Seattle: Urban Interlude

Seattle is a beautiful city, compact core with a lot of water in all directions (lakes and the Puget Sound). I took a break from the outdoors here for a couple of days, sat in a lot of cafes and drank a lot of coffee, spending time in bookshops or rubbing salt into my own wounds by visiting the University of Washington (they turned down my masters application).

I am a long-time listener (and member) of the Seattle-based radio station KEXP which has a style in music very similar to mine (i.e. eclectic) and a lot of good attitude to boot. It has been great to be able to listen to them on FM radio, and a fun experience to walk around Seattle and recognize things I've heard them mentioning repeatedly on the air: that's where Queen Anne is ... there is the Paramount Theatre ... the High Dive ... Silver Platers ... Easy Street Records. I went to a free in-store concert at Easy Street last night; local band Minus the Bear played and signed copies of their new album Planet of Ice.

Here are some other images: totem pole in the Pioneer Square district, and the Space Needle with a bit of Frank Gehry's Experience Music Project building.