Making Music in Seattle

6/12/13

After Pike Place Market we headed to the Westlake Center to catch the monorail. You have to walk through the “mall” to get to the monorail on the third floor. We passed a Claire’s and I bought some items.

We purchased our tickets to the monorail and waited about 10 minutes for it to come. The monorail took about 10 minutes to get to the Seattle Center. The monorail was packed, which surprised me.

We walked across the street from the Seattle Center to the Space Needle. There was a small line. The admission price was a bit pricey ($19 a person), but it was something we wanted to do. After getting our tickets we waited on another line. Then we got our picture taken against a green screen. We were given a ticket to download the picture. We waited on another line for an elevator. A video of our elevator ride is below:

We got lucky because it was a beautiful clear day. The view was amazing! We took tons of pictures. We watched the monorail for a bit. We also tried to find our hotel. We found a table inside and looked at the view for a while. Then we used the machines and scanned our picture ticket to pick our green screen image.

We waited on line to take the elevator down. Video is below:

We stopped at the gift shop so I could get a press a penny, but it wasn’t the normal 51 cents. We left and headed right next door to EMP.

I had bought my tickets online and was able to save a couple of dollars. The guy scanned my phone and we were all set. They had the Game of Thrones throne which we took a picture on. We went to the Fantasyland area first. They had costumes and props from Snow White and the Huntsman, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz, The Princess Bride, etc. I was beyond excited to see the costumes and props from the Princess Bride since it is one of my favorite movies. I love Inigo Montoya. They had his costume and sword. There was also a dragon that if you pulled his tail he woke up. However, it wasn’t working so they closed it.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Percy Jackson

Wizard of Oz

Princess Bride

Chronicles of Narnia

Princess Bride

Harry Potter-Sirius Black

Princess Bride

Chronicles of Narnia

Then we headed to the horror film area. We saw props from Frankenstein, Blair Witch Project, the Shining, Thriller and many more.

Frankenstein

Blair Witch Project

Blair Witch Project

The Shining

The Mummy’s Curse

Thriller

After that we headed to the science fiction area. We saw stuff from Star Wars, Star Trek, MIB, Matrix, etc. You could even go in front of a green screen and put yourself on Mars.

Star Trek

Yoda

Star Wars

Superman

MIB

Me on Mars

Then we headed to the rooms on Jimi Hendrix. They had some of his clothes and guitars. There was also a room filled with guitars from the 1800’s on. It was interesting to see the evolution of the guitar. I knew my coworker Bob would love it. We found out that there was going to be an exhibit on women in music, but it wasn’t ready yet. I would have liked to have seen Gaga’s meat dress. See pictures at the bottom of the post.

We then headed to the third floor where you could play some instruments and record music. I messed around on a guitar for a bit. Next we headed to the gift shop. I wanted to buy some postcards but they didn’t have any. Instead I purchased a blue guitar mint case for Bob. I got a press a penny. We used the ladies room and headed to find our bus.

We got so lost! Google maps was surprisingly not very helpful. It didn’t help that the bus stop markers just say bus and don’t indicate the number or direction. Someone had to tell us. We got on a crowded smelly bus that made our NYC cross down buses feel fast. We were going to be late to our dinner reservation!!! We called Spinasse and explained.

We finally got off the bus and walked for what seemed like forever until we found the restaurant. They weren’t busy and were nice about us being late. They gave us a table by the bar. We ordered their famous Tajarin al burro e salvia aka fine hand cut egg pasta with butter and sage. We ordered a full portion ($22). They brought us crostini with anchovies and cream cheese. I didn’t eat it, but my mom tried it and didn’t like it. Our pasta came right away and it was clear that it wasn’t enough food for two people to share. However, it was so good! I could see why it is featured on a million food shows. The pasta is made by hand in the restaurant and you clearly tell. I could have had multiple bowls of it. We paid (almost $30 after tax and tip for a small bowl of pasta) and searched for the bus. Again we got lost, but eventually found it. Turns out we really didn’t need the bus. It was like 10 blocks from our hotel. The maps made it seem far away.

We went to the Regency Club for a second dinner. The selection was awful. 😦 I had some cheese and bread. I pulled out my prioshky from earlier and ate that with a bowl of whipped cream. I also ate like 4 cookies. I did enjoy reading about the Louvre in this book that they had.

After dinner we were bored so we wandered the neighborhood. We went to Ross where I got a pair of shoes and several pharmacies. We also went to Escala where Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey lives in the book.

My mom at Escala

Escala Lobby

Nirvana Section

MTV Moon Man

Boston in College

During my freshman year of college I went to Boston with a tour bus full of people from my college. Our original plan was Boston and Salem. Salem didn’t work out because our bus broke down and we had to change buses in the middle of nowhere. My suitcase was broken in this process. When we finally got to Boston it was already dark. We were staying in the outskirts of Boston in Somerville. It was St. Patrick’s Day weekend, which we found out is a big deal in Boston.

My friends drank, danced, and laughed for hours in the hotel room while I watched in amusement. We were warned that the subway shuts down at midnight which we thought was beyond stupid. A small group of us headed out to Quincy Market. On the platform my friends sang and danced on the benches, while I made sure they didn’t end up in the tracks. When we finally got out of the subway my friend Kathleen went into oncoming traffic and almost got hit by a car, but I pulled her back at the last second. The funny thing is that it happened right by the Boston Massacre site.

When we got to Quincy Market Michael left us to catch up with his friends. The girls and I checked out the Cheers gift shop and whatever else was open. We posed with some guys dressed as leprechauns. Molly’s friend joined us. Kathleen and I were standing in the middle of the market (it’s a round open area) when a guy came over to us and hugged us while saying beam me up Scotty. His wife wasn’t too happy with him. Once we left the market it was crazy. Everyone was drunk! One of my friends was running around looking for her glove while the other was making out with random guys. I eventually got us to a 7-11 to pump food into them. Then I dragged them back on the subway to our hotel. There was no way in hell I was missing the last train before midnight. Our friends wound up missing the last train and had a horrible expensive time getting back. Once back in our hotel room a group of drunk guys tried to get into our room, but I wouldn’t let them. They gave up once they realized I was sober.

The next day we all woke up early and went to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was fun and strange at the same time. Lots of weird floats. Afterwards we met up with Molly’s friends who dragged us around for what seemed like hours. Kathleen and I had enough. We were starving, freezing, and tired. We broke away and walked in search of food, comfort, and warmth. We found a Borders. The people at the Borders cafe felt so bad for us. They picked out the biggest m&m Rice Krispie treats and poured lots of whipped cream and chocolate sauce in our hot chocolates. We could have kissed them. We went back to the same 7-11 we were in the night before. We then met up with our group and did the Freedom Trail. We didn’t do Bunker Hill though. We ended at the Old North Church. We took Hanover St. Back down to Quincy Market. All the pastry places looked so good! A bunch of us decided to eat in a seafood place by Quincy Market. I got Mac n cheese. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t enough food. Back to our 7-11 and then we headed back to our hotel. Kathleen, Molly, and I rented the movie Bobby.

The next day Kathleen and I took the bus to Cambridge. We walked around for a while using my guidebook. My guidebook said we could go into this old building so we did. We wound up getting yelled at because it was the President’s office and is closed to the public. Stupid guide book. After that we opted for a Harvard history tour. We had a student show us around campus and tell us the history of all the buildings. She did the whole pahk yah cah at hahvad yahd bit. We met up with the whole group for dinner at Uno’s.

The bus ride home was a mixture of sleeping and karaoke. I think we also watched the Simpsons at one point. The trip was short, but fun.

Our karaoke videos (that’s not me singing):

Boston Memories

I took a day off of blog posting yesterday in honor of the victims of the Boston Marathon Explosions. It was my version of a moment of silence for them. My heart and prayers go out to the victims, families of the victims, and everyone who witnessed the horrific events first hand. As a girl I watched from my classroom window (located across the street from the World Trade Center) the atrocities of 9/11. I know what it is like to wish you could take the images and sounds out of your memory. I know what it is like to run for your life. I know what it is like to wish that you were safe at home watching on TV instead of being in the middle of it. So I know how you feel. The pain, sadness, and the memories start to fade and blur over time. Though each horrific event or anniversary will temporarily bring them back.

I’m headed to Boston next week. This is a trip I have had planned for months and am not going to change it. I’ve been to Boston several times before and thought I was use this post to show off my favorite Boston memories. I will post pictures from my times in Boston with my college friends and with my family. I will go back to writing about Philly tomorrow.

Did I mention it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend?

This was right after a guy came up to us and said “beam me up Scotty!”

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

No idea why Star Wars people were at the parade

At the parade

After freezing our butts off for hours this Borders was our savior

Paul Revere’s Pew

At Harvard

Loved Make Way for Ducklings when I was little

Where everybody knows your name…

Always have to find the Masonic Lodge

Yummy! From Flour Bakery