For several years Seattle was at the top of my "go to" wish list. For whatever reason I had a really strong desire to check out the Emerald City, maybe it's all the great things I've heard about how laid back the people are, or how beautiful it is with mountains and water everywhere, OR...
OK, it's also the hometown of travel guru Rick Steves. Well to be honest, not actually his hometown, but really close. Europe Through the Back Door is Rick Steves' company and having been on 5 Europe Through the Back Door tours I was itching to see how things worked at "mission control" in downtown Edmonds, Washington, a short 30 minute drive from downtown Seattle.
In October last year I got an email from Europe Through the Back Door saying they were having a "Test Drive a Tour Guide" Saturday event in Edmonds. Not only would there be seminars on all the tours in their tour line up but almost all of the Europe guides would be descending upon Edmonds during this time and there would be a big tour alumni reunion.
When I read the email my mind started wandering. Wouldn’t it be great to meet the guides who would doing my Basque Country tour in May? Wouldn’t it be great to hear about some of the destinations I’m yearning to go to (and some that I love to relive)? Wouldn’t it be really great to see some of the guides who guided my previous tours?
With all these musings swirling around in my head, I checked the Delta Airlines website to see what airfares were for mid-January. What luck I had on the first look, round trip airfare with taxes was just over $300 from Savannah!
It didn’t take much persuasion to convince my intrepid travel companion (my mom) to spend a long weekend in Seattle. I was able to get a friends and family rate at the Crowne Plaza Downtown Seattle. And after that, we were ready to see this gem of a city.
Friday, January 15, 2010
What was I thinking when I booked a flight leaving Savannah at 6:30am????
We arrived at the airport and were through security at 5:30am. Things were looking good when the plane was boarded and the door closed, we were ready to go! Then we sat there for 30 minutes while the plane was ….de-iced…why oh why did this have to be the coldest day in the southeast. Generally I wouldn’t be so concerned, but our flight time for our Atlanta to Seattle leg had been changed and we only had about a 20 minute connection time. For me this is tight…I get very antsy and usually prefer at least an hour connection time, but I didn’t have much of a choice.
Once we got off the plane we rushed to our connecting gate and we made it just in time. The plane was boarding and we got in line. As the gate agent scanned our boarding passing we got a very pleasant surprise….we were upgraded to business class!!!!! Ahhh, five hours in a comfy seat and breakfast was served! It really does pay off to be a skymiles member!
We arrived in Seattle about 20 minutes early and yes, it was raining! But the flight path to the airport took us right over the center of Seattle and it was clear enough to have great views. We made our way to the Grayline Seattle Downtown Airporter Shuttle (http://www.graylineseattle.com/airportexpress1.cfm) I had pre-booked tickets online before leaving home. I purchased 2 round trip tickets at $18 each. It was a short ride into the city and we were fortunate the Crowne Plaza was the second stop on the shuttle and we didn't have to ride around to 12 other hotels before we got to ours. Of course it was the opposite when we departed and we did see 12 other downtown Seattle hotels, but we're not complaining. However, days after I booked the non-refundable shuttle tickets I saw an article saying the new light rail line between the Seattle airport and downtown Seattle had just opened. Next time I definitely will try that option. I don't recall the exact cost, but I think it was around $3.00 for a light rail ticket into the city.
By 11:30am we were in the lobby and checking in. We had a great corner room on a high floor. It was comfortable, clean and had 2 huge windows. The view was of the I-5freeway, but there was that “being in a city feel” to the view that we loved.
After we got settled into our room and freshened up a bit we braved the wet weather (which wasn’t very bad, just a misty rain) and walked one block to the Hilton to see where we would pick up the rental car the next morning. That took all of 3 minutes and we were then off to Pike Place Market (http://www.pikeplacemarket.com/frameset.asp?flash=true)
Wow! And we only scratched the surface during a short walk through the market. The first place we stopped was an Italian Grocery, DeLaurenti. No surprise there, with our love of anything Italian! As we perused the shelves mom casually said, “Do you think they have Pocket Espresso here?” For those of you who don’t know what Pocket Espresso is, it is this little nugget of chocolate filled with an oozie coffee liquid center. We fell in love with these little morsels in Rome a few years ago. Well, lo and behold we turned the corner and BAM…there were 8 packages of these delectable sweets. At $4.95 a package they weren’t cheap, but we snapped up 4 packages!
We continued through the market and found the “flying fish” stand and tasted smoked salmon, what we think is the best smoked salmon we have ever had, until a return visit on Sunday, but I’m getting ahead of myself here.
As we checked out the vendors…seafood, fruit, jams, spices, nuts, honey, pastas, candies, Seattle souvenirs, dry and fresh flowers our heads were in constant motion swiveling back and forth at all the activity going on. At one point I looked out the windows behind the vendors tables and spotted “the shrine”…well, to some it’s a shrine, to me, it’s a shrine…there it was in all it’s coffee glory…the original Starbucks. Being loyal customers at our local Starbucks back at home we felt the need to check out where it all began.
I’m not sure how we managed it, but there were very few people in the store when we went in and placed our order. This was not how it would be within 10 minutes when we walked out, it was packed to the rafters and a line almost out the door. The barista making my drink was very chatty and even let me take her picture while making my drink.
After being fortified with caffeine we were ready to hit the Nordstrom Rack store. I won’t bore you with a shopping description; let’s just say I contributed heartily to Seattle’s economy! Now we were ready to drop off our bags at the hotel and walk over to Purple Café and Wine Bar (http://www.thepurplecafe.com/about.html) at 1225 4th Avenue for a glass of wine before our dinner reservation at Assaggio.
We really liked Purple Café and Wine Bar and it was thanks to a Fodorite who replied to one of my pre-trip posts that I knew of this place. It felt vast inside, large windows, a wine bottle lined spiral stairway, big chairs and tables. We sat at the bar and toasted to our Seattle weekend with a Washington sauvignon blanc wine.
We had a 6pm dinner reservation at Assaggio (www.assaggioseattle.com) located at 2010 4th Avenue. Since the rain had stopped we decided to walk and although not around the corner from Purple, it was a nice 10-15 walk to Assaggio.
Our reservation was fairly early since we had been awake since 3:30am (Eastern Time), so when we arrived the restaurant wasn’t very crowded. As our meal progressed the dinning room started to fill up quite nicely. The owner greeted us with a friendly smile and a “buona sera”. The service was good and the food was terrific.
We had 2 starters the first was an arancino (a large, fried rice ball with peas and tomato sauce) and the second was cannellini beans and tuna. The tuna dish was the winner of the 2. Mom chose to have the salmon special and it was delicious, served with a cucumber and olive chutney and fresh/crip vegetables. I had the paparadelle cinghale, it was hot and delicious and perfect for a rainy evening. We had a bottle of Gavi di Gavi white wine. I finished the meal with pear tart with vanilla gelato. A perfect ending with 2 espresso that rivaled any espresso we’ve had in Italy.
We walked back to the hotel and were asleep by 9pm. It was a long but fun day!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sunrise at almost 8am and we were walking to a Tully's coffee shop for a cuppa joe and a little breakfast treat. We then picked our rental car from National Car Rental at their desk at the downtown Hilton Hotel.
Picking up the car was smooth and we were off to Edmonds by 8:30am. The drive could not have been easier. We boxed the block at the Hilton and got right on the I-5 freeway heading north. Driving out of the city we experienced rain, fog, and sunny skies...quite a variety! The exit for Edmonds was only about 10 miles from downtown Seattle and before we knew it, we were entering the cute downtown area of Edmonds. From leaving Seattle to parking the car in Edmonds it was only 30 minutes. Traffic was light, I'm thinking because it was a Saturday morning.
Wow...I was surprised at how crowded the town was and it would get even more crowded with lots of "Rick-nics".
The first stop for us was at the Europe Through the Back Door Travel Center. I purchased the Paris guidebook (with a 20% discount special for the "event" day)since I'll be in Paris later this year and like to have current guidebook information.
After checking out the other things on sale it was time for our first session, an hour on the Madrid/Barcelona and Basque Country tours. It was a very informative session and the guides we met were friendly and excited about their destination.
Without going into further detail, we spent the rest of the day hopping from venue to venue listening to presentations on several of the Italy tours (especially liked the Sicily session...possible 2011 trip!)and catching up with all the guides we had on previous tours...it was great to see everyone.
Just before 6pm we had a lengthy break and decided to have some dinner before the final session which was a talk by Rick on how he got his start in the travel world.
We stopped in at Olive's a wine bar/cafe in downtown Edmonds. We each had a couple glasses of wine and ordered 3 appetizers. All were very good. We had an homemade cavatelli pasta with pork ragu, a bruschetta with mozzarella & salumi and a Mediterranean spread plate with 4 different kinds of tangy spreads we slathered on crispy crackers. The total cost of the meal was around $60.
At 7pm we walked to the Edmonds Center for the Arts (a really nice/comfortable theater) to hear Rick speak, it was funny, laid back and (for me) interesting.
By 9pm we were back in the rental car and by 9:45pm we were back in Seattle. The drive back was great...the sky was clear and we had a great view of the Seattle skyline.
A fantastic day!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
This morning we returned the car keys to the rental car company and set off in the direction of Pike Place Market for our Savor Seattle market tour (www.savorseattletours.com ). Thanks to a Fodorite post ( I think it was Suze) I knew about this tour and I’m very glad we did this.
The tour meeting point was at the Starbucks across the street from the market. Our guide, Tim, passed out the whisper system and we were off at 10am to tour the market. I was surprised there were as many people on the tour as there were, probably about 20 people.
Tim, our guide was good, funny and informative and the most impressive part was he remembered everyone’s name within the first 15 minutes. We started with a taste of mini doughnuts, they were soft and pillowy on the inside and crispy on the outside. We then sampled tea at MarketSpice and then it was onto the flying fish stand. At the fish stand we tasted the smoked salmon that we had tried on Friday and it was great. Then the “fish guy” opened a package of the pepper and garlic smoked salmon and Oh My God…it was really good. We made a mental note we had to get back here before going home to buy some, it was too good not to bring home with us.
We made our way through the market tasting fresh fruit and the BEST New England clam chowder I have EVER had at Pike Place Chowder. I am not exaggerating here, I lived in Rhode Island for four years back in my college days and thought I had tasted some really good chowder there, but this stuff was like nectar from the clam and cream gods. Obviously we couldn’t bring any home with us...carry-on liquid restrictions you know! But you can order it online to the tune of a $70 shipping charge!
We continued on to Beecher’s cheese shop and had some incredible cheese there. Our last two stops were Piroshky Piroshky for a taste of 2 different kinds of piroshky (one salmon and one meat filled) and Etta’s for a bite sized sample of Tom Douglas’s crab cake. I liked all the samples we tasted and getting a little history of the market was nice too.
At the end of the tour Tim passed out the Savor Seattle discount cards for us to use when shopping or eating at the businesses the tour company has a relationship with. And let me say the list of businesses was a nice length and we used it several times at a few restaurants on the list.
It was about noon when the tour ended and although we had been tasting samples all morning I really wanted to check out Serious Pie (a Tom Douglas restaurant) at 316 Virginia St. (http://tomdouglas.com/index.php/restaurants/serious-pie) .
The restaurant is fairly small and it has high communal tables. We walked in and were able to get 2 seats in the middle section of a table. Our timing was perfect because shortly after we sat down I looked up at the door and there was a large number of people waiting for a seat.
Once I saw the brussel sprouts with pork belly listed as a started I suggested getting an order of that and sharing the buffalo mozzarella and san marzano tomato pizza. It was the prefect choice for us. The brussel sprouts was delicious and the pizza had a perfectly thin and crispy crust. With 2 glasses of wine and the 10% discount from the Savor Seattle card the total cost of the meal was about $40.
Since it wasn’t too cloudy we decided to take the monorail to Seattle Center and go to the top of the Space Needle. I’m really glad we did this, although there was no sun, it was a relatively clear day and I was able to get some nice pictures.
When we came down from the top of the Space Needle we decided to go back to Pike Place Market to get some of the honey and savory jellies we had seen. After picking up the few things we wanted we headed back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and then we decided it was cocktail hour.
We walked to the Mayflower Park Hotel to have drinks at Oliver’s the bar in the hotel (also on the Savor Seattle card!). After a couple glasses of wine we walked over to Dahlia Lounge for our 7:30pm reservation.
We ordered a bottle of Chateau St. Michelle sauvignon blanc and shrimp potsticks to kick off the meal. Mom had never had potsticks and she gave these a thumbs-up. For our entrees mom had the duck and the portion was huge, it must have been good because there was not a morsel left on the plate. I had the salmon with roasted cauliflower. Both dishes were very good (the roasted cauliflower was great!). We also had a side order of brussel sprouts that were light and spicy (it must have been brussel sprout day!) I ended things with the signature coconut cream pie…it was great, creamy, light, and not too sweet. Mom had a limoncello and with 2 espresso to end the meal the total cost was $130, we also got a 10% discount here with the Savor Seattle card (that card was really paying off!).
We walked back to the hotel and were in blissful slumber by 10:30pm!
Monday, January 18, 2010
There was sunshine this morning! It was a great day. At about 9:30am we wandered over to Salumi (www.salumicuredmeats.com) this cured meats shop is owned by Armandino Batali, yup, it’s Mario Batali’s dad. Having checked out the shop website before going to Seattle we wanted to stop in and buy some artisanal salumi. To our dismay the shop was closed. I think because it was MLK day. No worries, we continue wandering about and stumbled upon Café Umbria.
I didn’t do a lot of pre-trip research other then reading a few Fodors posts and buying a Top 10 Things to do in Seattle guidebook, but I did remember hearing about the Café Umbria. Since we still hadn’t had our morning java, we went in for a cappuccino…it was good stuff.
One other place I wanted to check out while in the Pioneer Square area was the Elliot Bay Book Company (www.elliottbaybook.com). It wasn’t too far from Café Umbria and we browsed the shelves for a little while. I was in search of a recent guidebook for Bologna (I’m going in November) and wasn’t having much luck finding a book with a publication date later the 2007. That is until I scoured the shelves of the travel section. I must have looked up and down those shelves for 15 minutes and just when I was about to give up I took another (closer) look and there, the very first book on the very top shelf, was a small black covered book that had the word Bologna on the spine…Success! Then the moment of truth…what was the publication date…2008…hey, it was better then what I could find at home…off I go to purchase the Wallpaper City Guide for Bologna…yay…more trip planning to do!
After leaving the book shop we made the easy walk over to the Washington State Ferry and bought round trip tickets to Bainbridge Island. This is where I give a shout out to the Seattle Fodorites. I had posted a question before this trip about things to do inside in Seattle thinking if I’m there in mid-January I would need to stay inside, but one reply said that the ferries would be a nice option, they are big, the ride to Bainbridge Island is a short 30 minutes and the ride is smooth. I am so glad I had this little nugget of information. It was a perfect day to take the ferry.
My round trip ferry ticket was $6.90 mom got the senior rate and I think her roundtrip ticket was just over $4.00. We walked up to the ticket booth, bought the tickets and as luck would have it, the ferry was leaving in 10 minutes…perfect timing!
The views were beautiful. When we got to Bainbridge Island I stopped to get a map of the area and we were off. We wandered around this picturesque area and stopped in a few of the shops along the way. While walking we passed by Café Nola at 101 Winslow Way, Bainbridge Island. It looked cute, bright interior and full of people, it didn’t take us long to realize this was where we needed to have lunch!
We each had a glass of local white wine. Mom had the Dungeness crab melt on ciabatta bread. I had the salmon reuben on foccacia bread, both dishes came with perfectly crispy/crunchy french fries. It was a really nice lunch.
After lunch we walked back to the ferry terminal and were in time to make the 2:05pm ferry. Believe it or not, I think the weather was even better at 2pm then it was on the ferry ride in the morning going to Bainbridge Island.
We disembarked the ferry and walked up First Avenue to the Pike Place Market…I know, we stopped there almost every day while in Seattle, but today we had a special purpose…it was time to buy the coveted pepper and garlic smoked salmon. We decided since we were not going to fill an entire shipping box with this salmon (we each just wanted one piece) it was better to carry the salmon home. We were told the salmon would keep for 2 days before it needed to be refrigerated we chose to take it with us without the shipping box. (it worked out perfectly…and the salmon was as good at home as it was when we taste-tested it in the market!).
At about 5:30pm we went to Sazerac (www.sazeracrestaurant.com) at the Monaco Hotel (this is a Kimpton hotel) for happy hour. The bar there was great and the happy hour prices were easy on the wallet…house wines for $3.00 a glass.
Just before 7:30pm we walked up the street to Tulio (www.tulio.com) at 1100 5th Avenue, this restaurant is in the Vintage Park Hotel, also a Kimpton hotel. What a great meal! I started with my favorite drink…prosecco! We ordered the sweet potato gnocchi starter…Oh Wow…this was good…the outside was a bit crispy but as you bite into it, it was soft and creamy.
For my entrée I decided to have the veal chop stuffed with spinach and crispy prosciutto OMG! The chop was HUGE and tender, it was delicious. Mom had the roasted chicken with lemon risotto, the chicken was perfectly tender and the risotto was smooth and creamy. We ended the meal with espresso and limoncello. Also deserving a mention was the olive oil here…it was fantastic. The cost of the meal was $125.
Tulio was just around the corner from the Crowne Plaza and we were back in our room by 10pm and packing up our bags for the trip home the next morning.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Our return flight left Seattle at about 11:30am and was an uneventful…no upgrade on this leg, but we did have exit row seats. It was another tight connection in Atlanta, but we made it and did get upgraded for the 38 minute flight from Atlanta to Savannah.
We really enjoyed Seattle and would love to return to explore more of the surrounding area.
OK, it's also the hometown of travel guru Rick Steves. Well to be honest, not actually his hometown, but really close. Europe Through the Back Door is Rick Steves' company and having been on 5 Europe Through the Back Door tours I was itching to see how things worked at "mission control" in downtown Edmonds, Washington, a short 30 minute drive from downtown Seattle.
In October last year I got an email from Europe Through the Back Door saying they were having a "Test Drive a Tour Guide" Saturday event in Edmonds. Not only would there be seminars on all the tours in their tour line up but almost all of the Europe guides would be descending upon Edmonds during this time and there would be a big tour alumni reunion.
When I read the email my mind started wandering. Wouldn’t it be great to meet the guides who would doing my Basque Country tour in May? Wouldn’t it be great to hear about some of the destinations I’m yearning to go to (and some that I love to relive)? Wouldn’t it be really great to see some of the guides who guided my previous tours?
With all these musings swirling around in my head, I checked the Delta Airlines website to see what airfares were for mid-January. What luck I had on the first look, round trip airfare with taxes was just over $300 from Savannah!
It didn’t take much persuasion to convince my intrepid travel companion (my mom) to spend a long weekend in Seattle. I was able to get a friends and family rate at the Crowne Plaza Downtown Seattle. And after that, we were ready to see this gem of a city.
Friday, January 15, 2010
What was I thinking when I booked a flight leaving Savannah at 6:30am????
We arrived at the airport and were through security at 5:30am. Things were looking good when the plane was boarded and the door closed, we were ready to go! Then we sat there for 30 minutes while the plane was ….de-iced…why oh why did this have to be the coldest day in the southeast. Generally I wouldn’t be so concerned, but our flight time for our Atlanta to Seattle leg had been changed and we only had about a 20 minute connection time. For me this is tight…I get very antsy and usually prefer at least an hour connection time, but I didn’t have much of a choice.
Once we got off the plane we rushed to our connecting gate and we made it just in time. The plane was boarding and we got in line. As the gate agent scanned our boarding passing we got a very pleasant surprise….we were upgraded to business class!!!!! Ahhh, five hours in a comfy seat and breakfast was served! It really does pay off to be a skymiles member!
We arrived in Seattle about 20 minutes early and yes, it was raining! But the flight path to the airport took us right over the center of Seattle and it was clear enough to have great views. We made our way to the Grayline Seattle Downtown Airporter Shuttle (http://www.graylineseattle.com/airportexpress1.cfm) I had pre-booked tickets online before leaving home. I purchased 2 round trip tickets at $18 each. It was a short ride into the city and we were fortunate the Crowne Plaza was the second stop on the shuttle and we didn't have to ride around to 12 other hotels before we got to ours. Of course it was the opposite when we departed and we did see 12 other downtown Seattle hotels, but we're not complaining. However, days after I booked the non-refundable shuttle tickets I saw an article saying the new light rail line between the Seattle airport and downtown Seattle had just opened. Next time I definitely will try that option. I don't recall the exact cost, but I think it was around $3.00 for a light rail ticket into the city.
By 11:30am we were in the lobby and checking in. We had a great corner room on a high floor. It was comfortable, clean and had 2 huge windows. The view was of the I-5freeway, but there was that “being in a city feel” to the view that we loved.
After we got settled into our room and freshened up a bit we braved the wet weather (which wasn’t very bad, just a misty rain) and walked one block to the Hilton to see where we would pick up the rental car the next morning. That took all of 3 minutes and we were then off to Pike Place Market (http://www.pikeplacemarket.com/frameset.asp?flash=true)
Wow! And we only scratched the surface during a short walk through the market. The first place we stopped was an Italian Grocery, DeLaurenti. No surprise there, with our love of anything Italian! As we perused the shelves mom casually said, “Do you think they have Pocket Espresso here?” For those of you who don’t know what Pocket Espresso is, it is this little nugget of chocolate filled with an oozie coffee liquid center. We fell in love with these little morsels in Rome a few years ago. Well, lo and behold we turned the corner and BAM…there were 8 packages of these delectable sweets. At $4.95 a package they weren’t cheap, but we snapped up 4 packages!We continued through the market and found the “flying fish” stand and tasted smoked salmon, what we think is the best smoked salmon we have ever had, until a return visit on Sunday, but I’m getting ahead of myself here.
As we checked out the vendors…seafood, fruit, jams, spices, nuts, honey, pastas, candies, Seattle souvenirs, dry and fresh flowers our heads were in constant motion swiveling back and forth at all the activity going on. At one point I looked out the windows behind the vendors tables and spotted “the shrine”…well, to some it’s a shrine, to me, it’s a shrine…there it was in all it’s coffee glory…the original Starbucks. Being loyal customers at our local Starbucks back at home we felt the need to check out where it all began.
I’m not sure how we managed it, but there were very few people in the store when we went in and placed our order. This was not how it would be within 10 minutes when we walked out, it was packed to the rafters and a line almost out the door. The barista making my drink was very chatty and even let me take her picture while making my drink.
After being fortified with caffeine we were ready to hit the Nordstrom Rack store. I won’t bore you with a shopping description; let’s just say I contributed heartily to Seattle’s economy! Now we were ready to drop off our bags at the hotel and walk over to Purple Café and Wine Bar (http://www.thepurplecafe.com/about.html) at 1225 4th Avenue for a glass of wine before our dinner reservation at Assaggio.
We really liked Purple Café and Wine Bar and it was thanks to a Fodorite who replied to one of my pre-trip posts that I knew of this place. It felt vast inside, large windows, a wine bottle lined spiral stairway, big chairs and tables. We sat at the bar and toasted to our Seattle weekend with a Washington sauvignon blanc wine.
We had a 6pm dinner reservation at Assaggio (www.assaggioseattle.com) located at 2010 4th Avenue. Since the rain had stopped we decided to walk and although not around the corner from Purple, it was a nice 10-15 walk to Assaggio.
Our reservation was fairly early since we had been awake since 3:30am (Eastern Time), so when we arrived the restaurant wasn’t very crowded. As our meal progressed the dinning room started to fill up quite nicely. The owner greeted us with a friendly smile and a “buona sera”. The service was good and the food was terrific.
We had 2 starters the first was an arancino (a large, fried rice ball with peas and tomato sauce) and the second was cannellini beans and tuna. The tuna dish was the winner of the 2. Mom chose to have the salmon special and it was delicious, served with a cucumber and olive chutney and fresh/crip vegetables. I had the paparadelle cinghale, it was hot and delicious and perfect for a rainy evening. We had a bottle of Gavi di Gavi white wine. I finished the meal with pear tart with vanilla gelato. A perfect ending with 2 espresso that rivaled any espresso we’ve had in Italy.
We walked back to the hotel and were asleep by 9pm. It was a long but fun day!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sunrise at almost 8am and we were walking to a Tully's coffee shop for a cuppa joe and a little breakfast treat. We then picked our rental car from National Car Rental at their desk at the downtown Hilton Hotel.
Picking up the car was smooth and we were off to Edmonds by 8:30am. The drive could not have been easier. We boxed the block at the Hilton and got right on the I-5 freeway heading north. Driving out of the city we experienced rain, fog, and sunny skies...quite a variety! The exit for Edmonds was only about 10 miles from downtown Seattle and before we knew it, we were entering the cute downtown area of Edmonds. From leaving Seattle to parking the car in Edmonds it was only 30 minutes. Traffic was light, I'm thinking because it was a Saturday morning.
Wow...I was surprised at how crowded the town was and it would get even more crowded with lots of "Rick-nics".
The first stop for us was at the Europe Through the Back Door Travel Center. I purchased the Paris guidebook (with a 20% discount special for the "event" day)since I'll be in Paris later this year and like to have current guidebook information.
After checking out the other things on sale it was time for our first session, an hour on the Madrid/Barcelona and Basque Country tours. It was a very informative session and the guides we met were friendly and excited about their destination.
Without going into further detail, we spent the rest of the day hopping from venue to venue listening to presentations on several of the Italy tours (especially liked the Sicily session...possible 2011 trip!)and catching up with all the guides we had on previous tours...it was great to see everyone.
Just before 6pm we had a lengthy break and decided to have some dinner before the final session which was a talk by Rick on how he got his start in the travel world.
We stopped in at Olive's a wine bar/cafe in downtown Edmonds. We each had a couple glasses of wine and ordered 3 appetizers. All were very good. We had an homemade cavatelli pasta with pork ragu, a bruschetta with mozzarella & salumi and a Mediterranean spread plate with 4 different kinds of tangy spreads we slathered on crispy crackers. The total cost of the meal was around $60.
At 7pm we walked to the Edmonds Center for the Arts (a really nice/comfortable theater) to hear Rick speak, it was funny, laid back and (for me) interesting.
By 9pm we were back in the rental car and by 9:45pm we were back in Seattle. The drive back was great...the sky was clear and we had a great view of the Seattle skyline.
A fantastic day!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
This morning we returned the car keys to the rental car company and set off in the direction of Pike Place Market for our Savor Seattle market tour (www.savorseattletours.com ). Thanks to a Fodorite post ( I think it was Suze) I knew about this tour and I’m very glad we did this.
The tour meeting point was at the Starbucks across the street from the market. Our guide, Tim, passed out the whisper system and we were off at 10am to tour the market. I was surprised there were as many people on the tour as there were, probably about 20 people.
Tim, our guide was good, funny and informative and the most impressive part was he remembered everyone’s name within the first 15 minutes. We started with a taste of mini doughnuts, they were soft and pillowy on the inside and crispy on the outside. We then sampled tea at MarketSpice and then it was onto the flying fish stand. At the fish stand we tasted the smoked salmon that we had tried on Friday and it was great. Then the “fish guy” opened a package of the pepper and garlic smoked salmon and Oh My God…it was really good. We made a mental note we had to get back here before going home to buy some, it was too good not to bring home with us.
We made our way through the market tasting fresh fruit and the BEST New England clam chowder I have EVER had at Pike Place Chowder. I am not exaggerating here, I lived in Rhode Island for four years back in my college days and thought I had tasted some really good chowder there, but this stuff was like nectar from the clam and cream gods. Obviously we couldn’t bring any home with us...carry-on liquid restrictions you know! But you can order it online to the tune of a $70 shipping charge!
We continued on to Beecher’s cheese shop and had some incredible cheese there. Our last two stops were Piroshky Piroshky for a taste of 2 different kinds of piroshky (one salmon and one meat filled) and Etta’s for a bite sized sample of Tom Douglas’s crab cake. I liked all the samples we tasted and getting a little history of the market was nice too.
At the end of the tour Tim passed out the Savor Seattle discount cards for us to use when shopping or eating at the businesses the tour company has a relationship with. And let me say the list of businesses was a nice length and we used it several times at a few restaurants on the list.
It was about noon when the tour ended and although we had been tasting samples all morning I really wanted to check out Serious Pie (a Tom Douglas restaurant) at 316 Virginia St. (http://tomdouglas.com/index.php/restaurants/serious-pie) .
The restaurant is fairly small and it has high communal tables. We walked in and were able to get 2 seats in the middle section of a table. Our timing was perfect because shortly after we sat down I looked up at the door and there was a large number of people waiting for a seat.
Once I saw the brussel sprouts with pork belly listed as a started I suggested getting an order of that and sharing the buffalo mozzarella and san marzano tomato pizza. It was the prefect choice for us. The brussel sprouts was delicious and the pizza had a perfectly thin and crispy crust. With 2 glasses of wine and the 10% discount from the Savor Seattle card the total cost of the meal was about $40.
Since it wasn’t too cloudy we decided to take the monorail to Seattle Center and go to the top of the Space Needle. I’m really glad we did this, although there was no sun, it was a relatively clear day and I was able to get some nice pictures.
When we came down from the top of the Space Needle we decided to go back to Pike Place Market to get some of the honey and savory jellies we had seen. After picking up the few things we wanted we headed back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and then we decided it was cocktail hour.We walked to the Mayflower Park Hotel to have drinks at Oliver’s the bar in the hotel (also on the Savor Seattle card!). After a couple glasses of wine we walked over to Dahlia Lounge for our 7:30pm reservation.
We ordered a bottle of Chateau St. Michelle sauvignon blanc and shrimp potsticks to kick off the meal. Mom had never had potsticks and she gave these a thumbs-up. For our entrees mom had the duck and the portion was huge, it must have been good because there was not a morsel left on the plate. I had the salmon with roasted cauliflower. Both dishes were very good (the roasted cauliflower was great!). We also had a side order of brussel sprouts that were light and spicy (it must have been brussel sprout day!) I ended things with the signature coconut cream pie…it was great, creamy, light, and not too sweet. Mom had a limoncello and with 2 espresso to end the meal the total cost was $130, we also got a 10% discount here with the Savor Seattle card (that card was really paying off!).
We walked back to the hotel and were in blissful slumber by 10:30pm!
Monday, January 18, 2010
There was sunshine this morning! It was a great day. At about 9:30am we wandered over to Salumi (www.salumicuredmeats.com) this cured meats shop is owned by Armandino Batali, yup, it’s Mario Batali’s dad. Having checked out the shop website before going to Seattle we wanted to stop in and buy some artisanal salumi. To our dismay the shop was closed. I think because it was MLK day. No worries, we continue wandering about and stumbled upon Café Umbria.
I didn’t do a lot of pre-trip research other then reading a few Fodors posts and buying a Top 10 Things to do in Seattle guidebook, but I did remember hearing about the Café Umbria. Since we still hadn’t had our morning java, we went in for a cappuccino…it was good stuff.
One other place I wanted to check out while in the Pioneer Square area was the Elliot Bay Book Company (www.elliottbaybook.com). It wasn’t too far from Café Umbria and we browsed the shelves for a little while. I was in search of a recent guidebook for Bologna (I’m going in November) and wasn’t having much luck finding a book with a publication date later the 2007. That is until I scoured the shelves of the travel section. I must have looked up and down those shelves for 15 minutes and just when I was about to give up I took another (closer) look and there, the very first book on the very top shelf, was a small black covered book that had the word Bologna on the spine…Success! Then the moment of truth…what was the publication date…2008…hey, it was better then what I could find at home…off I go to purchase the Wallpaper City Guide for Bologna…yay…more trip planning to do!
After leaving the book shop we made the easy walk over to the Washington State Ferry and bought round trip tickets to Bainbridge Island. This is where I give a shout out to the Seattle Fodorites. I had posted a question before this trip about things to do inside in Seattle thinking if I’m there in mid-January I would need to stay inside, but one reply said that the ferries would be a nice option, they are big, the ride to Bainbridge Island is a short 30 minutes and the ride is smooth. I am so glad I had this little nugget of information. It was a perfect day to take the ferry.
My round trip ferry ticket was $6.90 mom got the senior rate and I think her roundtrip ticket was just over $4.00. We walked up to the ticket booth, bought the tickets and as luck would have it, the ferry was leaving in 10 minutes…perfect timing!
The views were beautiful. When we got to Bainbridge Island I stopped to get a map of the area and we were off. We wandered around this picturesque area and stopped in a few of the shops along the way. While walking we passed by Café Nola at 101 Winslow Way, Bainbridge Island. It looked cute, bright interior and full of people, it didn’t take us long to realize this was where we needed to have lunch!
We each had a glass of local white wine. Mom had the Dungeness crab melt on ciabatta bread. I had the salmon reuben on foccacia bread, both dishes came with perfectly crispy/crunchy french fries. It was a really nice lunch.After lunch we walked back to the ferry terminal and were in time to make the 2:05pm ferry. Believe it or not, I think the weather was even better at 2pm then it was on the ferry ride in the morning going to Bainbridge Island.
We disembarked the ferry and walked up First Avenue to the Pike Place Market…I know, we stopped there almost every day while in Seattle, but today we had a special purpose…it was time to buy the coveted pepper and garlic smoked salmon. We decided since we were not going to fill an entire shipping box with this salmon (we each just wanted one piece) it was better to carry the salmon home. We were told the salmon would keep for 2 days before it needed to be refrigerated we chose to take it with us without the shipping box. (it worked out perfectly…and the salmon was as good at home as it was when we taste-tested it in the market!).
At about 5:30pm we went to Sazerac (www.sazeracrestaurant.com) at the Monaco Hotel (this is a Kimpton hotel) for happy hour. The bar there was great and the happy hour prices were easy on the wallet…house wines for $3.00 a glass.
Just before 7:30pm we walked up the street to Tulio (www.tulio.com) at 1100 5th Avenue, this restaurant is in the Vintage Park Hotel, also a Kimpton hotel. What a great meal! I started with my favorite drink…prosecco! We ordered the sweet potato gnocchi starter…Oh Wow…this was good…the outside was a bit crispy but as you bite into it, it was soft and creamy.
For my entrée I decided to have the veal chop stuffed with spinach and crispy prosciutto OMG! The chop was HUGE and tender, it was delicious. Mom had the roasted chicken with lemon risotto, the chicken was perfectly tender and the risotto was smooth and creamy. We ended the meal with espresso and limoncello. Also deserving a mention was the olive oil here…it was fantastic. The cost of the meal was $125.
Tulio was just around the corner from the Crowne Plaza and we were back in our room by 10pm and packing up our bags for the trip home the next morning.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Our return flight left Seattle at about 11:30am and was an uneventful…no upgrade on this leg, but we did have exit row seats. It was another tight connection in Atlanta, but we made it and did get upgraded for the 38 minute flight from Atlanta to Savannah.
We really enjoyed Seattle and would love to return to explore more of the surrounding area.
3 comments:
Sounds like a fun trip! Your Mom sounds like a great travel companion.
Thanks Beth...It is fortunte that mom and I travel well together! :-)
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