Seattle

We arrived in Seattle this morning at 0700 hours and caught Trans Link downtown. Despite the hour of our arrival, we were checked in early to our cozy room at the Roosevelt. It is a historic hotel with "a lush, 19th century ambience".  Our room has a view of Elliot Bay well as the huge seagulls that walk on the ledge outside our windows. 

 We meandered through the labyrinth of shops that comprise Pike Market. The market contains merchants, artisans and craftspeople, as well as farmers selling produce. The fishmongers are a big tourist attraction, especially if you are lucky enough to watch them throwing (and catching) fish. 

I was happy to find a piece of art to add to the pieces of original art I have been collecting for several years.  It is a wood etching and I fell in love with its simplicity and bright color. 

The highlight of the day was the Panama Hotel which is the basis for the book 'Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet."  Between 1942 and 1945 when thousands of Japanese were sent to internment camps, many of their belongings were stored in the basement of this hotel, with plans to recover them later. Many people did not return to claim their possessions and some of these items can be viewed through a hole in the floor.  The hotel was luckily purchased by someone who understood the meaning of these items and what they represented and so they were preserved. 

The hole in the floor is not large and taking a photo through scatched plexiglass did not produce very good photos but I will include one. 

Tomorrow we board the Coast Starlight with our next destination being San Francisco. 

BLou