Things to do
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Pike Place Market
Farm stalls, fishmongers and craft tables have filled this arcade above Elliott Bay since 1907, making it one of the oldest public markets in the country still trading daily. The levels below the main hall hold small shops and a graffiti-covered alley of chewing gum. Mornings are calmer; by noon the stairs down the bluff are slow going.
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Space Needle
Built for the world fair of 1962, the tower stands one hundred and eighty-four metres over Seattle Center, its saucer deck reached by lift in under a minute. A rotating glass floor now turns below the observation level, and the view runs from the Olympic range to Mount Rainier on the southern horizon. Tickets are timed, and the sunset slots sell out well ahead of the day.
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Chihuly Garden and Glass
Dale Chihuly, born south along the sound in Tacoma, filled a pavilion beside the Space Needle with blown glass in every register: ceilings of it, chandeliers, a suspended sculpture running the length of a glasshouse. Outside, coloured stems and spears stand among real planting. Late afternoon light through the glasshouse rewards timing, and the whole visit takes about an hour.
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Kerry Park
A narrow terrace on the south slope of Queen Anne Hill, and the source of nearly every photograph of the city: the Space Needle in the middle distance, the downtown towers behind it, Elliott Bay below and Mount Rainier floating beyond on a clear day. The park is small and the kerbside parking fills at dusk. Walking up from Seattle Center takes about twenty minutes, steeply.
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Museum of Pop Culture
Sheet metal crumpled by Frank Gehry wraps the building at Seattle Center, funded by Paul Allen and opened as a shrine to Jimi Hendrix, a local, and to the grunge bands that followed. Galleries now run to science fiction, horror and fantasy as well, and the monorail passes straight through the structure. Allow two hours; the hall called Sky Church swallows time if a film is playing.