Portland-Oregon Nature-Seattle (3. Seattle: Amtrak, Space Needle, Chihuly garden and glass, Public Market place, Underground city tour, etc.)
We took a train from Portland to Seattle.
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Metropolitan lounge is accessible free of charge if you are a business class ticket holder in Portland Union station. Relaxed sofas, seats, and some beverages are available in the lounge while waiting for the train to arrive. You can keep the luggage in the cloakroom inside, with no locks or lockers unguarded though.
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The meals they served at the food train car were not bad, I liked the dessert.
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It was a sleeper train small box cabin type car we booked. Inside is totally unseen if the curtains are closed. Quite a tiny space but it was bearable for me. Portland to Seattle distance is about several hours.
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Monorail. Finding where to get the ticket was kind of hard but managed to get it and got on!
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Around the space needle. International fountain.
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Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar.
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Oysters and salads. My friend exaggerated the taste, telling me to go it was the best in her life, which is why I got disappointed. It was a fairly good meal for me.
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KEXP cafe. An interesting place, it had a radio live show ongoing at the booth visible through the glass.
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We purchased a timed ticket for the Space Needle and Chihuly garden. We still have to be in line for nearly an hour to enter the Space Needle with the timed ticket. It was really hot outside so the staff had a mist-cooling fan running toward the people in line.
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Very crowded inside. You have to look around for seats long if you want to enjoy the view long.
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The view from the Space Needle observatory deck. A bit scary because the glasses walls are tilt back when you sit down.
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Space Needle seen from the Chihuly garden and glass. A beautiful artistic place.
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Kerry Park. The hills or stairs to climb up here is steep and tough. If you don’t have time or if you have been to the observatory of space needle or somewhere this place isn’t a must.
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Menya Musashi Tsukemen & Ramen. This one is in Japan too.
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Public Market Center. Very very crowded. Sunny weather was good.
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From seafood to flowers. A lot to see and a lot to buy.
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It was so crowded where ever we went around the Public Market area.
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Beecher’s cheese. The make cheese here and we got to taste some before we made a purchase.
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Pike’s Place Chowder. We were in line for a quite long. Gotta have the energy to go around walking.
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Clam chowder and lobster roll. These two were so tasty and I was very hungry.
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Rachel’s Ginger Beer. Very crowded and the lines shrink fast but no seats.. Best way to get chilled on a hot sunny day like this.
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To get into this first established Starbucks you have to be in line for a long time again. Expect like an hour at most. Some of the popular exclusive goods sold only in the Pike place starbucks were out of stock.
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The Gum wall. I wanted to avoid this place but got lost on the road and accidentally arrived there.
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Went to too many Aquariums long ago I got fed up with going to such places a few years ago. Maybe I can try visiting future aquariums from the next year.
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Kedai Makan. I was expecting more authentic Malaysian food when I was lined up here even 1hour before the restaurant opened because they don’t accept reservations but only first come first served basis.
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I lived in Malaysia before and this food wasn’t my satisfactory. Maybe people love it here because this is the only option for having Malaysian food around this area. Anyway, the vibe was good.
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Nana’s Green Tea. The interior was pretty decorated with fake flowers and plants. The matcha shake was tasty too.
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Din Tai Fung. One of the biggest chain Chinese food restaurant popular for dimsum.
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But I was here for beef soup noodles more than the dim sums.
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Underground City Tour of Seattle.
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This was one interesting tour. You get to learn a bit of the history of how this city was built and developed through a short introduction session from the guide before you start off the tour.
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You’ll be going up and down in and out while the tour.
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Seattle Public Library-Central Library. It was neat and huge with a modern shape building.
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Seattle is a mostly cold cloudy rainy place but how lucky we are to be there when it’s always sunny during the summer.
Taking a walk in Seattle was lively and fun for me.
Events were held at the pier and people on the streets looked so bright.
I didn’t like too crowded places before Covid but I’m getting to understand better about people who think the more the people are, the merrier it is in the tourist attractions.