Seattle 16.04-19.04.2017

On Easter Sunday, we flew last minute with United (an airline that has recently been in the news for negative reasons) from Chicago to Seattle. After about 4 hours of flying, some turbulence, and strange maneuvers by the pilot, we finally landed in Seattle unharmed. At least the airline took us with them!

Once again, we found ourselves in a new time zone, with a 9-hour difference from Switzerland. So while our readers are already heading to work, we are just cuddling up in our bed!! :-)

The time difference of 9 hours will remain the same until San Diego.

We quickly settled into our hotel room at the Belltown Inn and went in search of a restaurant that was open on Easter Sunday. We found one... and at 10:00 am, we enjoyed some great sushi at the Wasabi restaurant... and to our luck, it was even happy hour!!

The next day, we strolled through Seattle and discovered the large, fascinating, and diverse Pike Place Market. Fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, flowers, and handmade items everywhere you look!

We also visited the very first Starbucks in the world... yes, it's actually the first one, we asked and even googled it to make sure! :-) After that, we visited the Seattle Aquarium and got to witness the feeding of a Giant Pacific Octopus.

On April 18th, we decided to explore the sights of Seattle, including the infamous Gum Wall. As responsible Swiss and almost Swiss citizens, we did not stick any gum to the wall, as we didn't want to further pollute the beautiful cityscape! ;-)

On our way to the famous Space Needle, we discovered the Café Suisse. As if pulled by magic, we entered the café without thinking and there.... Urs warmly welcomed us in Swiss German. Urs was so excited to be able to speak 'Schwiizerdütsch' in Seattle that he entertained us for about an hour. :-) In the end, he even treated us to a Rivella Rot!!

When we finally arrived at the Space Needle, we enjoyed a 360° panoramic view from a height of 184m.

In the evening, we decided to have dinner at Pier 56 and treated ourselves to a slightly more expensive restaurant (this wasn't entirely planned, but it was sooooooo worth it). Woooooooow, it was delicious... For appetizers, we had crab cakes (lightly seared crab meat with a light mango sauce) with a glass of white wine. Alessandro enjoyed a perfectly cooked Alaskan salmon with asparagus and roasted potatoes. Nadine ordered a salad with grilled seafood (shrimp, scallops, Alaskan salmon, avocado, tomatoes, egg, and lettuce). Our waiter Tom, who occasionally tried out a few German words and took fabulous care of us, even brought us chocolate sticks with our espressos, as it is customary in Switzerland to enjoy a piece of chocolate with coffee.

Wow, this evening was a great conclusion and a beautiful experience in Seattle.

On Wednesday, April 19th, we will continue our journey from Seattle to San Francisco, where we will be expecting visitors from Switzerland... to be continued... :-)