Well of course Day 9 started with a long walk and coffee! Do you even need to ask now?

Bird on a Wire was the site of my doppio espresso and sparkling water stop for the morning, followed by Elizabeth’s hosted walk to the local community garden, a very cool little place that boasted flowers, veggies, sculpture, arches, and all manner of coolness. My pictures do it better justice than my words could, so here you go.

Day 9 also included a trip to the campus of the University of Washington, home of the Huskies, sort of DAWG wannabes, if you will. Not that the football team could even match the extreme awesomeness of the BullDAWGS of the University of Georgia, but the campus was indeed beautiful. Oh, okay, okay, props for beating the stink out of California 31-7.

Again, pictures are worth a thousand words, so here you go.

Of course, just down from the U of W campus is what is considered by most to be the oldest coffee shop in Seattle, Cafe Allegro. We had to stop in there for a moment off our feet, and I tried not coffee (surprise, surprise) but hot apple cider. It was excellent!

Next stop on Day 9 was the downtown area around the Space Needle (alas, we did not have to time to ride to the top, but that will get checked off the list the next visit west) and the absolutely stunning Chihuly Garden and Glass installation. Wow, the color and the imagination and the stunning design of these pieces was just incredible. Please enjoy just a part of what we saw there.

Now, what visit to any major city is complete without seeing some kind of show, right? Especially a dinner theater show that is full of zaniness, comedy, juggling, high wire acts and an aerial tango that will leave you speechless. This was Teatro Zinzanni, something that Elizabeth told me was a must-see while I was in town. Saturday night was capped off by this wonderful, funny, very enjoyable experience.

Sis claims that she did not arrange this on purpose, but we ended up sitting at the VIP table with none other than the founder, artistic director, president and CEO of the Teatro, Mr. Norman Langill. What a treat! He was gracious, as was his friend, and they asked us several times about our experience, our enjoyment of the show, etc. It was a great way to cap a super first visit to Seattle that will definitely not be my last. Elizabeth and I grabbed a picture with two of the very funny stars of the show afterwards. (I’m not at all sure how this guy managed to walk in those high heels, much less perform in them!)

What a wonderful day it was. What a lovely city to visit. Again, I cannot thank my friend Elizabeth enough for taking the time away from work and family to show me the city that she obviously loves very much. If you have a chance to get to Seattle, check out these places!

On to Portland! The Day 10 post will be forthcoming later today. See you back here tonight.