lapacifidora | Rainy days and Mondays (Part 1)

There's an old song that goes "Rainy days and Mondays always bring me down."

(Apparently, it's also a Carpenter's song, which makes it even more depressing. But I digress.)

Still, for as much as Seattle is considered one of the rainiest cities in the country - and maybe the world? - it's been beautiful weather all week.

For the sake of my own sanity - and my laptop's battery life - I'll be uploading this week's adventures in two posts. So: Here it goes.
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Monday

We went to the Microsoft campus in Redmond to meet my brother and sister-in-law for lunch. (They work on the same floor of the same building: It's a little strange.)

They took us to "The Commons," which is the new section of campus that's been built in the last few years. And, of course, I completely forgot to take any pictures - even of my food. (We had Indian and it was remarkable good for being high-end cafeteria food.)

After that, we went over The British Pantry, which has always been the one place we could be assured of finding imports. (As apparently I have made food a part of this, we had pastys (pah-sti-s, not pay-sti-s) for dinner - pastry filled with meat, veg and a gravy of sorts. Mine was chicken curry.)

The new portion of the M'soft campus was very nice, though quiet, with so many people out of town for a major conference. We also met several of my brother's coworkers, though the less said about that, the safer. :/
***
Tuesday

We went to the Seattle Aquarium, newly renovated since the last time I was there in 2001. It's still as impressive as always - certainly moreso than the "aquarium" we went to at Mandalay Bay last summer, which was the opposite of impressive. (And consequently, way overpriced.)

Much of the new exhibit space is designed to be hands on and interactive for little kids - but parts of it, like the color-changing jellyfish ring you can walk through, are pretty neat regardless of age.

Past that section is a tropical fish area, with lots of pretty, brightly colored swimmy things.

And of course, we had to go see the sea and river otters, which are always adorable.

We finally left the aquarium around 2 p.m. and headed across the street to Pike Place Market.

Now, people *always* ask if the Market is exactly like what they've seen in movies and on TV - y'know, with the fish being thrown around, the street performers and the throngs of people.

To which I always reply "Yes. It is."

The thing is, there is so much more to the market area: There's fab little shops, there's restaurants and coffee shops - there's even the original Sur La Table store. To go to the market and not explore the surrounding streets or to ignore the waterfront *right across the street* - well, it's ciriminal.

We stopped for a snack at DeLaurenti's, which has a cafe at the corner and an Italian market going into the market. We had these giant slices of pizza, which was excellent and fresh from the oven.

On the way out, we stopped and picked up fresh halibut for dinner. Normally, I'm not a fish or seafood person. It's not that I turn up my nose at it, i just normally can't stand the smell or taste of cooked (or raw) fish. Something about it always strikes me as slimy. Still, out of deference for my brother-in-law's considerable cooking skills, I ate the halibut as he prepared it. Surprisingly, it was like chicken in a white sauce.

Then we headed back to the hotel early, as the next day was also going to be rather long.

(And I cannot wait to get home so I can have some semblance of a normal schedule and I can finally stop living out of a suitcase. Blegh.)