8/19/2026 - Seattle, WA - Clear -78F

The room was quiet and we got some sleep. My only complaint about the room is the toilet is so close to the ground that it complicates things.

Breakfast is served from 6:30 - 10:30 AM. The Breakfast Room is on the first floor between the front door and the front desk. The place was relatively empty at 6:30 AM. and I got a window seat with a nice view of the street.

I had Cheerios with milk and a freshly made waffle. There were Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches and packaged hard boiled eggs and all sorts of breads and muffins. The coffee was good. A pretty good breakfast.  

There was a table full of contractors having breakfast - I didn't notice any major work going on in the hotel - maybe these guys have an arrangement with the hotel for breakfast.  Ellen came down later and I had another cup of coffee while she had breakfast.

It was a bright sunny day and I had a nice view of Yerler St.  Across the street was a brick building with a sign that read "Barney McCoy's Buffet" - the place was a famous pre-Prohibition bar and lunch buffet - it is long closed but its sign still marks the location.

During breakfast, a van with the Starbuck's Logo parked alongside the Hotel.  

I checked this out and this is a shuttle for Starbuck's employees that transport employees to the various stores around Seattle once those people arrive using other transport (according to Google).  Lots of folks boarded the bus.

The plan today was to take the Water Front Shuttle to Pike Place Market and locate the Starbuck Roastery.  I Should have done some research because the Roastery closed in September 2025. No matter, the Market Area is loaded with lots of things to see.  The weather was a little chilly at the start but warmed up during the morning. We disembarked the Shuttle in front of the Market. 

I could see the Ferry Terminal and the ferry docked. The Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry is the largest ferry system in the United States seving over 4.9 million passengers in 2024.  That certainly warranted a picture.

Pike Place Market opened in August 1907 and is one the older continuously operating public markets in the country. It's a place of business for small farmers, craftspeople, and merchants. The name comes from the street it's located on, Pike Place. Pike Place Market is Seattle's most popular tourist destination and serves more than 20 million visitors annually. 

The Market is on several levels before you reach the upper street level.  There are shops on all the levels but the main area is at street level. There's an elevator but my legs felt pretty good this morning so we both took the stairs to the upper street level. 

The Starbucks Roastery might be gone but the Starbucks Global Headquarters is just up the street from the Market - had I done better research we would have gone there - at least for pictures.  Next time.

There are great views from the bridge connected to the market level.  I got some nice shots including a winning panorama that captured the Big Picture.

Climbing all those stairs came back to haunt me as my legs started to ache a bit. The market level is huge taking up several city blocks. 

Everything imaginable is available here and everything is overpriced. Apples are $4.99 a pound ($1.99 at Jewel Osco).  Tons of “in the stratosphere” sea food. 

We saw one fish get tossed – their signature stunt - at Pike Place Fish Market. The fish (and they are big fish) gets tossed when someone buys one - I guess it was a slow morning in the fish business. Probably, the most abundant item at the Market are the people - it is wall to wall people - it's like walking across the street in New York or London - shoulder to shoulder.  You are constantly dodging people to get to the next destination.  An agoraphobic nightmare.

We ducked into a side aisle and found a particularly interesting place with few people and a rooftop garden with veggies growing in large tubs (corn and eggplant). I wasn't able to figure out if this prouce was actually sold.

I found a seat there while Ellen checked out all the nearby shops.

After checking out the food options at the Market (also so super pricey and crowded), we didn't get lunch but we did snack on stuff from breakfast after finding outdoor seating across from the market.  Out seats had good views of the Market

 as well as the Target Store on the bottom level of a skyscraper.

I also bought a baguette ($5.00) - that was fresh and good - unfortunately, the bakery had no butter - but I couldn't come close to finishing.

We went back to the Market searching for an elevator that would take us back to Water Front level (not easy as many of the lifts were out of order).  We eventually found, located a bus stop and took the shuttle back to the hotel.

We stayed in the room for a while before starting our search for a place for dinner.

We walked around the Pioneer Square area looking for dinner. Fish dinners were crazy expensive. There was a "Pasta Bar" small place with Vietnamese type food and a sandwich place just down the street from the hotel. Just storefronts - not really restaurants to sit in (probably mostly take out).  We kept looking.  Going further into the square, there were more interesting buildings including one that kept an old sign indicating that rooms were "75 Cents a Night".

We stopped at a place called Luigi's, a proper Italian restaurant which, surprisingly, was empty (5:30 PM). The owner, I surmised, came by and we told him we wanted to see a menu. He seemed a little annoyed at that but handed us the menu. The menu had several pasta options but we decided to keep looking. After a couple of fruitless blocks we went back to Luigi's and got a window table.

The two options were Fettuccine Alfredo and Pesto Pasta. Instead of getting both, we ordered the pesto along with a small Cesar Salad (seemed safe because it was Romaine lettuce and Washington was not in the recall States). The owner took the order without grumbling.

The Cesar Salad was certainly enough for both of us and it was delicious - wonderful dressing and Parmesan Cheese.  We now had a waitress who was cheerful and the guy also lightened up.  The Pesto Pasta - Rotelli with a substantial pesto sauce (home made per the menu) - was huge. We took some home. The waitress came by and told us she loved window seats for people watching and taking in the scenery. She also told us that the restaurant was closing in a month - done in by the economy. The same thing was likely to happen to other businesses in the area.

Total bill: $37.85 including tip. Pricey but with generous portions and really really good.

We had heard that this area was not really safe at night so we headed back to the room after a long but fun day.

Lights out at 10 PM.