Our First Full Day in Seattle

EMP—the rock music museum (particularly the Jimi Hendrix bit)—I learned that Hendrix grew up here in Seattle, and the science fiction museum (Avatar exhibit and a Horror exhibit in the basement—not to mention Doctor Who stuff in the museum shop).

We had lunch at the Thai restaurant just down the street from the hotel (I had green curry with tofu, and a tall glass of Thai iced tea). We had lunch at about three in the afternoon again; this reflects how quickly I get through museums when I’m with my dad. If I’m alone in a museum, I’m typically there the entire time the museum is open. Like most of the restaurants in the immediate area, this one was a cross between a restaurant and a bar. It had some lovely Buddhist murals—lotuses and Buddhas, predominantly green.

We took a bus ride to Capital Hill—the Broadway St. stop—for Twice Sold Tales, the bookstore with multiple cats. Contrary to what the Seattle City Guide claims, the cats are not aloof—they’re all very friendly and cuddly and purry. If you expect cats to run up to you, then you might think these cats were aloof; you do have to walk up to them in order for them to acknowledge you and be friendly, but that’s not exactly difficult to do. There were five cats, two of which were foster cats and the others live there. Two of the cats were curled up together on top of a cat tree; they licked each other, and one of them licked my hand.

The bookstore owner was really cool—she seemed like a very progressive woman, in addition to a cat person and a book person. We got into conversation, and I showed her the listing for Twice Sold Tales in the travel book. I think it would kind of make me feel famous if I ran a bookstore that was described in a travel book. I purchased (well, actually, my dad paid for them) a bunch of books, especially in the Buddhism section, and it just so happened that I got a discount because it was happy hour by the time I was done shopping. I asked her about the Jimi Hendrix statue down the street, and Dad asked her for directions to an appropriate bus stop, and she was helpful and accurate on both counts.

Bus ride to Seattle Center: we got off at the corner of Denny Way and Broad St. I had previously noticed Pier 70 on a map, and now I persuaded my dad to walk with me down to the pier. We walked down a very steep hill and passed a sculpture park on the way to Puget Sound. We had a fine view of the water, in addition to walking past a fountain and some sculptures that looked like giant eyes, at least some of which were benches on the back.