Pike Place Market, Seattle, Wa

Saturday was a very long day on the road. We went to Seattle for a 1st Birthday Party. I say Seattle but really we went to Bellevue. Grand-daughter of our very good friends, Sonny & Sher, and also some of their family flew in from Hawaii, and the proud parents from St Louis, Mo. We had a feast fit for a King. After lunch you had to pick us up and roll us out the door. I think we overate. But it's ok, we have done it before and survived. Our plan was to leave Vancouver in the morning, do a little electronic shopping along the way, have lunch and mosey back to Vancouver. But managed a little time for sightseeing. So many freeways down here, and the drivers are no different than where we are from, so aggressive, tailgating and often not very courteous. In order to navigate around Seattle you have to be comfortable using the freeways. So many numbers, I-5 , I-405, 520, I-90



We used to go to Seattle often to visit friends in Bellevue and Mercer Island, but it has been a long time since we have travelled I-90 over the new floating bridge. I say new but new to us as this floating bridge project has been completed for years.



I-90 exits around Safeco Field (replacement for the Kingdome) so we ended up cruising around the Chinatown area and headed towards the city centre until we arrived here . . .



It's difficult to find a parking space in this area so we told ourselves that if we found a spot we would walking around and explore for a while, and we were lucky. It's much easier if you have a bike



Wish I had my bike here too (whispering to myself). For those that have not visited Seattle, the Pike Place Market is located along the waterfront and most of the shops are located Underground. There are many vendors here selling a large assortment of nearly anything you could imagine, from Seafood, fruit & vegetables, and handicrafts.



I just love the colour of all those neon signs



As usual, the Market was very crowded. The isleways are not really that wide and it is hard to wind your way through the crowds and it doesn't help when groups of people just stop to talk (blocking the way).



The Pike Place Market is also home to the very first Starbucks Coffee.





It is an exciting place to wonder around. Perhaps next time we can plan for an earlier visit.



With sunsets arriving much earlier this time of year, it was almost dark and the vendors had to rely on their lights. Twilight is a great time to take photos and a tripod would have come in very handy as I had to resort to hand holding techniques and using walls and lamp posts to steady the camera.



I quickly got into position and managed a shot of the sun setting over Alki point (West Seattle)



One last glimpse of the market before our long drive home (back to Vancouver) and the ferry making its way back to Bremerton