We just got back today from visiting our friend, Arvind in Seattle. This was my first time in Seattle and it didn’t dissapoint. It was a gorgeous 65-70 degrees every day when most of the country was in triple digits. I always thought that any place more humid than Salt Lake (just about everywhere) would really bother me, but the cool breeze (cold breeze at times) was extremely pleasant.
The area around Arvind’s apartment was on the 12th floor of a high rise in an area called Belltown. It had a spectacular view of the Seattle skyline and Elliott bay. It was also near tons of nightlife and restaurants. We ate at a bistro, sports bar, pizzeria, steakhouse (supposedly the best in the area, El Gaucho), . .the list goes on and on. It feels like we’ve been eating non-stop for days.
We went to Pike Place Market, where the fish are being thrown and where the original Starbucks is located. I bought some Ranier cherries, a local favorite and walked past plenty of street musicians. I thought the most amazing thing was the flower stands. We saw booth after booth of huge spectacular flower arrangements for $5-25!! It was unbelieveable. These are the sort of arrangements you would buy at FTD or 1-800-flowers for anywhere from $50-150. Even though I know the mark-up is rediculous on the online vendors, I couldn’t help but feel like these ladies selling flowers there in the market were being ripped off. They were practically giving away these beautiful bouquets.
We also took a bus to the University of Washington in Seattle so Scott and I could check out the Math/Health Science buildings on campus. Despite being 10-15 minutes from downtown, the university had a real campus-town feel with a huge street filled with bars/eateries. I’m not used to seeing so many trees so the campus was absolutely gorgeous with plenty of shade. I have to say, though, that had a kind of old/unpolished feel.. .gravel sidewalks, unkempt trees, buildings that look like they’ve never been renovated. The student union left a lot to be desired. It was a little run down and the entire place was pretty much shut down–I’m not sure where all the summer students were. Scott’s math building looked like any other I’ve seen (except for a great view out of some of the windows) but we couldn’t really locate the buidings where I might work. Being involved in genetics/neuroscience/ophthalmology research, I’m used to being in buidings that are the newest and most impressive on campus. There was no such thing here. Perhaps we gave up too soon since we had been walking for over two hours when we went looking for the health sciences buildings on the medical campus.
Anyway, the trip was a great success and was only marred by the incident many of you have no doubt heard of since then. On Friday, a man walked into the Jewish Federation and shot 5 women, killing one of them. One of the others was shot in the arm as she tried to protect her pregnant abdomen. All of the activity was just blocks from Arvind’s place and affected traffic all around the area. It was hard to ignore that we were in a much bigger city than Salt Lake–we could hear every siren and see every cop car in the area from the our perch on the 12th floor.
It was a very eventful weekend. We did have lots of fun seeing Arvind and our friend John. Thanks Arvind for letting us crash at your place and showing us a good time! If you haven’t been to Seattle, it’s a beautiful city. It was a breath of fresh air and a much needed reprieve from the summer heat.
Oh, one final, but important thing. We drove past several times, the gorgeous Qwest Field–home of the Seattle Seahawks. The stadium looks so neat on TV but is even more impressive up close. We could see it from Arvind’s apartment and the arches are lit up at night in spectacular blues/purples/greens. If only the football season had started. I would have loved to see a game there. Hey, it’s just an excuse to go back to Seattle soon, right?
jinnie said:
Richa, we need to convince Prachee to sign up for Flickr! ^_^
July 31st, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Prachee said:
I was just thinking about how pictures were conspicuously absent from this post.
July 31st, 2006 at 2:49 pm
jinnie said:
http://www.flickr.com/
now go!
August 2nd, 2006 at 3:46 pm