Lunch at Copacabana
Seattle subway
Seattle, WA
With an abundance of air miles to use, and rarely seen close friends in Vancouver to visit, our wanderlust has yet again got the better of us, so after a night in Heathrow’s Sofitel hotel, which featured dinner inside Terminal 5 itself, we've headed west for a roadtrip through some of the most spectacular scenery on earth, traversing the Canadian Rockies.
However our first stop is a night in Seattle, which we first visited together ten years ago. An on-time flight and remarkably swift jaunt through security means we're checked into our airport hotel by lunchtime, our bodies ready for bed. Bags dropped and a 30 minute train ride later however and we're in downtown Seattle, shopping for trousers – Coman having realised that three pairs of shorts and no long trousers might be a bit ambitious for a mountain trek, involving a walk on a glacier if we time things right.
We load up on coffee – Seattle being the home of Starbucks – then new jeans duly bought, we wander down to the famous Pike Place Market, opting for a salad and beers in the blazing sunshine on the roof terrace of Copacabana, a Bolivian restaurant next to the market, before braving the crowds.
The market has not changed at all since I was last here, on an Iron Maiden trip in 2009, its iconic sign still in place and its interior crammed with esoteric bric a brac, vast mounds of fresh fish on ice, quirky eateries, organic vegetables and thousands of tourists. The inevitable photo of the original Starbucks store is taken, long queues snaking outside, before we follow the advice of a guy sat next to us on the Hilton shuttle bus earlier, to visit Capital Hill.
We take the train one stop there to check out the funky bars and restaurants he promised, but are somewhat bemused when we emerge from the station. A small park, a drag bar and a couple of cheap restaurants are all that seem on offer. After a brief wander we head back downtown to the financial district and have dinner at Wild Ginger, an Asian restaurant serving Vietnamese spring rolls, Thai braised tofu & aubergine and a Javanese vegetable curry.
It's delicious but yawning with jet lag we leave downtown Seattle soon after 7, taking the train back to our hotel and hitting the sack straight away, ready for our Canadian adventure to begin tomorrow.
