Well, actually, once we reached Seattle itself, we started hitting the sights.
First of all, Kelsey, of course, took me to the Gum Wall. It's a famous wall completely covered in chewing gum, and she had already shared some gum with me beforehand. When you walk up to this alley, you're speechless. It's a truly cool sight. Yes, many say it's pointless, but it brought so many people from all over the world together, didn't it?
Yes, it's a bit gross, but it looks cool. Although, some news came out quite recently. About a month or a month and a half ago, the wall was completely cleaned. You can check it out here.
Although, of course, people have already started filling it up again, but now it will take a very, very long time to repeat 20 years of history. And my gum was removed too...
In the same place, or rather up the stairs, is the famous Public Market, which is a gathering place for all tourists and locals at one market. Here, in a huge crowd, many very interesting and unique things, seafood, souvenirs, and just everyday junk are sold. You can wander there endlessly, as well as spend money, although at that moment I was already trying to keep my wallet closed tight. In the same place is the world's first Starbucks, which is also a must-visit for all fans of both just coffee and this brand.
After that, we headed to the Fremont Troll statue, which is located under the George Washington Memorial Bridge. There used to be a terrible dump at this spot, and the government announced a competition for the best project to clean up this bridge. Among the finalists was this Troll, which received funding. By the way, he has a real Mini Cooper in his hand. And he himself came from Scandinavian fairy tales.
In general, during my stay in Seattle, I noticed that there are really a lot of statues, monuments, and the like in this city. The locals are free in their creativity and are always ready to let their imagination fly, so at every step you can meet a sculpture on any topic that will have some deep meaning, or just remind you of some events. There is even a statue of Lenin here. Just like that.
By the way, I'll say a word. If there are people reading me from Uzbekistan, I will very quickly remind you that Seattle has been a sister city to Tashkent for over 30 years.
And there is even a Tashkent Park, but unfortunately, I didn't make it there.
After the Troll, we headed to perhaps the most popular attraction in the city - the Space Needle.
In essence, there is nothing supernatural about it, except that it offers an excellent view of the city from all sides. The ticket itself costs $22 without any options to go even higher (as it was at the Empire State Building), and the height of the ascent is 158.5 meters or 520 feet. But the view is still excellent.
Yes, by the way, I forgot to mention that not far from that Market there are wonderful piers, where the main entertainment is feeding seagulls with french fries. At first, it seems dangerous, but then you realize that they are absolutely harmless, and just come up and ask for food, like kittens. It's actually quite fun. Another entertainment for tourists.
And finally, she showed me a very cool place where, by the way, the movie "10 Things I Hate About You" was once filmed, and in general, there was also an excellent view of the city:
And then Kelsey had to go to class, so she dropped me off near my bank so I could get money, and she left. After the bank, I still had to wander around for a while, so I managed to eat and walk through several shops.
One of them turned out to be a gorgeous kitchen knife shop, where you could find any modern brand, both expensive and cheap, both American and Japanese. For a chef, it's a little paradise. That's where I spent about 30 minutes, just chatting with the seller and discussing different models. If you are chefs, you will understand my thrill of being in this store. Although I had already managed to buy knives at that moment.
Besides this, I managed to get into a smoke shop, where all kinds of smoking accessories, etc., are sold. Here, just like with the knives, your eyes can run wild, and I also ran into such a persistent seller who really wanted me to try all his hookahs, bongs, etc.
After wandering a bit more, I met Kelsey and we headed home.
Day two.
Everything was a bit chaotic here, and we didn't know what to do. Kelsey had to work at lunch, and I was only flying out closer to the evening. I had two suitcases and carry-on luggage on my hands. In the morning, we headed for my main goal - magnets for friends and family, and then decided to get to the airport and leave the luggage there. Like a year ago in New York, I decided to use luggage storage at the airport for an additional fee. Here they charged me $10 per suitcase. Having left the junk, we agreed that Kelsey would drop me off at the Public Market, and there I would decide what to do myself. There was plenty of time, so I thought I would figure it out. This was the moment of my final farewell to Glacier, as Kelsey was the last piece that still warmed me with thoughts of Montana. But here I had to part ways.
At first, I thought I would find ways using public transport after walking around the city a bit. I even poked around on the internet, found the nearest buses or something like that that go to the airport. But you know what? Honestly, I was so tired of all this public transport hustle, some confusion, and so on. And I chose the most elementary path. On foot.
Those who have been to Seattle will understand me now that the road from the Public Market to SeaTac (that's the name of the town where the airport is located. In other words, it's a mix of two cities, Seattle and Tacoma) is quite far, or rather about 20 km. There were about 6 hours left before the flight, and so it was a unique opportunity to kill time. I just headed straight to the destination, enjoying the streets of beautiful Seattle.
I arrived at the airport a little ahead of schedule, but by the time of check-in. I managed to talk to Eliza on Skype, and then I boarded the plane and headed to New York, from where, in fact, I was supposed to go straight home. In other words, this was the moment of my farewell to American soil, as after that my foot did not step further than airports.
http://www.seattle.gov/oir/sister-cities/seattles-21-sister-cities/tashkent
