Unterwegs in Downtown Seattle

Seattle Central Library

We started our sightseeing tour through Seattle's city center at the Central Library. The eleven-storey, 34,000 m² glass and steel building was designed by architects Rem Kohlhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus in the style of deconstructivism and opened in 2004. (Source:Wikipedia.de)

The differently aligned glass façades of the library reflect the street and the events around it. A really great building. Before entering the library, we both noticed Seattle's many homeless people for the first time. Sad!

Seattle: Pike Place Market

We continued to Pike Place Market. We found a parking space quite quickly on the side of the road, with a parking meter, but still a lot cheaper than in the parking garages.

The selection of fish, vegetables, fruit and flowers at the Farmers' Market, which opened in 1907, is really gigantic. Some shop owners put on a show, as it is more known from market criers in Germany. We were also surprised by the low prices. For example, a large colorful bouquet of flowers cost less than 10 USD.

Seattle: Gum Wall

In an alley just below Pike Place Market we found the Gum Wall. Here, in 1993, people began to stick their chewing gum to the wall around the box office of the Market Theater. After the theater employee removed all the chewing gum twice, they finally gave it up. Since 1999, the Wall of Gum has been one of Seattle's tourist attractions. But we couldn't stand it longer than 5 minutes in the alley. The various chewing gums still smell so intensely sweet that they almost made us sick.

Spreewald Cucumbers in Seattle

On the way back to our rental car, we strolled through the international quarter along Pike Street. Here we found, among other things, a shop with German products. There was everything from Paulaner beer to meat to the Knorr "Tütenfertigkram". So if you're ever in Seattle and just want to bite into a Spreewald cucumber again, you've come to the right place. However, the large jar also costs 9 USD. In the immediate vicinity of the "Bavarian Meat" is the beginning of a worldwide coffee chain: Starbucks. Except that the store was full of Asians, it had exactly the same coffee as any other store in the chain. Nothing special, then.