Seattle Fri 8/9

Yerterday turned into our personal walking tour of Downtown. We set off for the Visitor Centre but detoured to the Pike Street Market. This extends for two city blocks and about 4 levels. Seattle is almost as hilly as San Francisco and the Market is down beside the waterfront. Then the area has become a tourist mecca so restaurants have grown back up the hill adjacent to it. The Market is primarily fresh food and flowers interpersed with restaurants and small tourist oriented businesses. The flower stalls extend for almost the entire front of the Market and the fish stalls are amazing. Everything from huge  deep sea fish to monster Alaskan Crabs to oysters. We wandered almost the entire area and then set off uphill for the Visitors Centre. We circled the entire block of the huge Convention Cente looking for an Information sign before we found the Visitor Centre in the foyer. The young woman who greeted us was extremely helpful and gave us two pointers which we opted for. There is a " hop on hop off" trolley bus tour around the cental area and we have always found these usful for getting the overall picture of a city. Then we asked about the State
ferries which go to the Islands in Puget Sound. She recommended her personal favourite out to Bainbridge Island which features the Bloedel Reserve. This is the former home of a timber  baron set in 150 acres of landscaped natural forest and garden. Meanwhile we walked back across town to collect our car to move it the Convention Centre 24 hour car park. It had spent the first night parked on the street in the residential area of nob hill about a mile from our hostel. This was the recommendation of the hostel staff because the 24 hour parking near the hostel is not particularly secure. They implied that they were very insecure. However this option left us feeling concerned and as we were reassured that the Convention Centre Parking was fairly reliably secure we hiked across town to retrieve it  and were able to set off for the day's activities feeling that we had done what we could.
We thought at first of the hop on trolley and even stood at the bus stop for 10 minutes but then realised there was a cool breeze blowing on a cloudy day and everyone waiting to board the trolley had at least light jackets compared to our short sleeved shirts. I didn't want to repeat my experience of ending the trip feeling frozen so we changed plan. We walked back to the hostel collected jackets and then walked down to catch the ferry. We bought a sandwich on the way to eat while we waited for the ferry. I say 'sandwich' deliberately because we had half each and it was plenty. The ferry was huge and cost us $4 each return. This compared to the tour boats which were up to $50 each. It was a car ferry which had two levels and we watched in amazement as it just kept disgourging cars upon it's arrival. The cabin area was very comfortable and the trip was about 30 minutes so we relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
At the Island terminal there was a shuttle to take us out to Bloedel which was at the extreme end of the Island. We had approximately two hours to saunter the 2 miles of paths. The garden was beautifully maintained in a very understated way and included a number of large ponds, streams, a variety of huge forest trees, the landscaped residence gardens which overlooked the waters of the Sound and a Japanese guest house and garden. It was a delightful walk and we headed back to the ferry thinking that we had been somewhere special.
For dinner we decided that the Morrocan Restaurant across from our hostel was worth exploring. When we arrived we discovered that it was quite busy and we were asked if we would like to share a table with the couple who arrived just ahead of us. We were all agreeable and were taken to a low table surrounded by a couch. The restaurant was decorated with a soft fabric to represent the ceiling of a tent and the walls were hung with Moroccan carpet squares to give an authentic atmosphere. We discovered that the menu provided a choice of main course dishes but the remainder of the meal was a set 5 courses for $21 plus tax of course. It was a thoroughly enjoyable meal and our companions were interesting. They hailed from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They were in their early 60's. She worked as a nurse and he was a heart specialist who now worked for the veteran's service. We talked briefly about families, their decision to leave private practice for the salaried option of the DVA, travel and told them a bit about Australia. He was unaware that Aussies had served alongside the Americans during WW2 and Vietnam and they had as usual only heard of Sydney and Brisbane. They were returning from a cruise to Alaska and added a couple of days in Seattle to their holiday. They had thoroughly enjoyed their experience but had not seen a bear.
We walked back across the road to our bed and were asleep almost immediately.