USA

Hello!
We're in another new place! Like true ex-students, the deadline is looming and we're cramming. We arrived here in Seattle yesterday after a 4 hour Greyhound trip from Vancouver. The trip was fine, punctuated by the slightly unusual 'everybody off and drag your bags through a shed whilst an immigration official makes you feel like a felon' stop at the border. Perfectly normal I s'pose, just seems odd for us Islander's to not have a more definite boundary. Anyhow, we arrived in sunny Seattle (which is not perfectly normal, I'm led to believe) and had a quick wander. Today we did our sightseeing, starting with breakfast at Pike Street Market, a huge collection of covered stalls and units including the first (or should that be 'the Queen' Starbucks).

We walked along the waterfront toward the Space Needle, Seattles famous landmark built for a 'Future Fair' in the 60's.

We went up it, as is tradition, and got a grand view of the place, which is very pretty with the calm Puget Sound (aforementioned water) and the huge Mt. Rainier seemingly floating above the clouds in the distance.

We got the monorail to the centre of town and walked to Pioneer Square, the old part of town. There we went on the Underground Tour, which sounds dull, but is quite fun. You see, Seattle was originally built on the low floodplains, but city planners slowly raised the pavements and roads up to the first floor level of the buildings to combat flooding. So under the pavements are the old pavements and shopfronts. Sounds odd, and I guess it is.
The original Skid Row is in this area, a steep street (a lot steeper back then) that they skidded the logs down to the sawmills and harbour.

Afterwards we went back to the market and sampled the baked goods, and now sit in yet another internet cafe! Tomorrow morning, early (groan), we fly to Toronto. Sad really, as we've been heading roughly West for 10 weeks, and now we strike East, heading back home. I guess it had to end sometime!
But, just over a week left!
See you all soon!

Dave and Sarah XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX