Seattle: Tourist Attractions

When you're visiting a city like NYC for the first time there are tons of touristy things one wants to do. Central Park, The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Times Union, Grand Central, Rockefeller Center, The American Museum of Natural History, etc. Oh and let's not forget about heading to Brooklyn to check out the gorgeous brownstones. One thing I'm certain about is that it can't be done in just one day. At least if you are really to appreciate it all without feeling rushed, one should make sure that their visit to NYC is at least several days.

Most of the touristy things to do in Seattle can be done in at most two days. We did it in one. But that's not a bad thing at all, in fact it was pretty welcoming not to be overwhelmed or feel like we were missing out on something. Everything we wanted to see we saw without ever feeling rushed. Due to this, you actually feel at home and almost like you're living in Seattle for the short amount of time that you are there.

Because I did not know what to expect from Seattle or the fact that it was not on my list of places to visit I was not disappointed. If you're expecting Seattle to be like NYC (granting you love NYC) then you might be disappointed in my opinion.

The downtown scene of Seattle is full of character, lively but not overcrowded. People just going about their everyday lives with a sprinkle of individuals asking for money whether they are performing for you or not.

Pike Place Market

I could get lost in here I enjoyed it so much. The atmosphere is so lovely and there is so much to see. I walked to Pike Place Market every day I was in Seattle minus the day I was sick and it still felt new to me each time. As soon as I learned that I was going to Seattle I told Sean that if I could do anything it was to take a picture of the Public Market Center sign. I think I have about 50 of them in all different angles. I took SO many pictures that I will of course share in future posts since this post is just to highlight tourist attractions.

Space Needle

If there was anything Sean wanted to do it was to see the Space Needle. We took the monorail which was an extremely quick ride from our hotel. Once we paid we were taken to an elevator with windows that way you can view Seattle as the elevator went up and up. It was pretty incredible to see Seattle at 500 feet above ground. When we went outside once we reached the top we feared the wind was going to blow us away.

There is a restaurant (Sky City) in the Space Needle that rotates to give you an entire view of the city while you eat. I would have loved to do that but I did not know ahead of time and reservations are necessary if you do not want to be waiting for a long time to be seated. The wait to be seated even happens when you've booked a reservation we learned. Also it's not inexpensive to eat here so having to wait such a long time was not worth it to me. But I'm not going to lie, I would love to do it one day and will be prepared!

Gum Wall

There are a lot of alleys in Seattle which I found fantastic. The Gum Wall is one of the spots that we found in an alley. I will say that being near all the gum knowing that it was once chewed grossed me out. But despite that it kinda was like a work of art. I mean, truly, who thought that a whole bunch of chewed gum stuck to a wall could actually be a tourist attraction?! Genius.

The Original Starbucks

The long line of people waiting to get coffee made me realize that this had to be the original Starbucks. It actually made me laugh because there is another Starbucks less than five minutes away (by walking) that had a much smaller wait line. The word original make people do baffling things.

I do know that walking around Seattle made it more apparent that I am truly a city girl at heart. I do not know how much longer I am going to hide from this fact. I know my sister Emma is smiling reading this since she has been bugging me to move back to the city. Either way, it is great to feel your heart jump with such happiness at the sight of tall buildings even if for just a few days. Seattle, thank you for that.

And if you've been to Seattle please tell me of other tourist attractions that I may have missed out on!
I know that I missed out on Fremont because I decided to get sick. Lame.