Sleepless in Seattle

We actually were sleepless in Seattle, because we stayed Thursday and Friday nights, in a hostel, and at 0200 Saturday morning the rest of our floor decided to hold an impromptu party in the hallway. At the same time a group of people on the street below us were in the middle of a similarly raucous gathering. It's Halloween on Monday night, you see, and it's much more fun to have the parties over the weekend. On that note, we're a little sad because the hostel is having it's Halloween party tonight, but we'll be staying in Sequim (pronounced Sqwim) at a posh and secluded and Halloween-party-less lodge. [I've just read that out to Daniel and he looked at me with a grimace and said "we've kind of messed up, haven't we?" Technically, that's the PG-13 version of what he said.] Never mind. Our bedroom has a view of the Space Needle, which makes being awake in the middle of the night slightly more enjoyable.

Our room

The view from our room

The lack of sleep was a particularly annoying because we hit a wall when we got to Seattle - we'd been going pretty hard the last few days in New England and were also short on sleep. The stressful journey here didn't help either. As a result, I don't think we've given Seattle the respect it's due - it really is a wonderland. Pine trees everywhere, mountain vistas and lots and lots of water.

Seattle dot points:

• The mountain backdrop of the city is so beautiful, but because of the weather we've only seen bits and pieces of it. They're almost mirage-like, and you can't decide whether the shadowy silhouettes are merely a figment of your imagination.
• There's homeless people everywhere, and they're all holding comical begging signs about how they need money for beer and hookers - it's a little cliche to be honest. Nonetheless, their plight is quite clearly problematic.
• There are as many hairdressers as homeless people. Daniel finally got a much-needed haircut.
• The bus system is very strange. Sometimes you pay as you get on, sometimes as you get off... They run off cables like trams.