ガンプラ命- Z's Gundam Model Review

Drove up to Seattle for a day with my friend. Albeit chilly, the weather was decent  and sunny ^^. Had a good time up there and felt great to get out of Portland for once.

The drive up to Seattle took a little over three hours with minimal traffic. Upon arrival, we had lunch at Super China Buffet. Big variety but food sorta sucked, quality>quanity any day.

Upon entering Seattle, we were greeted with a high volume of traffic… at 11 am (seriously?)… even with five lanes. Guess it’s not the 9th worst city in traffic jams for nothing. Seattle has some nice buildings ^^. The one most distinctive trait I remember Seattle by are the construction cranes all over the city. I ALWAYS see them! 3 years ago, 8 years ago… always so many!

Going to the Space Needle. Didn’t expect to see a funky amusement park around it. Kinda creepy how it was empty though.

One thing that pissed me off was where we parked. We paid $8.00 for two-hour parking but the clock on the ****ing machine did not adjust for Daylight Saving time so we automatically lost an hour already (realized this after we got up the Needle). When we came back down to check, we saw the clock adjusted one EXTRA hour past DST. It was 2:20 in DST… stupid clock said 3:20. (we bought parking ticket at 1:30 in real time, ticket shows “12:30-2:30″, we come back at 2:30, clock on ticket machine shows “3:30″… I smell something sketchy).

$16 to go up to the top of the Space Needle. Heard the restaurant, Sky City, is the worst restaurant in Seattle and the meals range from $50 up. Ahaha that’s disgustingly laughable. City photos at the bottom of this post ^^. As for the needle itself, I thought it was taller… or at least it looked A LOT taller from far away than up close. It is just “tall” but nothing “WOAH tall”.

Some funky structures around the sci-fi museum. And off we go to Pike Place/Market…

Seattle has some crazy slopes. Some cars were barely able to climb up the streets!

… So we sorta got lost and took a stroll around the waterfront for awhile instead ^^;. Nice atmosphere and vintage stores. More neat looking buildings.

Pike Place.

If you buy a fish at this place, they will throw your fish and you can catch it ^^. Very cheerful people.

Some really cool shops inside and much to see ^^. Novelty stuff, antiques, “exotics”, vintage, old school, generally stuff you don’t see in the city. Very lively atmosphere.

Top floor has fresh seafood and veggies, spices, flattened glass bottles, crafts, and other fresh market stuff. The market even leads to the outside streets ^^

Uwajimaya- a Japanese supermarket with real imported Japanese goods. No Gundams though. If you live somewhere with a real Chinatown or in Asia, this market means nothing to you and the prices can be offensive ^^;. There’s also a Kinokuniya outside. I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside.

Driving home after paying a visit to a friend.

Full moon that night. Decided to mess around a bit xD.

Well, Seattle was fun to visit but I felt robbed after having to spend so much on parking and that killed a lot of the fun. It would be nice if I could spend a few more days here to give some better descriptions and things didn’t felt so rushed. I would’ve loved to visit the International District too. Since there was a time limit on parking, we couldn’t spend as much time in one area as we would’ve liked. The biggest upset: Seattle drivers… a lot of them are a-holes (see: aggressive drivers). Some will just cut right in front of you on the highway if their vehicle can JUST BARELY FIT between you and the car in front. They also seldom let you change lanes. Even if you have the right of way to turn left, the car turning right on the opposite lane will just casually cut in front of you halfway and not even give a damn. Happened to us way too many times during the trip. And I thought I was an aggressive driver (at least I keep my sense of courtesy)… guess that’s city drivers for you /rant *ahem* My apology if you’re one of the more courteous drivers in the WA area ^^;

Now here are some city shots from the Space Needle. Photos taken with Canon XSi