Seattle

Well, I did say I would eventually get around to putting some more photos up - you wouldn't believe how difficult it seems to be to find a computer that doesn't make Blogger crash anytime I tried to add pictures. If you've looked at my albums on Facebook you've already seen all of these, and I currently have photos added all the way up to Spain, and I will gradually catch up here as well.


The original Starbucks - no, it's not really that exciting, and I've seen plenty of nicer Starbucks around the world, but the jazz quartet outside was pretty cool (note the silver double bass).


Pike Place Market is a Seattle institution and has some of the best gourmet food you'll find anywhere. After multiple taste testings of bread and oil, jams, chutneys, chocolate, dried fruit and the famous Market Spice orange tea, we almost didn't need lunch, but the piroshkys and borsch across the street were too good to pass up.


A not particularly attractive photo of Puget Sound shrouded in mist, but I do like a seagull with a healthy disrespect for authority.

The way this fountain was lit up from the inside made for some interesting pictures. This was down near the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Martin, a friend from Canada who spent the day showing me around Seattle where he grew up, contemplates the fountain (while I contemplate how best to capture the interesting angles created by the steps, the building and the umbrella).

A curious piece of sculpture in the sculpture park, against the backdrop of Seattle's skyline and the Space Needle. We didn't go up the tower because the weather was pretty bad and the views wouldn't have been worth it.

In the sculpture park, with some interesting effects in the glass on the top and sides, though you probably can't see it best from this photo.

The Space Needle and the Christmas tree on top, as seen through the aforementioned interesting glass screen.

This was in the public library which, apart from being a great piece of modern architecture, is also one of the best libraries I've ever been in - I don't know why Australia can't do libraries like this, but that's one thing North America seems to do very well (Vancouver's seven storey main library is also great). This library has one level which is entirely red, and we got some great photos in here - well Martin did, mine are just OK. Did I mention he's an architectural photographer?

One of the main reading areas in the library - I could curl up here all day with a good book. And it must be lovely on a nice sunny day, on the rare occasion that the sun shows itself in Seattle.

The Macy's Christmas star in the downtown area. This was about a week before Christmas, so the lights everywhere made the city look very beautiful.