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Destination: Monorail
Destination: Space Needle
As the elevated Disney World-like train, a remnant of Seattle’s 1962
World’s Fair, starts rolling, the driver will cheerfully announce it
takes about two minutes to arrive at the Seattle Center. It’s the one
and only stop along the monorail so you don’t have to remember where
to get off.
As you pull in, you’ll tunnel through a big mass of crumpled steel.
This is the new, yet-to-be-finished Experience Music Project—a
creation of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who wanted to build a Jimi
Hendrix museum, but apparently the Hendrix family wasn’t too keen on
that, so he expanded the concept into a rock ‘n’ roll
multimedia extravaganza. Come back next time for that. (Yes, it looks
strange.)
Seattle Center is the rest of what’s left of the ’62
World’s Fair. There are amusement rides, a food court and
throw-a-plastic-ring-around-bottleneck-type arcade games
to win stuffed animals. More enlightening are The Children’s Museum
($4 adult; $5.50 child) and the Pacific Science Center ($7.50 adult; $5.50
child; $5.50 senior).
In July, Seattle weather is generally quite ungray. A relaxing place to
lounge is the lawn around the International Fountain. A concrete path
spirals down along the gentle slopes to the fountain’s base. At the
center is a giant silver semi-spheric orb that shoots changing jets of
water out of its nozzles. Lifting a grumpy girlfriend and carrying her into
one of those water cascades is a great way of ungrumping her. (Personal
experience.)
Seattle Center’s most prominent structure of course is the Space
Needle with its rotating restaurant. For the restaurant, the advice is
usually, don’t bother. (I don’t know. I didn’t bother.)
And if you spend $9 for the ride to the observation deck ($4 child, $8
senior), you’re missing the prettiest part of the Seattle
skyline—the Needle itself.
So here’s some local counsel: for the best view of the Emerald City,
walk out the west side of Seattle Center until you hit Queen Anne Avenue
North. Then hike up Queen Anne—and it is a real
hike—until you
get to W. Highland Drive. (The lazier can take the number 2 or 13 bus.) Turn
left, walk about a block and a half, and suddenly you’re along a
stone wall overlooking downtown. A clear-evening sunset will draw a line of
photographers there with cameras on tripods anticipating that postcard
moment.
For food, hike back down Queen Anne Avenue. On the right (west) side, right
after you’ve hit the base of the hill, is Perche No, probably the
only Italian restaurant you’ll run into anywhere where the chef is
Chinese. The capellini with seafood is wonderful. Other places in the areathat I can personally recommend are the more economical Racha, a Thai
noodle joint, and Mediterranean Kitchen if the combination of chicken,
garlic and lemon sounds tasty. (It is.)
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Start your monorail ride at Westlake Center, a shopping mall in the heart of downtown. Hop up to the third floor and plunk down $1.25.
