Sally and I, on the other hand, had a great day. We started by taking the water taxi from West Seattle over to the central city. We proceeded to walk to the old Chinatown area, where at the Wing Luke Museum we signed up for the Bitter/Sweet tour. For those of you who have read the book The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, this tour is IT. We were guided around the district and shown various buildings that were referenced in the book. Our tour concluded at the Panama Hotel, which was the impetus behind the book. For those who haven't read Hotel, the Panama had been boarded up and abandoned until fairly recently, when the new owner started renovations. In the basement, they discovered a lot of personal belongings left behi d by the local Japanese-American population when they were sent to "relocation" camps during WW II. It was fun to relate the actual to the fictional.
After sharing a pot of tea at the Panama, we headed over to Pike Place Market. There we discovered what everyone visiting Seattle does on a Saturday afternoon. Talk about crowded! The longest line was to order a coffee at the Original Starbucks. We didn't even try to get in there.
We did go into a tea shop, where Sally bought me a Russian Imperial cup and saucer (long story). We also visited a quilt shop and a spice store.
Another water taxi back and we were ready to relax with our menfolk for a while.
Our tour guide Mike Luke (nephew of Wing Luke!) brought the book to life so much he made me forget they were just fictional characters!
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