Balkovich Robert - Lonely Planet Seattle

By Robert Balkovich, Writer

A friend once described Seattle to me as a great northern city, and during a particularly cold February there I really learned what she meant. As much of a wonderland as it is in the summer, its a city built for the rain and gloom. Everything is matched to it: the concrete buildings, handsome craftsman homes, restaurants serving hearty food, the mountains that hide themselves on cloudy days, and the way the downtown streetlights blinking on in the fog feels as warming as slipping into one of the citys ubiquitous cafes and lingering over a cup of coffee.

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Way more than just a market, 110-year-old Pike Place is a living community, a cabaret show, a way of life and an intrinsic piece of Seattles soul. Strolling through its clamorous, sometimes chaotic thoroughfares, you simply couldnt be in any other city. There are fish that fly, shops that look like theyve sprung from a Harry Potter movie, an art wall made out of chewing gum, and a multitude of lively old buskers jamming acoustic versions of Led Zeppelin songs outside the worlds oldest Starbucks. Pure magic.