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Oakland Airport - what a great American airport - I'm impressed at the design and ease of use - I wish more airports were as efficient and well-designed as this one! The security agents were friendly, everything was clearly signposted, the shops and restaurants were actually useful and good quality (without costing the earth), free wi-fi and there was plenty of great artwork around! Oakland Airport is Southwest Airline's base near San Fran and, as the flight was relatively cheap, we flew out from here to Seattle.
I saw an amazing installation by the Oakland-based artist Hung Liu (born in China). Her glass work dominates one of the halls, titled "Going Away, Coming Home" featuring red-crowned cranes in flight superimposed on top of a map of the Bay area extending through to Asia. These beautiful birds are a Chinese symbol of peace, purity, wisdom, fidelity, prosperity and longevity. What I loved the most were her 2 paintings "I'm forever blowing bubbles" and "Sister Hoods". Liu has taken figures from documentary photographs of Chinese citizens and placed them in an abstracted space, layered in fluid washes. I loved her use of pastel and fade colours and the melting marks of disintegration. They have an unfinished quality that I seem to be attracted to. Also at the airport, was an exhibition of the shortlisted winners of the "Spanning the Bay" art competition to celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th anniversary.
My first impressions of Seattle? What a shame we're only staying here 1 night! Had the friendliest welcome reception ever at the Seattle City Hostel by 3 of the cutest reception guys! I think they employ them based on looks, smiles and friendliness - like the Abercrombie and Fitch of the hostelworld! Anyways, they helped us with our bags to the 3rd floor as there was no lift.
The guys are a fountain of knowledge on "what's hot and what's not" in Seattle. They recommended Steelhead Diner near Pikes Place Market for fresh seafood. Wow, what a fantastic upscale diner! No reservations on a Saturday night meant that we were seated in front of the chef's prep area but, as far as I'm concerned, those were the best and most entertaining seats in the house! I ordered the fennel crusted Washington Albacore Tuna which was served rare to medium (a bit more rare than I am comfortable with, but that's how they seem to do it here in the Pacific Northwest), with baby heirloom tomato salad, quick pickled cucumbers and broken tomato vinaigrette. One word: heavenly!
There was a music festival in town that weekend, but we were told by some people that it was too late to head out. Went to a Blues Bar instead and had a drink. I left early as I wanted to walk around and go to sleep early. There are a lot of homeless people in Seattle. This seems to be quite common on the Pacific coast - maybe because of the milder climate, more lenient attitude and greater affluence? In any case, I didn't feel as if I were in any danger, but I was just surprised, that's all.
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