23 Dec Tip #2: Go to Seattle

For me, this semester was not all about San Francisco. I have explored this glorious city, but some of my best memories will be from visiting other cities. The city I would recommend the most: Seattle.

I went to Seattle in the end of september whilst my girlfriend was visiting from Norway. We stayed for four days, got a little lucky with the weather, but even if it rained I would’ve loved Seattle.

For me, Seattle have the same relaxed atmosphere as in most areas of San Francisco. It’s a city with amazing restaurants, cool bars, and shops with certain herbs that aren’t legal in a variety of other U.S. states. Still, one of the best things was that the city didn’t feel “touristy” at all – apart from the Space Needle of course.

Places to visit:

1. EMP Museum: I’m no big museum kind of guy, but this museum is amazing. There’s a Jimi Hendrix exhibit, a Nirvana/Kurt Cobain exhibit, and huge areas where you can test different instruments. This is a music + sci-fi + pop culture museum, and there is a huge Star Wars exhibit. When I visited, there was also a really cool exhibit about the history of horror movies. To sum it up: just visit this museum.

2. Space Needle: Tourists everywhere, still worth it. Amazing panorama view of a beautiful city. And if you like Frasier (which young person today does not like Frasier?…hah), this is one of the buildings seen.

3. Capitol Hill: Relaxed area, and you can find the awsome Jimi Hendrix statue here. The restaurants and coffee shops in the area where exceptional (I did look up places beforehand), but the area was just relaxed and nice for a walk.

4. Pike Place Market: I was expecting too many tourists, but this was a really nice area. It’s a larget market by the waterfront in Seattle, where you can eat your way through a farmer’s market, amazing small bakeries, restaurants, and cafees.

5. Eat geoduck. A delicacy in the North West Coast of the U.S., geoduck is something you have to try. It’s a huge clam – that looks insanely fallic – and tastes great. I’m used to really good seafood as a Norwegian, and Seattle is one of those cities abroad where I really want seafood. So eat geoduck – and Dungeness crab.

6. Uncle Ike’s: Google it and go there.

Plain and simple: Just travel to Seattle if your budget allows you to. This is a city I’ll return to when I go back to the U.S.

– Hans-Olav