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First of all - guys if you are reading these let me know with comments so I know if it's still worth writing or not! :)
Right now I am sitting in Chicago airport. It's a really cool place - lots of crazy artwork absolutely everywhere from the ground to the benches to windows. I feel like I'm in a museum since it's so retro and there's lots of things like a dinosaur bones and so on. Right now, in Chicago, it is 5:25am… Except my body thinks its 3:30am. Our flight left Seattle at 11:30pm so right now I am absolutely exhausted! And we won't even get in to a bedroom for over twenty four hours as we soon start our day trip in Montreal - which will be followed by a very long bus ride to New York around 11pm. Yawn. But despite how exhausted I feel I know all these mental experiences make it worthwhile!
Yesterday we were in Seattle - and wow. What a beautiful, beautiful place. I keep making the mistake believing that nothing else can stun me since we've seen so many pretty places. We arrived at night time, and Seattle at night is an attraction in itself! There are many large buildings but they are all so pretty! Decorated in lots of lights, built in a very sleek, modern style. There is a huge stadium which changes colour. It was pretty cool! We walked to our hotel after being dropped off by the bus, dumped our stuff, and headed out for a long walk despite it being almost midnight. We paid quite a bit for the accommodation given that we were looking for a hostel room. But because it is a public holiday weekend everything was booked up and we ended up paying for somewhere a bit more expensive. It was worth it though. It was a bit of a treat to have our own space and our own bathroom etc. even if it was just for a few hours! Our walk involved going around the Space Needle area and there were heaps of people everywhere. We discovered it was because there was a Bumble (or something) Festival going on! It was obviously a very big deal.
The next day we got up early to start exploring. Our hotel provided a great complimentary breakfast so that really helped us get set up for the day! We had heaps of stuff to choose from included scrambled eggs, bagels, waffles, cereals, fruit, and yoghurt - as well as all sorts of hot drinks, juices, chocolate milk, etc.! So that was great.
We did heaps of walking. I'm not going to bore you with exact details of each place but basically we started off the Pike Place Market which was REALLY cool - HEAPPPSSS of market stools, mostly indoors but also quite a few outdoors selling a huge variety of things. It is obviously a very popular place with the locals which was a large part of its charm.
We were then picked up by an amazing guy I have been in contact with over the internet. I have been working as an intern for his organisation called Hope for Justice which you guys should check out on the internet. Alex picked us up from the market and really, really kindly gave us a great tour and shouted us lunch. We started off by going up to Kerry Park, which gives you a very stunning view of Seattle. There were a lot of people up there taking photos and most of the pictures of postcards must have been taken up here. I felt really spoilt! Alex also showed us places like the waterfront - which is very long but has lots of cool things along it such as aquariums, food shops, an amusement park, etc.! - China town, downtown… We had lunch at a Greek restaurant in the downtown area where Matt and I had a good feast including lamb burgers, chickpea fries, haloumi and fig kebabs, followed by doughnuts covered in mascarpone and blueberries. What a treat :)
Afterwards, Alex dropped us off at the University of Washington campus and WOWWWW what a beautiful place! It was massive and very green - with a lotttttttttttttttttttt of very old looking buildings. It definitely had a very Englishy feel to it. There was also a gigantic fountain in the middle which looked stunning as it was surrounded by a few of these old buildings and then in the distance you can see a pine forest. It was a shame it was a public holiday because it would have been interesting to go inside and see what it looked like.
Following this, Matt and I just did lots and lots more walking. We went around the downtown area and then all around central Seattle where the space needle is. It was a shame that the big festival was on because it meant we couldn't see a lot of the attractions such as the international fountain because most of the central area was fenced up for people attending the festival. But it's ok, I've definitely come to the conclusion that we need to come back. Seattle is a very stunning, vibrant place and I'd really like to spend more time there.
Few things I realised when I was in Seattle:
- A lot of the police get around on bicycle. I thought that was quite funny!
- Whenever I see pretty sights I just think of Dunedin. I'm really loving travelling but DUNEDIN I MISS YOU SO MUCH ALL THE TIME
Our next stop is Montreal. I'm looking forward to it because it'll be my first time being in a French speaking region. But I'm also kind of worried about how exhausted I am. We haven't had a proper sleep for over twenty four hours, and we will be spending ALLLL day today walking around again and then catching a bus at 1130pm tonight for like eight hours to New York city. So it's still going to be over 24 hours before we can lie in a bed again! Also quite worried about not being contactable when we are there even though it is only for a day haha! I have gotten used to having a mobile that works in the U.S. since we are able to text and ring New Zealanders as much as we want and have unlimited data. If we get lost today in Montreal we don't have the luxury of using our google maps app! But this is really one of the basic problems of travelling, so I'm sure we will survive.
My update for Montreal may be a bit delayed since I will probably spend all my time on the bus sleeping tonight. But I'll let you guys know how it goes as soon as I can. We will be catching up with a few people whilst we are there so that'll be nice! And hopefully I will have heaps to tell.
Loveeeeeee Steph xoxox
P.S. THANK YOU ALEX SUM! For making our time in Seattle really amazing and making sure we don't miss out on the sights despite only being there for a short amount of time! And for the super yummy Greek lunch, the iPhone case, the Chinese sponge cake, and so on. We really appreciate it and hope you can make it to New Zealand some time so we can return the favour! :)
Tip of the Day: Before you arrive in cities check out deals for hop-on, hop-pff buses. They're a really good way to check out a big city when you only have a short amount of time to check it out!
- comments
Kate You must keep writing these as I know if I go back to the states I have ideas on where to go
Emma Lowe Goodness me you sound soooooo busy - it is fabulous to know you are having such a lovely time, and to hear about all these wonderful places ... Dunedin's missing you too though, so I'm glad you're going to come home :P ... love you baby xxxx P.S. We're all watching the news coverage of the States at the moment but you'll be missing it all as you're travelling (and I know how this stuff fascinates you) - hoping for the Syrian peoples sake that somebody will take a stance over what is happening though.
Nan Sounds great especially the doughnuts covered in mascarpone and blueberries. Try to find some rest sweetheart or you will be too tired to enjoy it. Teach yourself to power nap, apparently it works lol. Love you xxxxxx
Stephanie Kate: I'm trying to write about once a day so there's heaps more to come! Mamma: We are so busy D: We barely ever have relaxing time haha, it's always gogogogo! I am DEFINITELY going to come home eventually. Feel so home sick already and miss wee teeny Dunedin with its pretty mountains and AMAZINGGG people. I haven't really kept up much with the news other than reading it on the big screens in Times Square and on TV in Subway... Sounds too crazy to keep up with! I will catch up when I have a chance for sure though :/ Nanny: The doughnuts were delish :) We also had amazing doughnuts back when we were in Eugene from a place called Voodoo Doughnuts - they have so many different flavours such as Oreo and Nesquik! I am starting to learn how to power nap which is strange because usually if it's daylight I can't sleep at all! But now when we are on buses or planes I can fall asleep pretty quickly which is becoming useful :)