Seattle, WA Day 2

Another sunny wake up!  What is it about all you people who say it rains here everyday?  LOL, I don't want to jinx myself so will just enjoy the weather.  Another start with breakfast overlooking the city!  First stop was to just go have coffee/tea, hangout, and people watch; there are some interesting people in this city!  Next we ventured over to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park; a very nice small museum and learned a lot too.  Did you know that John Nordstrom came to the US during the gold rush?  You might recognize the name from the Nordstrom stores you see at malls . . . he opened his first shoe store in 1901 followed by the first clothing store in the 1960s and the rest is history!  Who knew?  We continued on to the Seattle Underground Tour.  Very interesting and had no idea that there used to be life under where we were walking!  Great lesson in the history of early life in Seattle.

It was an interesting tour but did not see as much underground as I would have liked.  You could still see many of the before life preserved . . .

Our tour guide was really good!  He was informative and very funny too.  I could have listened to his stories for hours.  I had bought a Groupon for Smith Tower and it was only a block away so decided to redeem it.  It was a pretty neat ride up.  There was a lady who punched the buttons and closed the old time metal gates.  The $7 spent was worth it especially on this gorgeous day!

It was getting close to lunch time so decided to give Pike's Market another visit . . .

. . . the fresh seafood was amazing but not too much fish throwing going on today!  We stumbled across a German place called Uli's Famously Cozy Bierstube . . . it looked like a metzgerei (butcher shop) from the outside but inside was small and quaint with traditional German tables.  It was packed and in true German fashion just found two chairs at an already occupied table!  After reviewing the speisekarte (menu) I could not wait for my Nurnberger brats and Radler too!

Yummy times 100!  I was stuffed and it was only suppose to be a snack, but I wanted it all!  The warm potato salad was oh so yummy too!  Since I was stuffed it was time to get up and take a stroll around the market. It was busy and really enjoyed just having no where to be!  Across the street was the first Starbucks . . .

. . . it was a no frills place for sure but packed with people!  The line was out the door long every time we walked in the area.  I treated myself to a Peppermint Mocha because I needed something sweet and warm!  Last summer when I connected at Sea-Tac I bought the best  chocolate bar . . . Seattle Chocolate Lemon Ice.  OH so yummy and apparently a seasonal flavor as I have not been able to find it online.  I stopped at a local made good store and low and behold they had them; I bought 6!  It was time for my daily nap before dinner so headed back to relax a bit.  I was still full from lunch/snack but hey when on vacation you can't pass up food so headed over to The Crab Pot.

The restaurant has been on Man vs Food, but I was not interested in trying to master that challenge.  However, I was ready to get my eat on . . .

One thing I noticed on the menu is that give you way too many mussels and clams.  I had never tasted either and well I did and wasn't impressed!  Now the shrimp, crab legs, sausage, potatoes, and corn are a whole different story!  Needless to say, I was glad it was a l-o-n-g walk back to the hotel because I needed the exercise!