seattle...part 1.

i made my first trek to seattle on thurs the 8th (and stayed til the 12th). i can now cross another state off my list and am now missing just north dakota, oregon, and alaska (anyone up for n dakota?! kidding.). anyways, i flew in to seatac around 6 and found roni in the baggage claim where we promptly left the airport, started catching up, and headed back to her house.

at roni's, i met benoit (love!), saw her cute condo (on capitol hill), got a peak at wedding plans and then we all headed out for tapas at tango (delicious!). after dinner, we headed to an old mortuary that has been turned in to a bar called, chapel.

yummmmmm, tapas!! benoit was such a great sport during my quick trip - he graciously handled me and roni's gossip/catching up!!


the space needle was right there in the background so i had to get a pic of it! we couldn't get a non-blurry one...dumb camera! and we had to dodge a few cars, but dangit! i got my space needle pic!!

on friday, roni had a class to go to until the early afternoon and benoit worked so i headed out to explore the city. luckily from roni's place it's an easy walk to a lot of destinations! she gave me directions (walk out her door on 10th, then head left - it'll turn in to broadway. head down broadway long enough and you'll find pike st. turn r and walk far enough, you'll find the market place). so i headed out the door and was greeted with a slight chill and a bit of misty rain. whoohooo! i am in seattle! by the time i got to the coffee shop, my feet were frozen! so i was quite glad to take a break at cafe vivace.

at cafe vivace, i had something the barista made me b/c they didn't have chai lattes. it was good, but i also had a pastry - and that was amazing! i got a -get this - a vegan blueberry scone! my brother is vegan and i'm always knocking his food... but even i can admit when something is tasty... and this scone was the best one i've ever had!! after my treats, i had warmed up enough to head back outside in the seattle mist and walk towards pike st. once i got closer to downtown, there were all your chain shops and since it had started to rain harder, i chose to walk around h&m and nordstrom rack. i didn't buy anything, but i warmed up and got out of the rain! in seattle, apparently no one carries umbrellas and i was not about to be one of the two people who did! well, the rain eventually cleared, the sun came out and it warmed up a bit!

i headed down to pike place market and meandered the various stalls. there is a ton of food, a lot of sundry items to buy, and a lot of fresh flowers. i had so much fun checking it all out!

just outside the market, this guy was playing a saw! he turned right as i took this pic... then got up... so this had to do... there were musicians all over the place.


obligatory signage pic!


pretty pretty pretty tulips!!


fish! this was at the famous flying fish stall


i don't like cheesecake, i didn't buy any, but i liked the name of this store so i decided to share it with you guys...

around 1, roni let me know that her class was over and she was on her way to meet me. i told her i'd meet her at the original starbucks since i had seen it and figured it would be an easy place to meet. so i got myself a chai latte (yes, more caffeine!) and sat outside in the sun. a bit later, i get a call from roni saying she was at the entrance. i tried to tell her where i was, but for some reason we couldn't find eachother! eventually we figured out that i wasn't exactly at the original starbucks.

*ok, aside here: i had been told the original one was across from the market. um, i was across from the market. not my fault they have so many darn stores in the area!!*

once we finally found each other, we made our way to a delicious lunch place in the market area called the pink door. after lunch, we wandered around. we took some touristy photos, bought some 5 dollar bouquets of flowers and then it was time to head to megan's house so that we (megan, her bf gregg, and me) could head to whidbey island.


original starbucks. the other one looked much much newer. i felt really stupid! :)


we bought pretty flowers... for 5 bucks. best deal!


aren't we cute?! i love this photo. just wish the guy in yellow weren't in it... dooooood, move!!


for some reason, pigs are the symbol of the market. no one seems to know why, but they are. this one is a giant piggy bank. if you put in some money, your wish will come true. so roni and i each put in a coin and made a wish. i'll let you know if this little piggy grants it or not!