Savoring Seattle

We started today with a guided tour through Pike Place Market. Even though we wandered through on our own yesterday, we learned a lot of the history and "behind the scenes" information today. We also got to sample lots of good foods and then received a discount at any of the merchants, so, of course, we had to shop a little when we finished. Grampa wore his bright shirt from Grand Cayman so that we wouldn't have any trouble finding him in the crowd. Our tour guide, Eric, really enjoyed picking on the guy in the "Hawaiian" shirt, so we had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures of what we saw and did in the market.

Our tour guide Eric and his pink umbrella so we could always see him...besides, he said, no one would run over a guy carrying a pink umbrella.

We all had earphones so we could hear everything in spite of all the noise going on in the market.

This is the original fishmonger station at the market. If you've seen Food TV, you've seen the guys throw fish. They actually started that as a time saving device since it takes 60 steps to go from behind the counter to the front to get whatever fish a customer wants. They are a bunch of characters!

This is one UGLY monkfish. Don't think I'd want anyone throwing this guy at me.

Here we are waiting for our samples of Piroshky, a Russian meat-filled sandwich. We had a beef one and also a salmon one. Yumm-O! At other vendors we sampled cheese, clam chowder, and pastries, just to mention a few.

The next 2 pictures are from the front of Pike Place Market in tribute to the Japanese-American farmers who originally started the market before WWII. However, after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, most Japanese were put in internment camps "for their own protection," and the market closed. Later "Americans" reopened it, but the Japanese farmers would not participate. (Jo's note: if you want to read a really good book that deals with the Japanese-American situation in the NW at this time, read Snow Falling on Cedars.)

We also went by the original Starbucks Coffeeshop since the company began in Seattle. We learned yesterday on our hop-on tour that there are 134 Starbucks in the 5-mile area of the tour, plus lots of Seattle's Best coffeeshops (also owned by Starbucks). Ya think they are a bit caffeinated around here????This is the below street area of the Elliott Bay Book Company which was used as the outside shot for the TV show Frasier which was filmed in Seattle....just an interesting tidbit for our readers.

Figured I'd better get Mamaw and Nana Jo in a picture since Nana Jo is usually the one taking the pictures. This is at the original location of UPS. They have a really nice waterfall area that is primarily a rest/lunch spot for their employees. Everyone in the historic district of Seattle is required to dedicate 1% of their area for art, so this is a good example.

We have rented a car to drive to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the day tomorrow. Stay tuned for more good pictures...