airport I was really glad I’d signed us up for the speedy-security-line, since the regular line was horribly long. We soon found a restaurant to eat an early lunch in.
