I thought San Francisco was the City of Hills???

We are still adjusting to the 3 hour time change. We were all up by 6:30am and out touring Seattle by 8:30am. Surprisingly a lot of Seattlites (is this correct) get up early and jog, bike, walk, etc.. The city has a real outdoor fitness vibe which is certainly contrary to my current nature (the technical term is "lazy ass"), but I think I could adapt (although I am not sure about the early morning thing).

The best way to describe Seattle is that it is a lot of distinct, self-contained neighbourhoods that overlap one another. The first things that stands out is that there are a lot of hills, the architecture is very interesting (generic buildings are a rarity!), there is a youthful energy to the city, and there is an amazing view in all directions. First we drove towards the University of Washington that took us through the neighbourhoods of First Hill and Capitol Hill. Capitol Hill has a real funky flair with a number of neat small shops and restaurants.

We then took a quick loop through the campus. It reminds me of Western except that it has a division 1 football stadium. We then drove through the University District which has a very student focused neighborhood as opposed to Western whose surrounding neighbourhoods are more focus on older adults.

We then went through the neighborhood of Fremont. It is the self proclaimed "Centre of the Universe". It is another area that has a fun, funkiness about it. We stopped a the the Gas Works Park located at the south-most point of Fremont. My dad took a picture of us with Starbucks coffee and the Space Needle in the background (Don't we look cute).

Next, we traveled down to the famous Pike Place Market. We got there by 10:30am and the place was packed. There were artisians, street performers, many food stands, and, of course, fish.

After that we went up to the posh suburb of Bellvue and did some shopping at one of their malls. Overall, Seattle was a pretty impressive. It has a very distinct character and seems to cater to the young professional. The only drawback is the overcast weather.

Well see how tomorrow goes. My interview is at 10 am and I have a tour with some Canadian UW students at 12:30. It is unlikely we will be able to check in tomorrow as we are leaving the UW campus and driving as far south toward San Francisco as we can get. I need to be at Stanford for 2pm, Tuesday. We will definitely have an update on Tuesday evening.