Author: bbpeck

I have glasses!  I picked them up on Tuesday, so I can now really see this great city.  You can officially call me 4 eyes again. And now, back to the real blog.

Bob and I continue to explore Seattle by foot and bus. Last weekend we attended a couple of holiday-related events.  We walked around Green Lake after dark (which seems to be about mid-afternoon these days) to see the luminaries and enjoy the festivities with our current neighbors.  The luminaries were lovely, but the weather kept the crews busy, as the wind kept blowing them over.  We actually enjoyed seeing the locals’ holiday garb more.  This included lights on themselves, their children, dogs, and in one instance a small fir tree being pulled in a wagon.  

Sunday’s event was different but fun as well.  We bussed downtown and then walked to the First Hill neighborhood (so named, apparently for being the first hill as you go out from downtown) to the Town Hall building.  It is now a cultural center/performance hall but was built as a Church of Christ in 1922. It is run by a nonprofit organization and they put on free and low-cost events throughout the year.  We attended their Sunday afternoon Rogue Christmas event which included a number of holiday-themed short story readings interspersed with music from a local band that was composed specifically to correspond with the selected short stories.  It was really nice and provided a more local experience for us.  The short stories ranged from a proposed Ernest Hemingway version of the Night Before Christmas to a short story written by a 17-year old F. Scott Fitzgerald.  On our walk back we got to see the holiday lights in the downtown, South Lake Union, Fremont, and Green Lake districts.

On Monday we explored Gas Works Park as well as some of the University of Washington campus. Gas Works Park is on the north shore of Lake Union on the original site of a former coal gasification plant.  It was opened to the public in 1975 and was added to the list of National Historic Places a few years ago.  It is an interesting site which provides a great view of the downtown skyline (though better on a clear day).

 

From the park we continued along the north shore and under I5 to the UW (not the best UW but a nice one, nonetheless).  We checked out the football stadium (the Huskies are in the top 4 and will play Bama on New Years Eve for a possible shot at the championship game), the student union, one of the libraries, and buildings named for some guys named Allen and Gates — what is it with those two anyway?!

Tuesday we headed back to the Ballard neighborhood to collect my glasses and see more of that area.  We ended up having a bit of a Nordic day which suits my partial Norwegian ancestry.  On our way to the Ballard area, we stumbled on a Scandinavian Specialties store which sold household items and also had a food market and little cafe.  I was thrilled to find Lefse and Krumkake — two holiday treats that I had growing up in WI.  The Lefse that I had growing up was like a tortilla but made out of potato.  We would butter it and then sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar.  Yum!  I learned at this store that it can also be made out of flour.  Krumkake is a crisp cookie that is made by pouring batter onto a hot griddle where it is pressed into a flat disc and then rolled around a metal cone to form a long, tubular cookie.  We always ate them plain, but the store also sold them filled with lingonberry creme.  I am not such a fan of krumkake having burnt my fingers way too often making the things!

We continued on into Ballard and checked out the locks.  This is a fun area to watch boats navigate the locks as well as view salmon and steelheads swimming upstream to spawn (though this is not the best season for that).

 

After picking up my glasses, we headed to the Old Ballard Liquor CO., a local distillery, to sample some Aquavit, a Nordic spirit.  As with gin, Aquavit is a flavored vodka.  While gin is typically flavored with juniper berries, Aquavit is flavored with caraway and then maybe some other spices as well.  We had a great time chatting with the owner and watching two older women sample not only the spirits but the nordic-themed food as well.

Yesterday’s excursion had us check out the cute little UPS Waterfall park and the free Frye Museum.  The park is in downtown Seattle, fairly close to Safeco Field where the Mariners play, while the museum is in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.  The weather has cooled and the wind was brisk yesterday, so our walk back was quite brisk. In comparison to what other parts of the country are experiencing; however, we aren’t complaining.

So, we’re not really sleepless, though with all the coffee shops here we could be, but I wanted to use the line and it seemed somewhat appropriate as I wanted to show what we have been doing while we are up and about (thus not sleeping).  Bear with me, it hopefully gets better. . . if only because there are more photos and less of my commentary.

We have ventured a little further afoot in the last couple of days down to different parts of the downtown area which has had us walk through the Fremont and Queen Anne districts on the way.  On Thursday, we walked both to and from downtown while stopping to explore the Olympic Sculpture Park, check out a bit of the Seattle Center grounds, and get a quick peak at Lake Union all while enjoying some of Seattle’s hills.  

As a side note for budget travelers:  In comparison to many of the European towns/cities that we have stayed in, Seattle is a bit pricey (and luckily we aren’t shopping for a home here as their housing market is HOT), but we have found some fun free things to see and do.

 

The Seattle Center was originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair and covers 74 acres (again per Wikipedia) in downtown Seattle.  Its most famous building is the Space Needle, but it is also home to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundatione, the Chiluly Garden and Glass Museum, the Pop Culture Museum (formerly the Experience Music Project), the Pacific Science Center, the monorail, and other buildings and structures.  We walked around much of the grounds and then went in the Gates Foundation Visitor Center, which is free.

Thursday night it snowed here which is apparently a big deal.  It was fun to see and the snow stayed around for a bit Friday morning until the rain washed most of it away.  We took the #5 bus into downtown on Friday ($2.50 each on earth-way) to practice how to get to Pier 69 and the Victoria Clipper ferry which we will take over to our next house sit in Victoria later this month.  It was an easy catch from where we are staying (not even a block away) and then a quick downhill jaunt from 5th and Wall to the pier.  Awesome!

While downtown, we walked along the waterfront, meandered through a lot of Pike Place Market, and then toured the HarryPotter-themed gingerbread houses at the downtown Sheraton Hotel.



We are full into our Seattle house sit and are getting some time to really get to know “our” new dog Lucy Lu, catch up on some personal errands, enjoy time with family, and begin to explore the area.  Lucy is great walking (and sniffing) on lead as well as a good ball player (retrieving balls thrown).  She also entertains us in the house with tug-of-war games with her toys.  

We are currently based in the Green Lake area of Seattle — one of many Seattle neighborhoods with lots of local fun shops and restaurants.  The Green Lake area is named after the lake and park of the same name.  Per Wikipedia, Green Lake is a freshwater lake surrounded by a 2.8 mile hiking/biking/running trail which has become my (Beth) default running area for this leg of our journey.  The park contains a community center, Bathouse Theatre and concessions stand.  Tonight it will host a holiday Festival of Lights with luminaries around the lake as well as music and concessions.  We are planning to attend.  Below are some photos of our first walk around the lake with Lucy.

On Tuesday of this week, Bob and I walked about an hour (2.7 mi from the house) to the Ballard neighborhood to get an eye exam and some glasses for me (still Beth) since I lost my prior pair in France.  We went to America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses which promises an eye exam and 2 pairs of glasses for $69.95.  It was one of the best customer-service experiences I have had. All 3 people that I interacted with there we’re very personable.  Also, being in the 50+ age bracket (how do these things happen?!), I got the AARP discount and have 2 pairs on order for $62.95!  We’ll see if they get delivered on time and in one piece.  

The walk to Ballard gave us a great feel for Seattle’s hills and the surrounding mountain ranges.

I (Yikes, this has become quite the all-about-me blog!) also got the opportunity to attend a fun holiday event with my Aunt Teri and her friend Rhonda this past week.  It was at the Women’s University Club in downtown Seattle and featured a Downton Abbey holiday themed play along with champagne and appetizers before a post-play tea.  After the event, the three of us walked down to the Seattle central library which is an architecturally interesting structure as well as being a great public resource.

More of our explorations of Seattle in the next blog.  But will leave you with some Seattle signage that has caught our eye (actually all 4 of them).

Just a quick blog to update you (if we haven’t already darkened your doorstep) on our current location and status.  We arrived back in the US on November 19 via an American Airlines flight from Rome to Philadelphia.  After clearing customs (loving the Global Entry and TSA Pre-Check programs!), we traveled by a reserved shared car (though we were the only passengers) to Wilmington, DE.  Along with our international excursions, we are still trying to get to all 50 states.  Delaware was a new state for us, bringing our total to 43 states visited.  We had 2 nights but only 1 full day there.  However, we braved the chill and very brisk wind to get a good walkabout in Wilmington, including a visit to the Hagley museum and a walk along the lovely (that’s 1 for you Cheryl!) Wilmington waterfront.

 

Since our day in Delaware, we have been visiting family on both coasts as well as the Midwest.  We spent a few days in Alexandria, Virginia with Bob’s brother Eric and his children before heading to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska to visit Beth’s mom, sister, aunt and uncle and Bob’s sisters and their families.  Some of the highlights of this portion of the trip (outside of catching up with family) include — exploring new monuments and memorials in the DC area (Beth and Bob), attending the Iowa vs. Nebraska football game (Bob) and watching Iowa win, hiking and seeing the fun holiday lighting festival in Rockford, IL complete with fireworks, ice sculptures, s’mores, and music (Beth). We have the best relatives ever, and are incredibly indebted to them for their continued hospitality during our wanderings.

From Omaha we flew to Seattle where Beth’s aunt (also godmother) and uncle picked us up and provided us with housing and hospitality for 2 nights before delivering us to our current house sit in the Green Lake area of Seattle (more on the house sit later).  It’s been a lovely (another drink for Cheryl) couple of weeks.  We have enjoyed seeing and sharing in the start of the holiday season with family.

Modes of travel for this portion of our travels — planes (American, Delta, Southwest), reserved car, buses (Greyhound, Vangalder, Megabus), metro, cars (both mooching rides from family as well as a rental car).

Bob and I have completed our quick tour of part of Italy.  Our last hike was in the hills above lovely Positano before we headed to Naples for 2 nights where we walked part of that bustling city and took a ferry to Capri to explore the island.  We spent our last full day in Italy traveling from Naples to Rome by train (about 3 hours) and then picking up a local bus to Fiumicino (the suburb near the airport), so we could make our Saturday morning American Airlines flight back to the States.

We can’t believe this European adventure is already over.  When we completed our customs and immigration form yesterday, we got to claim the most countries visited ever (for us) since we left the US — Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, and Italy.



We are still loving life, as we hike and eat our way through Italy.  Our hikes have been about 10-12k, and we have both sun and rain.  See sample photos below of walks from Amalfi to Praiano, around Praiano, and from Praiano to Positano (where Bob may have gotten in touch with his catholic school upbringing along the Walk of the Gods which hugs the hills above the town’s with often nothing between you and some sharp drop-offs.



Today it is raining pretty heavily in Amalfi with a threat of severe storms, so we are inside hoping to catch up on blogging and some much-needed planning.  Yesterday, however, was perfectly awesome from our 5 hour hike to a lovely dinner at a local restaurant.  

Yesterday’s hike had us heading out of the town center and into the hills through a lovely section of lime and lemon (limoncello, anyone?) trees, near the ruins of old paper mills, and then into the little villages of Potone, Ravello, and Artrani.  Along the way, we hiked out to a great view(s) of the coastline, sea, and an old tower.  All gorgeous, and we were hugely impressed with the paved, stone walkways that hug the hills and which the locals were sweeping clean as we walked by.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

A few more happy photos —



Bob and I have wrapped up the European portion of our house sitting adventure (at least for now).  We had a quick transition with our Brussels home owners on Sunday after their return.  It was another lovely house sit, and we again feel blessed to have met a new set of friends across the pond.  

We are currently in the Campagna region of Italy for a self-guided hike along the Amalfi coast.  We landed in Naples on Monday after a 2 hour flight from Brussels.  The Brussels portion of the trip was a bit bizarre as the airport was having computer issues so very few of the gate assignments were getting posted.  We finally found a Belgian Airlines agent to ask who seemed unaware that gates weren’t up on the screen.  Other than that it was an easy flight with lots of scanning of electronic tickets and no checking of passports anywhere.  We grabbed a bus to Salerno upon our arrival and spent a day and a half their before a seriously twisting bus ride to Amalfi this afternoon.  I’m not sure what bus drivers make here, but it’s not enough.

The following are some photos from Salerno. 



While we have enjoyed walking around Brussels, we decided to take a day trip out to explore another city.  The last time we were in Brussels we had visited Antwerp and Bruge, so this time we decided to visit Ghent.  We really enjoyed it!  It is almost as charming as Bruge, but seems much bigger and a bit more varied.  It is a university town, but also caters to tourists with good walking maps as well as signage to city center and various landmarks.  As with Brussels, you could eat yourself silly here.

Based on recommendations from our homeowner and our own interests, Bob and I have explored various area of Brussels during our few days here.  We poked around the Sabon area and perused the many awesome Belgian chocolate shops.  We have browsed a few markets — the Saturday Flagey market, the Sunday Midi market, and the Wednesday afternoon/night market at the Place du Chatelain.  We had a great self-guided tour of the Parliamentarium on the European Parliament Brussels campus.  (There are also European Union offices in Strasbourg and Luxembourg.). We continue to be impressed by the 8,000 hectares (approximately 19,800 acres!!!!) of green space in Brussels.  Some random photos below.