seattle

underground tours

underground sidewalk

space needle

view from space needle of downtown

mt rainier if you look closely

bronte in the space needle

monorail

rocky mountain chocolate caramel apples

my apple

smith's tower

view over elliott bay

from smith's tower to space needle

300 year old chinese chair

Thursday 3rd June

Bit of a slow start to the day as we had a late night on Wednesday after the movie. By the time we got out of bed and headed into the city it was getting close to 12.00pm. Managed to drive into the city without any problems and found a car park right in the centre of town near Pioneer Square. We had decided to do an underground tour which took you through the underground tunnels below the sidewalks. Seattle had a major fire on 6th June 1889 and most of the downtown area was burnt down. The shops and buildings were re-built and the city council decided to raise the ground level to prevent the tide from Elliott Bay flooding up through the drainage system. However the shop owners started to build before the council raised the soil level and hence the council had to put in retaining walls at the kerb side which were 10 to 35 feet high, then fill the middle in where the road was. They were then forced to build higher footpaths that now covered the original footpaths. In turn the first floor of all the buildings became ground level and the original ground became the basements. This area did get used for a while and then closed off to the public. It has been only in recent decades that these underground tunnels have been opened for tourists. The tour was very interesting and our guide Jo was a bit of a comedian!

From the tour we caught a free city bus to the Space Needle. The Space Needle was built for the 1962 world fair and is 184 metres high and 42 metres wide at the widest point. The view from the top was really good but due to the weather we could not quite see Mount Rainier properly.

From the needle we walked around the grounds of the worlds fair and then caught the Monorail back to the main part of the city. We strolled through the city and came across a shop called the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. They had some amazing chocolates and toffee apples in all sorts of flavours. I had to buy one and it was yummy.

Next we went to the Scott's Tower which was built in 1914 and stands at 149 metres tall. The design and the architecture was very cool and it remained as the tallest office building west of the Mississippi River until 1931 and was the highest structure on the west coast until the Space Needle opened in 1962. We then headed back to the car and drove back to the motel. After a while we went out and had A & W for dinner and then back to plan the next couple of days. Heading to Vancouver tomorrow afternoon only after a tour of the Boeing Factory which should be really good.