Bainbridge Island & Pioneer Square

Now that we're back in Seattle, it's time to do a few things that we didn't get a chance to cover while we were here before. One of those things, out of a suggestion from my buddy Glen, was to take the Bainbridge Ferry over to Bainbridge Island and back. It's about a 2.5 hour round trip and offers some really unique views of the city, the Cascades, the Olympic Mountains, and if you're lucky, Mount Rainier. So, we did just that, and after a quick contintental breakfast at the hotel, managed to catch the 11:25 ferry over to Bainbridge Island.

It really was beautiful, though the air got really bitey, especially on the Sound, but we loved it. Fortunately, it was just clear enough to gain some really great views on the surrounding mountain ranges. The peak of Rainier however, was covered in cloud. After about 35 minutes or so, we arrived at Bainbridge, unboarded the ship and headed into downtown Bainbridge.

To be honest, there wasn't much here, so we didn't spend much time hanging around. It was nice to see parts of the Island though, and I'm sure it would've been a lot more interesting had we brought our car and driven around the Island for a bit to gain some other views, but we were on a walking tour, so we pretty much stayed in the area of downtown. We did get to check out a few interesting stores while we were here, but nothing that held our interest, (or that our bank accounts would've been able to withstand) Before we knew it, we were heading back towards the Ferry that would sail us back to Seattle.





Back in the city, we learned that Pioneer Square was only a short walk from the Pier, so we headed up the hill, and into the main Square, which as I know it, is the oldest section of Seattle, basically being the square that the entire rest of the city was built upon. This is also where they offer the underground Seattle tour, which we didn't take, but I was actually able to talk to one of the tour guides about it for a few minutes. After fires hit Seattle in the early 20th century, most of the city had to be rebuilt. There were a lot of problems, including flooding and issues with the foundations due to the nearby water table, so everything had to be restructured. Since the city owned the public streets and the sidewalks were privately owned, the city didn't touch the sidewalks and built straight up from the streets, creating basements out of the first floors of each buildings and turning the second floors into street level stores. Does that make sense? It was kind of cool, and it probably would've been great to take the tour, but we just didn't have time.

We ate lunch at a cool little Irish Pub in the Square with one of the friendliest waitresses we've had yet, then took the opportunity to walk into Belltown and explore the area in which we're staying. Steph found a coat that she fell in love with (by a private designer that unfortunately was charging an arm and a leg for it) and I nearly needed to be dragged out of a Peter Miller design store with enough books and resources inside to last me years.

We got back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit, then headed out to dinner at a place we passed earlier called Celler's. It was an amazingly good Italian place that had just opened up a few weeks before. Steph and I both chose our selections from the wine menu, followed by a finely presented cheese plate and our chosen main courses. Completely full, we walked up towards downtown for a few minutes to let our food settle, then jumped in a cab, making our way up to Capitol Hill again to meet my buddy Jon one last time. This offered us a new perspective on Capitol Hill, which Jon explained later as one of the most expensive and sought-after areas of town. We wouldn't have guessed that before, but it was interesting to hear.

We arrived at a bar called the Canterbury a bit early, so we sat down at a chess table and passed the time with me teaching Steph how to play chess. She had never learned before and once she started getting the concept of the game, fell in love with it. I see a really nice chess set in our future after tonight. The bar itself was really cool. It had an old medieval feel to it, complete with small rooms filled with wooden tables, low hanging rafters and chandeliers, fieldstone fireplaces and tudor designed walls. Jon and his friend Rita arrived shortly after, so we sat down with them for a bit and literally laughed straight through the next hour. We wished we could've stayed out with them longer, but because of our early rise in the morning, we cashed out around midnight, said our goodbyes, and took a cab back to the hotel.

Only two days left and there's plenty to fit in, especially tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will hold up long enough for us to really enjoy Mount Rainier. Keep your fingers crossed for us...we'll post more when we get back.