Day #7 - Seattle and its Business Sense....

Before arriving in Seattle I thought of it being another northern American city, close to the border, with many Canadians mixed into the community, and relaxed atmosphere.... and funnily enough my view on Seattle hasn’t change much but what I didn’t know was this is such a hub for American industry. The amount of new technology and development of tourism here is has grown over the last 30 years with the help of a number of very important people within the community. The likes of the the Gates (Bill & Melinda Gates, Founders of Microsoft, and the owner of Amazon Jeff Bezos, have developed and change the business culture and landscape here dramatically. Making it one of the hubs for particularly technology/internet based companies inc Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and then Boeing United airlines, Alaska Airlines   but also in other business areas. The likes of Nirvana to name a few...  with that also the development of s very important Music scene, the grunge music scene is still present within the community, with Nivarna and Jimmy Hendrick's both coming from Seattle, and changing the music landscape forevermore. Music still has its roots here in Seattle amongst the committee today, and this is prevalent even in the city, with many of the local buskers, performing classic Grunge hits.

We started jumping on the bus early and heading out to our first stop at Microsoft. We were to meet with an old boy's company representative but unfortunately only a day ago he sent me an email saying the staff member that was to show us around actually have been poached by rival company and was an able then to show us the Microsoft campus. Never mind we went to the visitor centre and the boys had a fabulous time. They got to see the new technology that was coming out with Microsoft and also enjoy if you were the favourite games including Forza (a car game) and others that I have no idea what they are.

After an hour so at Microsoft we jump back on the bus and went back closer to town to the University of Washington. Founded in 1861 this is one of the older universities in the USA and has a long history within this community. Originally located downtown was moved after 100 years out to the campus to the north of the city. Luckily for them though, they still retain the land of the old campus, within the city, and collect rent from those now developed areas. The 40,000 student university now has some wonderfully old building, and dorms, very traditional and very important to this state of Washington. We walk down the mall looking at all the buildings down to our eventual destination husky stadium.

Husky Stadium, a 70,000 seat stadium amazed the boys and considering that Suncorp Stadium only holds 60,000, and this is 'just' a university. We went next door to the official team shop of the University but unfortunately it was under renovation so were unable to get our university clothing.

From here we jump back on the bus and went back into tIown to the old side of the Seattle expo many years ago in the early 60s (1962). First place to go, the Armoury Food Hall which is a large indoor venue with many varieties of food for the boys to have some lunch.

Following that we went up the Space Needle to look at the view around the city. Once up there they have renovated the walls up there in an open a style where you walk out onto a Veranda with a big large glass window leaning outwards. If you would like to see the photos on Flickr here will give you a much better image of what it was like. Some of the boys really enjoyed leaning up and over the glass but for many sticking me the inside wall was the preferred manner.

After a couple of hours up there enjoying the view of the Pacific ocean we went downstairs to our next destination, MOPOP.

Museum of Pop Culture is one of those attractions here in Seattle that gets little recognition, and with that the boys were very hesitant to go in, but once inside, it was fabulous. The boys had an absolute ball playing in the music studios using all instruments and mixing all the sounds of very interactive display. Then they got the chance to look at some of the history behind grunge music scene including Nivarna, and others. The museum was the highlight of the day as we spent nearly 3 hours just wondering through what is one of the Best Themed museums I’ve been too.

Following this we jump back on the bus and went down to the waterfront for a superb Tour dinner at the waterfront restaurant, the Crab Cookery. I introduced the boys to sourdough bread and clamp chowder. Some of them were brave enough also try a oyster shot as well, which went down 'well'. It was a lovely meal by the waterfront and a lot of the boys have not tried this before were pleased and glad they were able to venture out of the comfort zone and try something new.

After this we left and walked up to Pike‘s Place markets and through the gum wall which the boys got a real laugh of. It’s an alley full of people‘s chewing gum up against the wall and many of the boys contributed to the display that was there. Again look at the photos to see what I’m talking about.

From here the boys wanted to get a little bit of retail therapy late at night so they walked off down our street together and went to the local Niketown store before heading home to the hotel for early night sleep before how big day tomorrow at Boeing.

Seattle was one of those days I really enjoyed seeing a new city but also seeing many things that you hear about but would never have seen before. Bring on Boeing tomorrow....