Observations, tips and other information about places I've been.
Seattle, pt. 2 Chihuly Garden and Glass and the Space Needle
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I spent my Sunday in Seattle going to the Chihuly Garden and Glass and the Space Needle. I booked a joint ticket; it was timed for entrance into the Space Needle, but open-ended for Chihuly. I didn't have any idea what to expect at Chihuly, I thought, meh, glass, okay I'll check it out. Well, shut the front door, I was blown away, jaw-dropping. The colors, the shapes and complexity and variety, it was all just crazy. The hushed silences were not required, but I think everyone was overwhelmed with the scope of what we were seeing. You kind of flow from room to room, taking in the colors, and then you move out of the dark rooms into a greenhouse type of structure and then into gardens.
The Chihuly is very near the Space Needle and a park with treats and vendors, which is a good place to hang out and people watch and wait for your turn to join the queue to go up to the top. There are some reviews that are dismissive of going to the top of the Space Needle, it's cheesy, tacky, boring, a tourist trap. I think you have to make up your own mind. If you like going to the tops of buildings, and I do, I wanted to do it. I like the perspective you get when you are high above the city, looking out, and from up in the Space Needle, which was erected for the 1962 World's Fair, you can see into the port, and if the skies cooperate, you can glimpse Mt. Rainier. You can go outside, which I did, and get annoyed with people taking selfies, which I did. I went in early evening, and if I planned it differently, I might have gone later in the evening to see the city at night. There is a bar on the rotating floor, which might be cool, but I'm too cheap and I don't really drink, so, I gave that a miss. I am glad I went up, and I think I would have regretted not checking out one of America's most iconic sites with its spacecrafty capsule.
Day two of Mr. Magoo Does Europe, and it's been pretty awesome so far. But one of these days, I am going to get where I'm going on the first or second try. Maybe even the third. Honestly though, I'm so used to it, I don't even know what I would do if it happened. I walked around Barcelona yesterday, just trying to get my bearings (insert belly laugh), but I did eat some pretty amazing food, like chocolate filled churro (omg), and seafood paella, which I'm not sure how authentic it was, but I liked it; and I got in over 17,000 steps, not bad for getting here around noon and taking a siesta later in the day. Today was my big day, meaning I got up at 7:00 am to take a three country tour that lasted until 7:30 in the evening. For me the focus was getting to Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees surrounded by Spain and France, and in fact, co-ruled by the two countries. First stop was Baga, in Spain, where I had the most delicious chocolate filled pastry that was was n...
Have I mentioned it was hot in Paris? Have I mentioned, since we're friends, that I sweated in places I didn't know could sweat? I didn't know my knuckles could sweat, yet they did. Aside from the heat, which was a dry heat, so, you know, hot, but not humid, I really enjoyed my time in Paris, but I did feel rushed, my three days weren't enough. I did not consume nearly enough delicious croissants or other pastries, or crepes...oh, I could go on. My one set thing I really had to do, stop me if I told you already, but I wanted to climb to the top of Notre Dame; in fact, I trained for it. I booked a tour of Ile de Cite and Notre Dame so I could ensure getting the chance without spending hours in line. It was totally worth it; the guide for the tour was excellent, actually an Englishman, with a great background in medieval French history and iconography, and full of fabulous information about France through the centuries. We went into Notre Dame, which is magnificent, and l...
I must apologize, I feel like I've been away for a while, but it's not because I've been shirking my responsibilities. I left beautiful, but windy, Scotland to head to the Thames Valley, and my friends in Bracknell. I was looking forward to some down time for this day and a half, and our traditional Indian meal. On Sunday, we went to see my friend's daughter, and my friend as well, and her family for a fish and chips dinner. We had enough chips to feed an army, or Bob's chickens. Yes, I found out my friend started keeping chickens in the back garden. I never officially met the girls. But I did hear the, quite loudly one morning. I didn't have anything planned, but my friend and I went into Windsor on Monday, and watched the guards march to the castle. We also took a brief river cruise on the Thames. That night we ate too much at our Indian dinner, but it's so hard to choose between rices and naan bread options, and then of course, you have to have a pudding....
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