Friday, October 22, 2010

pike place public market...

It happens to be one of Seattle's top tourist attractions...and hosts 10 million visitors annually. The market opened in 1907 and is one of the oldest public farmer's markets in the USA.


From our hotel...it was all downhill to the waterfront...and a visit to the market.

Colourful...lively...and appealing...the market is filled with the bounty of local farms, rivers and the sea.  It was early in the morning...and we were looking for a nice place to have breakfast.  We found just the spot...


...a table with a view on the top floor of the market.  We ate at Lowell's...which claims to be the 'living room' of the market...and has been voted as having the 'best breakfast in Seattle' three years in a row.  We wouldn't know what to compare it to...since we returned to the same spot again the next morning.  Oh...and we sat t the same table and had the very same breakfast again.  It doesn't take us long to get into a rut!

After breakfast we wandered down to the fish market...where fishmongers whip up enthusiasm among the crowds...and throw fish!  A tourism channel was filming a promotional piece on the fish market just as we arrived...



...and so I captured it on 'film' to share with you.  After the video clip was done...the reporter was left with a sizable piece of fresh salmon clinging to her hair.  And when we met her at the market sometime later...she was wearing a red coat.  Some jobs require a quick change!

Though Seattle is a large city...it seemed we kept bumping into the same people over our two-day stay.  We met this family at the market several times...

 ...and once again at Beecher's Handmade Cheese.  We watched the cheese-making process through the glass...and then went inside to sample.  And since the samples just barely whet our appetite...we brought some cheese home to enjoy.  Very yummy!


Also at Pike Place Market is the original Starbucks...that opened it's doors in 1971.  It looks much as it always has...and there is usually a musician playing outside the door.  We went indoors and had  coffee...and found musicians inside as well.  A group of Sweet Adeline's were having their coffee fix for the morning...since they were fixing to sing the rest of the day.  Forty-three choirs and seventy quartets descended on Seattle this week...for a five-day Sweet Adeline's International Convention at the Key Arena.  We met many of the same gals time and again...they almost had me singing their songs by the time we parted ways. 


And so ended our most enjoyable visit to the Pike Place Market. 

Have a great weekend...

16 comments:

  1. Hi Judy - Thanks for sharing your visit to Seattle - I mentioned it in my post as well - and provided a link to your blog...my memories of a wonderful summer job were stirred by your trip to Seattle. Thank you, Judy.

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  2. ♪Wait 'til the sun shines, Nellie♪ Oops, see those Sweet Adelines even have me doing it!

    I want to know what you guys had for breakfast that you had it two days in a row at the same table. It must've been pretty special.

    What kind of lizard/iguana is eating the produce? Ackkkk... Here I was just minding my own business looking at the pretty pictures when he popped up.

    Fun post, Judy, but then all of your posts are fun.

    Love the new sidebar pics, too. The family is growing and looking so cute!

    Second try...if this is a duplicate...can it.

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  3. What a lovely visit you had! Just thinking that maybe we should do it again - it's been ages! You've been a great tour guide.

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  4. Hi Judy
    I hope you won't mind if I link to your blog today, as I am also posting on the market. Love your pics.

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  5. Judy ..it looks like a truly multicultural meeting place. The market looks clean and orderly.
    I've never been there. .but next summer it will be put on our need to visit list. .which is getting very long.

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  6. Me again, Judy...we were there this past Tuesday. I notice the young man at the fish counter in your pics seems to be the same one in mine.
    On Wed. we drove to Mission to visit friends and I thought of you as I know you are in that area.

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  7. The upper right foto in the montage is beautiful but I needed to enlarge it to see it really well...only to find a huge lizard on the brussels sprouts! Guess I'll continue to leave the brussels sprouts to Elmer!

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  8. I love it that you share your vacation pictures and stories while they are so fresh!

    I was in Seattle for a few days recently and went to the original Starbucks, too. There was a quartet of men singing outside the door...I believe they had been there since it opened in 1971!

    My husband used to be in a barbershop singing group and we went to some of the competitions. They have fun and they do love to sing! Brings back the memories...

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  9. I have a SIL who lies in Rankin, WA. We keep saying we are going to visit her and check out Seattle. Your last two posts make me want to go TODAY! My daughter loves Starbucks and their Pike's Place blend. She would love to visit there! Looks like you are having a wonderful time!

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  10. So were those head covered ladies Mennonites? And if so, why were they not cooking? For that matter, how did you manage to escape from the kitchen anyway?

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  11. You captured that so well! Next time we go to Seattle we'll have to follow in your footsteps... if we can find them ! smile..
    A great post portraying a fun visit!

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  12. One thing I must say is that you know how to make the most of the time. I remember kind of browsing through that place quite quickly. Now I want to go back.

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  13. What a lovely catch-up I've had on your recent posts! I think you had better weather on your getaway than we had on ours! It rained on the desert every day we were there!
    PS I loved the post about the travel doctor in the quilt shop! That's a great combination!

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  14. Pike's Place Market is now on my list of "must see" places whenever i get a chance to visit Seattle, Judy. Thanks for the wonderful tour. The video made me laugh!
    I wonder what choir of Sweet Adelines won the competition? :)

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  15. Judy?? Is that you??? You're going to think this is really strange, but I've been reading your blog for a long time after my mom told me about it. Then today while looking up something for my daughter on perishky I noticed you had LBJ Ranch as a website to browse to and I got curious as to who would know about Fredericksburg - I investigated and it's you!!! Bill's sister.....I'm Arlene from His Hill...I've been your fan for a long time..... what a fun day for me. Have a great day too!!
    Love Arlene Doherty

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'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson