Victoria to Seattle

We survived our night in the swanky hotel and thankfully need never do it again. John pronounced it overpriced and all show. Fairmont Hotels have some fantastic locations and very grand buildings however it’s all a bit superficial. If you looked closely, it wasn’t that clean and we’d expected spotless. We all agreed the toiletries were good but that’s not enough to draw us back.

We headed out for breakfast at Sam’s Deli, half the price of a Fairmont breakfast but not quite as stylish.

Next stop, Victoria Clipper for our trip down to Seattle. Before boarding we had to negotiate US border control. We were fingerprinted, photographed, quizzed as to our travel plans and previous visits to the USA before being relieved of $18 for the privilege of having pieces of paper stapled in our passports. A sign said ‘Welcome to USA’ – we are not sure it means it!

The trip down the Puget Sound was sunny and smooth, always a bonus for poor sailors like Kim and Matt.

We arrived in Seattle in under 3 hours.

Like many places we’ve stayed this holiday, no-one said it would be hilly so we took a proper yellow cab to the hotel

Before heading out to explore, we needed to create enough clean clothes to see us through. We packed most things including cable-ties before leaving the UK but still had to go to the drugstore to buy string.

Next was an Underground Walking Tour which explored subterranean Pioneer Square. To kill time we had a drink in a local cafe. John went for a Cold Brew, Kim a London Fog and Matt had a smoothie. Guess which one was the sensible choice!

John’s iced coffee and Kim’s London Fog (Earl Grey, steamed milk and vanilla syrup – why would you do that to a cup of tea?) were revolting. We looked on with envy as Matt savoured his sensible smoothie.

Our tour, lead by Serena, was quirky and gave an entertaining early history of Seattle, bringing some of its early prominent citizens to life. Some of the original city remains underground as they simply built over it, there are even water mains made from wood which are still in service.

It’s worth reading Bill Speidel’s site for a little history – http://www.undergroundtour.com/about/history.html

Dinner was in Purple, a cafe bar just across the road from the hotel. It was very noisy and the menu paired food choices with wine so we gave it a go.

We’re not enjoying Seattle as much as we hoped. This is the first place we’ve stayed where it really doesn’t feel safe to walk at night and we’re rather pleased we’re only here for a two nights. Matt, who has run the risk of bears in the Rockies and drug addicts in Gastown after dark, decided to keep to the gym and declined to stay out by himself tonight.

Throughout the night, we are taking it in turns to do 2 hour shifts to dry the washing with the hairdryer.

Breaking news – 2019 Motorhome trip booked. Hands up who thinks John wasn’t paying attention when he agreed to 14 nights in the smallest Motorhome available!