The first thing that pops up in your head when you hear about Seattle, might be "Nirvana" or the grunge-era. At least that was the case for me, before I visited Seattle, WA.
I didn't know much about the city, til I met my buddy Tony in New Orleans during Mardi-Gras. After a couple of drinks in Nola, we shared contacts, and invited each other to our hometown. That's how i made it to Seattle. After having convinced my girlfriend back then, we decided to do the whole westcoast on one single trip. Seattle was the first city on our journey.
Seattle is a pretty big city, and you definitely need a car to move around. It depends on where you're staying at, it can easily take 1 hour bus ride to make it to the different areas in Seattle.
Well the famous "Space Needle" tower, was all I wanted to see. But i was so wrong! First of all, after our first day, I noticed how big their coffee culture is! The first Starbucks coffee shop, was opened in Seattle in 1971 just nearby the Pike Place Market. In that area, you can find so many different coffee bars, and every single coffee i had in Seattle was just amazing. Since that trip I started enjoying my coffee "black", without any sugar or milk. Tony took me to different coffee drive-ins, and shared his knowledge of coffee roasting. Besides the coffee culture, there's an even bigger beer culture in Seattle! But i can't tell about that, as i'm not a beer drinker.
The food was delicious ! I had the best alaskan salmon, the best oysters, and generally the best sea food in Seattle. It seemed like fastfood wasn't such a big thing in that city.
There's so much nature to discover in the state of Washington and around Seattle. Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains are surrounding the city. While talking to the people in Seattle I could notice the importance of nature for them. Tony and his friends knew so many precise stories about the different mountains, lakes, and woods all around Seattle. Most of the houses in the suburbs were built with their local wood.
But don't get the idea that Seattle would be a lumberjack city. During our stay there was a big block party on Capitol Hill, and so many bands were playing that weekend. As i was told Capitol Hill is the main gay-block of the city. The streets were packed with punk-kids, hipsters, and even older people who were having a good time, and enjoying bands like: Tv on the Radio, Les Savy Fav, Baths,...
BALLARD - was one of my favorite neighbourhoods in the city. You can find so many different shops, from the famous recordstore "Bop Street", to different tattoo parlours, good restaurants, and diy designer shops.
FREMONT - a less busier area for shopping, but still it's totally worth to check out. You will find lots of street-wear shops, a big wall-painting of Shepard Fairey [OBEY], a statue of Lenin, and of course the Fremont Troll ! If you wanna grab lunch in Fremont, i'd recommend the delicious "Jai Thai" restaurant.
For a more morbid adventure in Seattle, you can visit the different memorial statues of Jimmy Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and the graves of Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee. Visiting the grave of Bruce Lee was very interesting though. The grave is located at the Lakeview Memorial cemetery. Not only you could still see lots of fans visiting Bruce Lee´s grave with their most respectful behaviour, some were even crying. The Lakeview Memorial is the nicest cemetery i´ve ever visited. From the top of the hill, you have a beautiful scenic view all over the city.