Replies

Good afternoon all...I see that all are well and fine this day...

And now onto Sunday, and our outing to Pike Place Market...

The weather promised to be fine, less humidity, than on Saturday...I cooked a nice breakfast at the motel, and we headed out for the market...

Of course, parking is always a nightmare, unless you are there at the crack of dawn...we wound up parking down below the market, and taking the elevator up to the top...once off the elevator, we were greeted by the sight of 'Rachel' the big pig sculpture, which is really a huge bank, and proceeds of which go to help the more or less low income residents of Pike Market neighborhood...

Then a short walk up the sidewalk, and we have arrived in Pike Market....and it was just jammed...by tourists, regulars, and vendors...anything one may wish to buy, is probably available at the market...being as it was so very crowded, we knew we would not get to everything, we wanted to, but as with the Wharf, we can always come back wheneever we want...

The vendors had marvelous wares....kids pup tents, reverse quilted goods made by resident Hmong ladies, who fled here after Viet Nam, some reverse quilted goods brought in from the monks, in Laos, all kinds of dinner ware, ceramic ware, Mt St Helens ash scupltures, and glassware, jewelry to make even the most finicky among us be pleased, tons of toys, and baby wear, all manner of paintings and drawings, and art work, tables laden with the most beautiful bouquets of local flowers, home made candles, home made candies, home made honey, fish whistles, bouquets of dried flowers, T-shirts, etc, etc etc..and that just upstairs in the open market...we never did shop downstairs, but have often shopped down there before, among the fortune telling shops, second hand stores, exclusive jewelry shops, vintage comic book shops, toy shops, etc...something for everyone indeed...

Then it was on to the vendors who display the most beautiful looking meats, cheese, deli items, and such...and of course on to the magnificent fishmongers, and the Pike Market flying fish...the fishmongers stalls were indeed crowed, 6 deep, and fish were flying everywhere, and mongers were hollering...beautiful, huge 2lb lobsters, at $37.50lb, were on display...humungous prawns 6-8 inches long, shown in the glistening ice...in order for us to even purchase anything, the wait time was long...so we deferred any purchases for a later date, but did enjoy immensely the show of flying fish, the hollering of the fishmongers, and the delight on the faces of the tourists who I am sure, had never seen anything quite like the show they were watching...

So we headed on to DiLaurentis fabulous store...they specialize in delicacies from around the world, but especially from Italy and Sicily...huge rounds of cheese hung from the ceiling along with the salamis...the refrigator display case, showed off all the delicacies of the meat and cheese world...1800 wines from around the world, 300 along from Italy and Sicily tempted the buyers...we wound up with a huge bill for Italian olive oils, huge Italian green olives, Italian coffee, Italian relishes, Italian salamis, Italian beer(For BigDom, naturally), Italian crackers, and gosh, a whole list of other items all directly from Italy....

BigDom was thrilled with all his purchases of Italian origin...but I also bought some other items...a wonderful dolphin pin, a ceramic bowl in the shape of a cat, and looking so much like my Dizzy, a ceramic pin, looking also like dizzy, but saying Seattle across its chest, with a flying Fish underneath the Seattle word, and two wonderful art pictures...one is of the entrance to Pike Market, showing the famous sign an clock, and the other famous Pig Sculpture of Rachel, with children sitting on her, and many vendors in the background, as you will see at Pike Market...the other art picture, is of a big old fat fishmonger, shouting out, about his crabs for sale, and a sign to his side, saying 'Beware of the Flying Fish' and of course a fish is flying and a kitty cat is grinning at the flying fish...

And what did we eat...well, first to the Greek vendor, for a delicious gyros, a warm greek flatbread wrapped around slices of lamb(which you can see revolving around on the spit), red onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and a cucumber yogurt sauce...on to the Chinese vendor for egg rolls, and barbqued pork, onto the Turkish Delight, for phyllo or pastry delights, filled with feta cheese and spinach or roasted chicken and veggies...top it off with either a piece of baklava, or a cinammon bun from a few doors down, and a rich treat from the German bakery...

And after all that, roll us into the park across the street from the market, overlooking the sound, where we can rest, digest our food, and look out over the water...

And after all of that, we have barely scratched the surface of Pike Market...Vendors we did not get to, shops we did not get to, food samples we missed...ah, but there is always next time, we tell ourselves....

Both the Wharf and Pike Market, were just as jammed and filled with people as I have ever seen them....I guess it was just the summer trade, and so many tourists in town, and regulars, just out in the beautiful, but short summer time air...

We have decided that our next venture up to the Wharf and Pike Place Market will be in December, gearing up for the Christmas time shopping season, and probably not quite so full of tourists...God bless the tourists, they bring welcomed funds into the area...but it does make for some gigantic crowds...

So we look forward to our next venture to the Wharf and Market, in cooler weather, with hopefully fewer people around....

But the Market is a magical place....perhaps today later on, or tomorrow, I will talk about the people and animals we encountered in the world of Pike Market...