Seattle

Rob (my brother) very kindly drove us down to Seattle yesterday. It was great to catch up with him as we have not seen each other for five years. It took us 38 minutes to get through the border, as many Canadians were heading south for their Victoria Day long weekend to enjoy the benefits of the weak American dollar. But that was a lot quicker than Rob thought it would be. The countryside on the way to Seattle was beautiful, with lots of forest, farmland and views of snow capped mountains to the east and south west.

We are staying at the Crowne Plaza, which is lovely. They upgraded us to the Club floor - 33 - and we have a magnificent view of the city. The weather was fine and sunny for the trip down, but today it was overcast with a little rain. Still it was a good day for a city tour. Seattle has many parks and lovely gardens which are in full spring bloom. The city buzzes with restaurants, and there is a Starbucks on almost every corner ( a real positive for some :-).

The waterfront is great. The Pike Street Markets are pretty big, and include fish markets rather like Sydney's. We had lunch at Ivars, a seafood restaurant that has a great reputation for good reason. Phil had the best grilled salmon ever (with onion jus) and Sue had beautiful tiger prawns. When it came time to find our way back to the hotel we managed to get lost. After discovering that taxis are not as plentiful as we would like we took the free bus ... then had to get another free bus when the first one took us even further out of our way! Duh! But at least we saw a lot more of Seattle :-)

We join our cruise tomorrow. We will not be alone on the water as 4 other cruise ships left Seattle for Alaska today.