Walk into Seattle

Seattle may be a city with thousands of people. In the eyes of old fans, it is a feminine place where it rains for nine months a year in Sleepless in Seattle. In the eyes of nature lovers, it is a city of jade surrounded by many national parks, such as Mount Rainier Park, Olympic Park and North Cascade Park. Of course, it is also accompanied by the roar of the plane (Boeing), the strong aroma of coffee (Starbucks) and the aura of the world's former richest man (Microsoft) and the new richest man (Amazon). What makes a city have the four largest enterprises in the world? With this question, I walked in.

The main task of going to Seattle this time is to move bricks (attend academic meetings), so the departure and return dates are set in advance, but I still checked the weather of this legendary rainy city online. Facts have proved that art always comes from life above life, and the description of Sleepless in Seattle is too freehand. However, influenced by the maritime climate, Seattle is indeed rainy in winter, and the rainy season can last for half a year at the longest. Every year from April, there will be two or three consecutive days of sunny days, and the rainy season officially ends. At the same time, because of the maritime climate, although the latitude of Seattle is already on the US-Canada border, winter has not become unbearable, and it is almost the same as Shanghai at the coldest time. In summer, the sunshine time here is as long as 15 hours a day, but it is not sultry because it is very dry in summer. I can't help admiring that I just spent a severe winter in Chicago and the snowiest spring in history, although the latitude is lower. I believe that the reason why Tom Hanks moved from the windy city to Seattle in Sleepless in Seattle must also include the more pleasant climate in Seattle.

Just mentioned that the mission of this trip is business, so I can't provide much reference in terms of air tickets and accommodation. The five-day and five-night trip to Seattle is a direct flight from United Ocean Airlines. Of course, almost all American airlines have direct flights from Chicago to Seattle. You can choose. I stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Seattle. The reason for choosing this hotel was simple and rude, because the Washington Convention Center was next to the hotel, only three minutes' walk away. The location of the hotel is excellent, and many scenic spots in the city center, including the famous Parker Market and the seaside, are close at hand. There are many hotels in downtown Seattle, such as Four Seasons, and a series of hotel chains including Hyatt Regency, Marriott and Sheraton. Of course, it is said that there are many distinctive airbnb, but perhaps because it is in the city center and close to the cruise terminal, the hotel prices here, including B&B, are very high all the year round, so hotel accommodation definitely accounts for the bulk of the travel expenses of friends who want to come to Seattle and live in the city center.

Public transportation in Seattle should be considered more convenient in the big cities on the west coast. For example, this time, bloggers from the airport to downtown did not bury their heads in Uber as usual, but took the Link light rail, which passed through most parts of Seattle, including the airport, downtown and U Washington. This link is somewhat similar to Shanghai's Line 4. It's not always on the ground. Several stops also take the underground tunnel, but it is not exactly like Line 4, because several stops are directly seen on the main road, so there are traffic lights, which is a bit like a tram. In May, the landscape along the line was fresh and striking, and Mount Rainier in the distance came into view from time to time. On the other side are high-rise buildings in downtown, Seattle's landmark space needle tower and busy ports full of colorful containers. It can be said that nature and humanity set each other off into interest. Once you plunge into this city, you can't help sighing about outstanding people. It is worth mentioning that before coming to Seattle, bloggers took subways in new york, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco. Seattle seems to be the first American city to take the subway without checking in.

There is an awkward distance between the urban area and the space needle, and it is a bit far to walk, so it is not cost-effective to drive. It is connected by a monorail. It is said that this monorail was built at the Seattle World Expo in 1962, which was then called the World Expo. In other words, today is the 56th year of service of this monorail train.

Besides, there are many buses and ofo bike-sharing, which can be seen everywhere in the city. Lime enjoys riding a little green car.

When I checked in at the hotel, I put down my luggage and went directly to the long-lost Parker market. It happened to be Mother's Day. On the way to the market, I saw many people coming face to face with bouquets in their hands, and all kinds of flowers were placed in the most eye-catching stalls in the market. This situation makes bloggers miss their parents across the ocean more and more. Fortunately, before they left for Seattle, they had booked carnations for their mothers on my big Taobao. Sure enough, the market is full of excitement. Although I didn't see the legendary scene of throwing fish, I still couldn't help but see seafood, vegetables and fruits covered with pavements.

Walking all the way, I soon arrived at the first stop, Starbucks 1. 47 years ago, the first Starbucks opened in Pike Market. At first, it only sold coffee beans. It was not until 1987 that coffee drinks were sold directly in the store. Since then, Starbucks has continued to expand. Today, its territory has spread all over the world and become a symbol of American life. Simply selling coffee is a step to selling feelings. Today, Starbucks dares to recognize the second place, and I am afraid no one dares to recognize the first place. Store 1 is really ugly, and the logo at the door is still the original appearance in 197 1. If it weren't for the tourists who lined up in twos and threes at the door, they might miss it inadvertently. The current 1 store mainly sells a limited number of peripheral products, such as cups and coffee beans that are only sold in this store. Of course, brain powder, like me, can't be excused.

Compared with the simplicity of 1 store, the selected store I went to the next day was much more vigorous. It is said that there was one in Shanghai last year, similar to this one. Since I can't go home for the time being, I want to come to this store to share my feelings. It should be much less than Shanghai people, right?

Besides Starbucks, the second big IP in Seattle should be Amazon, so bloggers also went to Amazon Go, which just opened this year 1 month. The layout of the store is actually similar to that of ordinary convenience stores. The main concept of automatic checkout reminds bloggers of a mobile phone advertisement they saw about ten years ago, to the effect that a thief went to the mall to sweep goods, and finally thought he had escaped the monitoring and successfully walked out of the mall, but in fact, the security guard at the door had been respectful. Anyway, it is said that this black technology mainly relies on countless sensors on the wall of the store and the 360-degree surround AI camera balabala on the ceiling. In short, friends who are interested in black technology can pay attention. The sandwiches and salads in the store are said to be made in the kitchen equipped that day, ensuring freshness. I took a Mediterranean lamb sandwich without hope, which was unexpectedly delicious. It seems that the bald richest man has made great efforts. Actually, Father Ma opened a similar store in Shanghai last year, earlier than Amazon Go. Father Ma is very powerful.

When I came to Seattle, I definitely wanted to order seafood on the whole. I chose Crab Pot, a popular local restaurant, which features a hodgepodge of seafood. After ordering, a little brother will come up to you with a bucket full of seafood and pour it in front of you with a small hammer. Originally, it was convenient for you to eat seafood, but the blogger knocked there for a long time and didn't break a crab's foot. The freshness of the food is ok. The best is Alaska salmon skewers. Personally, oysters are not as fat as those on the east coast. This shop is located in a row of small shopping malls under the waterfront Ferris wheel. Bloggers also bought very satisfied postcards here ~ friends also received them, full of praise.

The next day, after moving bricks all morning, the blogger took the monorail train to the landmark building in the northern part of the west coast of the United States, which was specially built for the 1962 Seattle World Expo. The theme of Expo 1962 is 2 1 century, aiming at imagining human life, society and scientific and technological progress in the 20th century. Just one year before the space needle was built, President Kennedy just announced the plan of human landing on the moon, and at the World Expo the following year, it was also suggested that human beings would start exploring Mars in 2 1 century. Such vigorous development and promotion of space projects showed that the economy and politics of the American imperialists were thriving at that time. Today, the people of Sri Lanka have passed away, and only the space needle that still looks very old and short still stands.

When it comes to aviation, we have to mention Boeing, another industry giant in Seattle, which has even been an oligarch for a long time. I remember when I was a child, when I mentioned big planes, bloggers knew 747. Because Boeing's original headquarters is still a long way from downtown Seattle, the blogger didn't make a detour to visit this time. Boeing Company was founded in 19 16, and originally manufactured military aircraft. During World War I and World War II, Boeing has been a major manufacturer of American military aircraft. It was not until after World War II that it slowly turned to the postal machine business and eventually grew into a giant in the field of civil aircraft. It is suggested that friends interested in Boeing history and aircraft manufacturing can go to the 90-minute tour provided by Boeing headquarters. The price seems to be around 15 yuan, and the cost performance ratio is still very high.

It seems that I have gone too far, so stop here. It seems that the space needle has been repaired in recent years. The revolving restaurant on the top floor is closed for renovation, but you can still take the elevator to the sightseeing platform on the top floor, which means you can only see half of the scenery and the other half of the platform is closed. It is said that by July this year, this renovation project costing hundreds of millions will be completely completed. I hope the needle tip will be more beautiful then.

The sightseeing package of Space Needle also includes tickets to the nearby Chihuli Glass Museum, which was originally for this visit, but was deeply attracted by the exquisite glass works inside and outside the museum. I didn't know Chihuli at first, but later I got a general understanding of this outstanding master of modern glass art from Seattle through the video materials in the museum and Google. He has held large-scale glass art exhibitions in Rome, Venice and Jerusalem, and is good at organically combining glass art with the surrounding environment. Later, in many hotels and shopping malls in Seattle, you can see the works of Master Chihuli. Not much to say, as evidenced by the above picture.

It turns out that everything can be amazing as long as it is done to the extreme. Blowing glass is like this, and most things in this world are just like this.

When it comes to celebrities born in Seattle, I'm afraid I can't avoid a name. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has dominated the global rich list for decades. It is also because Bill finally decided to set up Microsoft headquarters here that Seattle seized the opportunity of the vigorous development of large-scale manufacturing industry and gave birth to a giant like Boeing, and did not miss the wave of science and technology brought by the computer revolution. But in fact, Microsoft's headquarters is not in downtown Seattle, so there is no chance to watch it this time.

After leaving Chihuli, the blogger followed the guidebook to a small park called Kerry Park. The park itself is only the size of a tofu block, but it is really an excellent place to shoot the skyline of downtown Seattle. For example, I filmed:

Then I went back to the hotel contentedly. I went to eat Ding Taifeng with friends who came on business that night. There are several Ding Taifeng in Seattle, and this one in downtown is in a shopping mall called Pacific Palace. The layout of shopping malls is very similar to Wanda in China, with restaurants and cinemas on the top floor. It tastes delicious! As a blogger in Nanjing, Shanghai, I feel that the quality of steamed buns is basically up to standard, the skin is thin but not broken, and the soup is fresh but not greasy, so I can score 80 points. But the crab powder cage is still not as good as these people. Eating fresh meat is good for everyone and cheap, haha.

Seattle is surrounded by national parks, and there are Mount Rainier and Olympic Park near the city alone. Because the Olympic Games is on a peninsula, it can only be reached by ferry, which is far from Mount Rainier. If you want to go back and forth the same day, the journey will be faster. So the blogger chose to rent a car for one day in Mount Rainier, which is two hours' drive from the city, and there was no meeting on the third day. The foot of the mountain in May is still covered with snow, and bloggers without any equipment can only look at the snow and sigh. They can only take a few photos at will and take a few short paths at a lower height.

It is said that the most famous trail here is called fairyland, which is 93 miles around the foot of the mountain. Don't say anything, it's all men.

Dinner that day was originally intended to go to a restaurant called Blueacre Seafood to eat his most famous "Spicy Crab". Before leaving, I also made up a scene of eating spicy crayfish at domestic food stalls. The result is a high-end American western restaurant, and the menu is adjusted according to the purchase situation of the day. Yes, everyone should have guessed that there was no spicy crab on the day the blogger went, so the unwilling blogger had to order a Maine lobster to make the kitchen "spicy". Eating Maine lobster flying across the North American continent in the northernmost part of the United States, bloggers only hear the sound of crying their wallets. Fortunately, the taste is still remarkable. Later, I asked the waiter to know that his spicy crab had to use more than two kilograms of crabs, and only a few shrimps were caught that day, so I had to adjust the menu. Leave a little regret.

On the last day of their stay in Seattle, bloggers were working hard to move (xia) bricks (che) and went home early in the morning on the fifth day. Seattle's airport is called the international airport, but its design is not as reasonable as Oder and Los Angeles International Airport. The queue waiting for security check is very long, and it took bloggers an hour to pass the security check smoothly, which is the longest security check in recent years. I also want to remind my friends who are going to Seattle. This final security check also slightly discounted the blogger's impression of Seattle's near perfect score. Fortunately, after all, there are flaws. Seattle and his party have made bloggers seem to have some answers to the questions at the beginning of the travel notes.