Feeling splendid in Seattle

FOR YEARS, I, like many other tourists from outside the US, laboured under the misconception that it rains in Seattle for the better part of the year. A whirlwind trip to windy Seattle, courtesy Emirates airline, changed my perception of this ‘coffee capital of the world’ where the weather is, by turns, windy, cloudy and prone to light showers with the sun daring to peep out on some days. It was my lucky day. There so much to see, so much to do and so little time to take it all in. No wonder you are always sleepless in Seattle! We took the bus route for a quick zip around city with stops at all the right places, including one where you can see the hardest working sculpture in the city: the 48-feet tall, 26,000 pound metal Hammering Man hammering in slow motion outside the Seattle Art Museum and two fragrance-free chocolate making factories. But our first place of call was the famous Pike’s Place, the heart and soul of downtown Seattle. No matter how many times you visit this quaint farmers’ market that bustles with life, you just can’t get enough of it. You can spend hours here browsing through the artefact shops that line the streets, alleyways and walkways or have a steaming cuppa from the rather rundown first Starbucks coffee house, grab a chair and watch the world go by while listening to the street musicians strumming their pain with their fingers. Seattle offers something for everybody. If you ?are the restless kind of tourist who wants to take in the sights without wasting a moment, the city abounds in it: the inspiring Boeing Museum of Flight, the Children’s Museum, and the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi Museums, among others. Then, there is the not-to-be-missed Space Needle at the Seattle Center, a 605-feet tower that offers stunning views of the city skyline and clear views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay and the islands surrounding the place. Once there, you can also spend a lazy hour or so over a leisurely lunch at the SkyCity rotating restaurant and shop for gifts 500 feet up in the air. Seattle is a café-lover’s paradise and you could just spend an entire ?day occupying a prime seat at one of its many cafés, reading a book, ?sipping an espresso or even apple cider which they serve up during cold winters, and simply watch the rain come down silently outside. There’s another other thing I loved about the ?city: it has the most number of bookstores I’ve ?ever seen in any US city and, unlike the large bookstore chains, these are quaint indie stores where friendly staff will welcome you with a smile and guide you readily. Seattle has a rich tradition of indie music so try and attend one of its many musical events. Every time hunger pangs strike or you feel like a quick drink, head for one of its many restaurants and bars that serve up an innovative mix of cocktails and glo-cal cuisine. Don’t miss a visit to the South Lake Union, the stunning new urban development project catalysed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen ?that has transformed a shabby industrial locality into a swank new urban village with elegant boutiques and galleries. With a clear six hours to spare, we also took in the sights of the towering steel, granite, bronze and fiberglass sculptures at the The Olympic Sculpture Park, a project of the Seattle Art Museum. Few urban cities have the luxury of having works of art of this scale (by renowned artists such as Richard Serra and Alexander Calder) on a waterfront and the icing on the cake is that these installations blend perfectly into a green carpet of old trees, shrubs and a profusion of wild flowers and ferns, set against the splendid backdrop of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound. If you head to The Locks, you can see the Fish Ladder that provides a way for adult fish to go around the dams or man-made barriers on the journey upstream to their spawning grounds. It’s a neat little trick they’ve come up with to trap salmon. The amount of water — called attraction water — going through the fish ladder is regulated. It flows swiftly and moves in the opposite direction that the fish climb. Because returning salmon instinctively know to swim upstream, the downstream movement of the water attracts fish to the ladder, as does the “smell” of the water from the salmon’s birthplace stream. If you are lucky you may even see the trapped salmon. No visit to Seattle is ?complete without a trip to Rainier National Park, ?opened in 1899. You’ve got to have a look at its 26 glaciers, 382 lakes and the 63 different species that thrive in its eco-system. ?The national park is a veritable paradise with snowfields, meadows full of wild flowers, towering snow-capped mountains and awe-inspiring views of nature in all its glory. Pack your hoodie, some light warm clothing and weather-proof boots when you go: you don’t want your day spoilt just because of a few showers.