Summarising Seattle...

Well, we are now in Vancouver, BC, Canada - our home for at least the next 6 months! We arrived Monday 5th on the train from Seattle, and are slowly getting things sorted out. There's not too much to tell yet, so I'll give you a proper update once a few more things are organised!

First I need to write about Seattle. :) We had five days there after leaving New York. We flew out of JFK Airport on Tuesday 30th December (our second wedding anniversary!), and the view of the greater New York area from the plane was one of the most spectacular views I have yet seen in my life! Below the plane there were millions of golden lights spreading out to the horizon in all directions, with brighter golden veins running here and there through the middle of it all. It looked like a giant motherboard! When we flew over the island of Manhattan (where we'd actually stayed), we could see all the skyscrapers standing together at the other end, and the dark rectangle of Central Park in the middle of the island. But Manhattan was a very small part of the seemingly endless view of beautiful golden lights far below us!

In Seattle, we stayed with Brian and Sue L, a couple about our age. We hadn't met them before, but we had met Sue's parents, Glenn and Hazel L, in England - Hazel is related to quite a few of our friends there (Terry, Steve, Trev etc). We had been going to stay with Glenn and Hazel, but Hazel had to go away at the last minute so there was a change of plans! Brian and Sue had three other guests as well - Brian's brother Merlin, his wife Tina, and their daughter Erika. So we met lots of nice new people and had a very relaxing and enjoyable few days with them! And Seattle was gorgeous - out of the various cities we saw in the States, it would definitely be the one we would choose to live in.

Here's a quick overview of the highlights of our time in Seattle...

Eating out - including dim sum style and at a sushi train restaurant...

L-R: Me, Ben, Sue, Tina, Erika, Merlin.

L-R: Glenn, James, Ben, Sue.

Exploring downtown Seattle with Sue, and going to the Pike Place Market, famous for its cheerful fish throwing antics and as the market from the business book "FISH!"...

Seeing the original, first-ever Starbucks (across from Pike Place Market), and hearing the singing quartet that is apparently a permanent fixture out the front of it...

Celebrating New Year's Eve at Brian and Sue's place with quite a few of their friends, playing Rook whilst counting down the hours...



More eating...



Heading over to Bainbridge Island on the ferry to have dinner at Glenn's place before going to a hilarious comedy Improv night...



And seeing it snow for the first time since we arrived in the USA...


And that was Seattle! Oh, and we also did quite a lot of shopping. :) Goodnight!