Seattle the Splendid

For photographic accompaniment, go here:

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I love Seattle. Out of all the places we visited in North America, Seattle was definitely the unexpected favourite. We arrived not really knowing much about the city other than its grunge and coffee credentials, and ended up staying longer than planned to fit in all the cool stuff we found. Particular highights included:

• Splashing out on fresh salmon at Pike Place Market, home of the world famous shouting, fish-hurling fishmongers

• Finding a clown-themed bar across the street from our hostel, complete with pinball parlour and guitar hero (at which I repeatedly thrashed the pants off Rich)

• Staying in a funky new hostel that doubled as a modern art gallery and had a home movie theatre in the basement, complete with genuine cinema seats

• Visitng the quirky district of Fremont, self-proclaimed Centre of the Universe, home of a giant statue of Lenin (salvaged from a rubbish dump in Slovakia by a local entrepreneur who raised the money to bring it to Fremont by mortgaging his house), a 1950s cold war rocket fuselage and the fabulous 18ft Fremont Troll (who lurks under a roadbridge crushing a VW beetle in his giant hand)

• Re-enacting scenes from my favourite romantic comedy, 10 Things I Hate About You, including the paintball game at Gas Works Park (there is no paintball to be played there, sadly, but we made do with tag) and the bit in the bookstore (much to the obvious boredom of the shop assistant and embarassment of Rich)

• Checking out Seattle's music scene at The Crocodile, the iconic rock club where the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and REM played before launching into the national and international spotlight

• Having far too much fun at the excellent Sci-Fi Hall of Fame (home of ET, the original Death Star, Donatello the turtle and a scarily large collection of Star Trek props)

• Admiring Kurt Cobain's guitar, reading Jimi Hendrix's tour diary and messing about with mixing desks at the equally excellent Experience Music Project

• Learning how Seattle used to be underground, literally, on the Underground Seattle tour (Short story = Seattle was originally built from wood on a lowlying area that flooded lots. In 1889 there was a catastrophic fire, after which the city planners decided to (1) rebuild everything using stone and(2) rebuild everything on a higher level so there would be less flooding. To achieve this, the existing streets were lined with concrete walls that formed narrow alleyways between the walls and the buildings on both sides of the street, with a wide "alley" in between (where the traffic usually went). Material was then washed down the naturally steep streets into the "alleys", raising the streets to the desired new level, generally 12 feet higher than before. While this was going on people continued using the shops and houses along the streets by going down ladders from the new elevated street level. Once the new streets were finished, everyone moved their businesses up to the new ground floor that had been built around and above them). Sorry, that was the shortest I could make it...
  

• Taking in the sunset skyline on the ferry across the Puget Sound.

• Purchasing a chai tea latte at the original Starbucks

• Seriously thinking about moving to ultra funky Ballard, home of Madame K's 1950s burlesque pizza bistro, more magnificently funky coffee shops than you can shake a stick at and Rich's El Dorado, Mike's Chili Parlour

• Dancing around to the country/rockabilly/bluegrass stylings of the Hot Club of Cowtown at the brilliant Tractor Tavern

• Taking advantage of the free public transport, locally microbrewed beer, 50 cent oyster shooters and amazing Mexican food surrounding our hostel
  

As a side note, I also needed to see a pysiotherapist while in Seattle and found the best one in the world. If anyone ever needs a pysio in Seattle, go see Erin at Belltown Physical Therapy. Seriously, she's excellent.

Vancouver, Vancouver

Piccies:

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And so, after a 13 hour but not unpleasant bus journey, we arrived in our final Canadian destination, Vancouver. This was a city that promised big things - almost everyone we'd spoken to about our travel plans had nodded sagely at the mention of Vancouver and informed us of how beautiful/modern/clean/fantastic it was. Which was unfortunate as we were both disappointed by first impressions - the downtown area seemed slightly sterile and the main street where we stayed, lined with bars and nightclubs, was reminiscent of Birmingham's Broad Street. The weather didn't help - it was grey and rainy for the 4 days we were there which only emphasised the blandness of the modern monochrome architecture which made up the heart of the city; a hotch potch of new tower blocks and complexes which, under a leaden sky, created a lifeless, unfinished appearance.

Our impressions may also have been tarnished by the fact that we both had tedious yet pressing matters to attend to during our stay. I had been bothered by a recurring pain in my hip which forced me to trudge through the rain to a physiotherapist's office somewhere in the middle of the business district to be told I needed to do a myriad of exercises every day to sort it out. Rich, who had for several weeks been battling with the Swampy-esque dreadlocks that formed during his 5 months away from civilisation, finally admitted defeat and booked himself a 2 hour appointment with the legendary dreadlock gurus at Knotty Boy, who proceeded to pull at his hair until the majority of the matted strands were free. On top of that, what should have been a magical evening visiting a huge outdoor Santa's grotto, drinking mulled wine, eating candied popcorn and riding a miniature railway through the most impressive Christmas light and sound show I've ever seen only reminded me of my impending first Christmas away from home and brought on a tearful bout of homesickness.

As a result, we probably weren't looking at Vancouver with entirely forgiving eyes, but that's not to say there wasn't a lot to enjoy about the city. We spent a morning wandering around Granville Market, sampling the dizzying array of foodstuffs and foreign cuisines on offer, before sailing across the river the visit the friendly looking Inukshuk who stands waiting to welcome visitors. We had a superb meal, courtesy of our friends at Pretty River, in the Twisted Fork bistro - 3 courses + cocktails + wine = the ritziest we've felt since leaving England. The Gastown or historic district also captured my imagination, looking (particularly at dusk), like a modern interpretation of a Dickens streetscape. It was here that we first encountered the loveable Quatchi and co, mascots for the forthcoming Vancouver winter Olympics who lined almost every shop window we passed, along with some of the most impressive native art we've seen on our travels. On our final day we headed over to Stanley Park to admire the totem poles, sculptures and panoramic views of the city from across the water. So all in all, with better weather, higher spirits and lower expectations I'm pretty sure we would've formed a more favourable impression of "the Best City to Live in In The World."