Tag 1: Seattle

My night is divided into two parts. The first part goes well, I sleep well. From 1 o'clock, David can't fall asleep and from 3 o'clock, Erik can't fall asleep after David finally falls asleep again. At 5:30 a.m., we are all finally awake. We sort some things and have our continental breakfast. There are waffles, cornflakes, toast. Erik really digs in, we're not used to that from him. It's amazing what the time change does.

Shortly after 8 o'clock, we start exploring Seattle. We walk 1.5 km to the train station and go to the city center for $3 per person. Our ride takes 45 minutes. Almost a bargain. The train is clean and the stations are tidy and there are no homeless people to be seen. There is also security on site. Directly from the train, we go to a monorail train, which only runs between the Westlake Center and the Seattle Center. It costs $2.5 and takes 2 minutes, what a price increase.

At the Seattle Center stands the landmark of the city, the Space Needle. The tower was built in 1962 for the World's Fair and is 180m high. We're early, so there are no queues at the ticket counters and elevator. A photo is taken and then we're already on the 159m high platform. There are thick glass walls all around, preventing us from falling off. Erik is not comfortable with that and so he complains that he wants to go back down to the playground opposite. Nevertheless, we stay for a while and I take photos of the city. You can even see Mount Rainier volcano from there. Then the ride goes back down. You can download the photo from the entrance and so we have a nice group picture of us.

Now Erik plays for a while on the large playground with climbing frames, slides, and musical elements. He obviously enjoys it. David also crawls a bit on the soft ground.

We walk to the harbor on foot and reach Pike Place Market, a farmers market with many local products like flowers, fish, sweets, and jewelry. We stroll around the market for a while, but it's too crowded, so we leave the market and look for a snack spot. There's a hot dog stand by the water, so we satisfy our hunger first. We take a look at the fire station with the large fireboat from the outside. Nearby is the Seattle ferry terminal. We take the ferry to Bainbridge Island, a recommendation from the travel guide. Cheaper and faster than a sightseeing tour. We have a great view of the city and can relax a bit.

Around 2 p.m., we reach Seattle and continue walking to the Klondike Gold Rush Museum. There, it shows how the gold miners from Seattle set out for Alaska to try their luck. Out of 100,000 people, only 40,000 arrived, and only 300 found gold worth $15,000. Not a good chance, but many still tried their luck. Around the corner is the fire station museum, unfortunately closed today. The ranger from the museum gives us the tip that there is a small waterfall nearby. It's a landscaped garden with seating and the waterfall. So this is our last destination today and we take the train back. We order a pizza for all of us in the hotel and fall asleep shortly after 8 p.m., exhausted.