D just returned from a business trip to Seattle (where I last visited 20 years ago during our honeymoon). He didn’t get that much time to explore (given the biz obligations and the persistent albeit unsurprising rain) but offers a few suggestions about hotels, dining and sightseeing:
– He stayed at the Seattle Hilton – which was “fine but sort of disjointed in design with the lobby on the 14th floor and rooms just above. Appeared to be offices below.” Also you had to put your room key in the elevator control panel to gain entry to the floor where you room was and if you weren’t fast enough on the draw you had to go all the way to the top (perhaps 40 floors) and come back down. Ultra-secure but a hassle.
– On the dining front, beyond the many catered affairs, D reports eating well at The Ale House downtown near the Pike Street Market, a “very solid” brew pub with fresh seafood” (good mahi mahi and crab cakes made with the local Dungeness crab) and range of local beers (Alaskan Amber was good.) Also dined at “Purple Cafe” downtown, on tuna (the local stuff, not the kind in a can, needless to say), a selection of local cheeses and a mini steak frites appetizer.
– Sightseeing suggestions: Don’t miss the stunning new Seattle Public Library designed by Rem Koolhaas. (D didn’t have a chance to go in but the library was impressive from the outside) and the Columbia Club on the top of the Bank of America building with a fantastic view of Puget Sound. Club may be private….Another great view was atop of the Seattle Hilton where you could watch the ferries arrive.
P.S. I apologize if some of you looked on this blog and found the exciting entry “Test” with nothing following. And then later found this entry gone. I was indeed testing to see if the functions to subscribe to this blog by RSS or via email work – alas they don’t seem to work for anyone but me. ugh. So I’ll be working on that….Another option is to get this via google alert, if you’d like to try.
TakeBetsywithyou 