Seattle - Smashing, except for the rain!

I had been waiting to go to Seattle since Seattle Public Library opened its Central Library in 2004.  I have to say that building turned out to be pretty amazing, even in the rain - it was worth the wait!  When we arrived in Seattle in late afternoon via ferry from the Olympic Peninsula, it was sunny and warm. But having read the weather forecast, we knew we had to make use of all the daylight hours that day to see Seattle before the rain expected the following day. 

Seattle and the Space Needle at night

 

Our first stop was the Frank Gehry building in which the Museum of Popular Culture was housed - it was top on my list of must-see sights in the city so we had booked a hotel near it and the Space Needle. I managed to get some outside shots even though the sun was almost gone. The night view of Seattle with the Space Needle was smashing and I was glad I had the opportunity to catch that before the rain.

The Frank Gehry building with the monorail spewing out of its mouth!  What can I say about this building? I'm at a loss for words!

  

 

  

 

It was a short monorail ride downtown and we walked through the rain most of the day - it was still the best way to see the city. The Central Library architecture was awesome and the most amazing thing was the complete invisibility of security.  No one checked our bags in or out, nor stop us from taking photos. There were tons of computers and it was obvious it was a haven for the homeless as we saw many with their belongings. We explored all the floors and gawked at the abundance of light from all the glass even on a dark rainy day. It was a very pleasant visit.

The main floor of the Seattle Central Library

Amazing escalators that stood out and yet are also an integral part of the building

The meeting room floor

This glass pattern is repeated around the building letting in lots of light

This is the teen area - empty during the day

Pioneer Square was a bit sketchy but I knew that and visited mainly to see the beautiful arcade although it was difficult to capture since the homeless population was taking shelter there and I didn't want to be rude. A policeman on a bike approached us to ask if he could help, mainly to make his presence known, I think. 

The beautiful Victorian arcade in Pioneer Square

  

Inside the Seattle Art Museum

We walked to Pike Place Market for lunch at the highly recommended Market Grill. The food was delicious but it was not the most comfortable seating arrangement. The Market was astounding in its size and variety and definitely worth a visit.  We walked through downtown before taking the train back to the hotel. It was a tiring day, particularly with the pouring rain.

 

The Amazon Spheres

The "Darth Vader" building - very difficult to photograph because there was not much space around it!

 

The monorail in the rain

Unfortunately it was our last full day in Seattle. The following morning we paid a quick visit to Capitol Hill on our way to the airport. I was curious to see their rainbow sidewalks but there wasn't much street life in the morning. 

Seattle was a great place to wrap up our visit to the U.S. Pacific Northwest with the ocean in view as we took to the air.
 

Seattle from the Bainbridge Island ferry

 This marks the end of our Pacific Northwest road trip.  Thank you for joining us for the ride!

Bilbao's Guggenheim - a pilgrimage...

Bilbao was the highlight of our Amsterdam to Barcelona cruise - Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum has been on my bucket list ever since I was bowled over by his Walt Disney Music Centre in Los Angeles. This trip was for me a pilgrimage to see the his architectural masterpiece in Bilbao.  The New Yorker had described it as "a fantastic dream ship of undulating form in a cloak of titanium" - it could have been applied to the L.A. building as well except this one is bigger and more sensational and has the environmental advantage of being on the banks of a river.  The inside was also more spectacular than the Disney Music Centre, which was relatively tame compared to the Guggenheim.  

We were lucky that it turned out to be a beautiful day and the photo ops were plenty.  I was at first disappointed that the bus didn't stop across the river from the museum to allow for a full frontal shot.  So after we've had a tour of the museum and the old town of Bilbao, we followed the bus tour back to the ship terminal, then took the bus shuttle back into town just so I could walk across the river to take that panoramic shot.  Afterall we've come 6,000 kms across the ocean to see the museum, what's another bus ride back into the city!

As is typical of art galleries and museums inside architectural masterpieces, one couldn't help but be distracted by the architecture, the art almost became secondary (for me at least).  There was an excellent exhibit of Guggenheim masterpieces, including artists like Mark Rothko, Yves Klein, Andy Warhol, Anselm Kiefer (love his "Land of the Two Rivers) and Gerhard Richter together with Basque sculptors Eduardo Chillida and Jorge Orteiza.  We also happened upon a temporary exhibit "The School Of Paris" drawn from the collection of the Guggenheim in New York - a lot of familiar works that were not sufficiently unusual to dim the exciting architecture. 

Dramatic man-made fog mark the opening hour at the Guggenheim - to add to the surreal ambiance.  Here the panorama was a bit squished because I was standing directly in front of the building, not far enough for a true panorama yet dramatic enough for an opening shot.

"Tall Tree & The Eye" by Anish Kapoor outside the museum

The atrium in panorama - Gehry called it the "flower"

Tulips by Jeff Koons on the terrace walkout from the atrium

Richard Serra's "The Matter of Time" - a sculpture of oxidized steel built for the main floor gave people who walked through the angled sheets a unique experience of shifting space and perception, which could be dizzying at times

Plaza Nueva in the Old Town, a gathering place with many taverns and restaurants in the arcades, and a flea market on Sundays

Streets of Bilbao

A house with very beautiful facade and balconies

Dry goods store in the Old Town

Salted fish store

Painted ceiling on one of the arcaded streets

Interesting store built into the side of a church?

No lack of variety in terms of music on the streets

Add caption

Our first encounter with the pilgrim route in front of this church

This steel sculpture that reminded me of a thumbprint was in a garden at the top of the hill overlooking Bilbao, we could get an almost aerial view of the Guggenheim

Yes, a full view of the museum but it's not the same as a full frontal view!  This was why we went back for more. 

Came across this interesting footbridge that took us across the river

A late afternoon side profile

The full frontal view that we came back for.  We began and ended the day with this breathtaking, fantastical piece of architecture.

Next stop:  Ferrol, Spain for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella