Sleepless in Seattle? A trilogy

Got more sleep in this vacation than I ever did at home. Moving on.

Museum of History and Industry
It delves into the early history and settling and expansion of the Seattle area then proceeds to highlight Seattle based innovations.

Henry Art Gallery
To be honest, I kind of just stumbled into this one while walking around the university of Washington. But hey, it's free to students!

Seattle Asian Art Museum
This one was a bit of a walk for me. It's kind of in the middle of this very large park in the middle of a very nice neighborhood.

Volunteer Park Conservatory
Another place I stumbled into by accident but I can't ignore pretty flowers.

Bruce and Brandon Lee's Grave Site
The grave site is in the middle of Lake View Cemetery. Google maps is really helpful in finding the exact place but you can tell which one it is because it has a lot of flowers in front of it.

Capitol Hill
Not to be confused with DC's Capitol Hill. I mainly stayed in this neighborhood. It has a lot of cool restaurants and bars and very interesting shops.

Ballard
A bit of a ways away from downtown. You definitely have to drive or take the bus to it. It does have some small beaches which were recommended to me by the locals. Ah if only it were warmer. It is also filled with interesting shops and they closed part of it for a local market.

University Village
I'm so jealous Seattle has a Din Tai Fung. Anyway, can you believe it? It snowed while I was there. I was told it doesn't usually snow in Seattle. I must have brought that East Coast weather with me. Anyway, this is a cute place to hang out with friends or go shopping.

If anyone is looking to move to Seattle, just know it is constantly mention on any list of best cities in the U.S. to live in. Housing prices are shooting up though. I'd love to go back to Seattle when it's spring. I hear their parks are beautiful during that time of year and the weather is perfectly mild. I'm sure I'll be back as long as my friend still lives there.

Sleepless in Seattle? The Sequel

...honestly I went to bed at an appropriate time every single night. Moving on.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
It's pretty well known that the Gates have one of the biggest foundations for charities. You can really only go into their small visitor center but it's very informative.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery
It's a pretty cool sight in where you see these old fashioned looking machines for roasting coffee beans. They also have a completely different menu than a regular starbucks.

Woodland Park Zoo
This zoo is really large. It was pretty tiring walking the whole thing. A lot of the animals were asleep because it was winter but the penguins were energetic.

Fremont, Chocolate tour, the troll
The area has a lot of random statues and works of art. I also did a chocolate tour of the Theo chocolate factory, which gives you a lot of free samples during the tour by the way.

Gas Works Park
Really beautiful park. Named aptly because of the old gas works factory that is left there as kind of a monument. Climbing up the tallest hill you get a beautiful view of Lake Union and the cityscape of the downtown area.

University of Washington
Took the scenic route by walking the trail from Fremont to here. The university looks so European in some parts. My friend took me inside this one library that has this room that looks so very Hogwarts.

Space Needle
A great place to see the city. Once again, the city pass gives you both a day and night entry so make the most of it! I was lucky enough to have clear skies to see Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Elliot Bay boat tour
Part of the city pass. I was initially not interested but it was actually really nice seeing waterfront. One side of the harbour has a very industrial section which apparently inspired George Lucas in making the at-at.

Pioneer Square, Underground tour
Very historic area, one of the oldest parts of the city. There are underground tours because apparently the current city you see is actually built on top of the old city, in a way. Basically the current sidewalk is the second floor of the old buidlings, and there is extensive space and canals and plumbing underneath the streets.

Chinatown-International District
It does say Chinatown but it is more international because there are a lot of different Asian cultures mixed around the area. I'm actually jealous of their selection of manga and anime merchandise.

West Seattle
Another neighborhood. A lot of people commute from here into Seattle. It has some small shopping areas. You cross this one bridge to get back into downtown and the view from that bridge is pretty impressive.

Seattle Aquarium
Of course I had to go to the aquarium. I love fish. Clarification, both looking at and eating them. Prepare for lots of fish pictures. They did have an outdoor area that had otters and other waterways connected to the Puget sound to really show the local wildlife.

Seattle Art Museum
Really cool museum with a whole lot of different types of art. At night, you can see the shadow of the working man against the entrance.

Frye Art Museum
Close to the Seattle Art Museum. Smaller but free at least.

Okay that's long enough. Just one more post, I promise.