Rainy Day in Seattle at Pike Place Market

I’m sure the title comes as no surprise to anyone who has been to Seattle before.  It rains all the time.  Okay, not all the time.  But most of the time!  And this isn’t just from visiting once or twice and having bad weather luck – I lived there for almost a decade! 

That being said I do think Seattle has some really fun and cool things to do.  Recently I went back after having not gone for many years and spent a day downtown.  I’ll have to admit that while I lived in Seattle I only went downtown a handful of times.  Between parking issues and traffic congestion it wasn’t high on anyone’s list very often! 

Rainy day in Seattle (I know - its really just a mist but this is actually a good viewing day!)

So, on a rainy afternoon it’s always fun to walk Pike Place Market.  Its covered so you are out of the elements but it is has a liveliness about it– of course this liveliness doesn’t start until about 10am and ends by 5pm so be aware.

You can't miss taking a picture of this neon sign!

The top floor has the iconic flower stalls, produce stalls and fish markets.  You can literally eat your way through the market by tasting all the samples the market has to offer.  Some of my favorites are the chucker cherries or the fresh apples and grapes from Washington.  You can also taste flavored olive oils or jams and everything in between.  While some things are on the “wild” side like some super-hot pepper jellies there isn’t anything like a Chinese food market with their bugs and stinky tofu (see post Taiwan - Part 2:  Top 10 of Taipei).  These foods are all safe to eat and won’t make you grimace even!  While the seafood certainly has a distinct smell it’s nothing like stinky tofu.

Yes, this does smell a bit!

This however does NOT - yum!

The next levels contain the fun "stuff".  There are old book stores, curious shops from way back when and nothing more than I can describe them as junk stores.  All these stores have been there for as long as I can remember.  As a result, when you drop to the lower levels you get a very distinct smell I call Pike Place market smell.  It is a cross of humidity laden books with inches of dust and a bit of staleness thrown into it.  That really makes you want to go doesn’t it?  It actually isn’t horrible but you are certainly aware of it as you play inside the magic shop or comb through old newspapers and magazines from the early 1900’s for sale.  It certainly creates a sense of authenticity to some of the shops!

While snacking is always fun you can’t leave Pike Place market without a couple of items.

1.        A pastry of some sort.  There are several little shops with breads, donuts and other goodies that make you salivate.  In fact, if you are there right at 10am you can get day old goodies for a steal of deal.
2.       Fish-n-chips.  There are several restaurants which have fish-n-chips and they are all good.  Not only are they fresh but most of the restaurants have a great view out across the sound.  If you are blessed enough to have the clouds lift you can watch ferries go back and forth across the Puget Sound and even look into the distance and see the Olympic mountain range.

Fish-n-chips. Hmmmmm!

So, if by chance you are in Seattle and it is raining then still run down and enjoy your day at Pike Place Market.

You can look at other pictures in the Photo Gallery By Location.  You can also view all my pictures in my Public Gallery.