Farewells.

So it's been a bit of a tough week.

Mama passed away last week, and her service was held over the weekend. Although I couldn't make it, or see her in her last hours, fortunately I was able to listen in on skype (hooray for technology). It was a good service, unfortunately one hour is not enough time to relay how much she meant to everyone or to review what an amazing life she had led. It's going to be weird arriving home without her there to greet me, but I hope she's finally with Yeh-Yeh and resting in peace.

As some of you may know I've said "cya" to the States and am kind of in transit in Edmonton. I have a flight booked for Montreal end of this week, so hopefully some exciting adventures coming up!

I enjoyed the rest of my stay in New Orleans. I had the chance to wander around the French Quarter a few times during the day and once on a Saturday night (I have mementos from Pat O'Briens, including some Hurricane mix I hope to put to some use, hehe). We went to a karaoke bar called "Cats Meow" , it was fun(ny), lots of hens groups singing and some 'resident' rapper guy aka white guy trying to do 50cent and Nelly (also wearing All Blacks shirt? for shame.).

Had fun riding the street cars down St. Charles and Canal and wandering around City Park (after an adventure trying to find it). I think I finally had myself semi-oriented around the city before I had to leave for Seattle, so that was good.

I remember the night before I left was the 4th of July, Julie and Larry drove us out to the other side of the river (Algere? It was opposite the Moonwalk near the Quarter) to watch the fireworks. It was a pretty good show, they had two lots going, one uptown and one downtown, off barges sitting on the river. All around us people were letting off fireworks too, just like one would during Guy Fawkes at home. After the show Lar and Julie were talking about going to a pub called "The Bulldog" on Canal Blvd and I was like "I totally know where that is. Jeez, I start knowing where you're talking about and I gotta leave tomorrow!" haha. Oh well.

I really enjoyed my stay in Seattle. It was only two days looking around but I'm pretty sure I could live there. Weather is similar to Auckland, although apparently it rains more often than not? Both days I was there the weather was perfect! I love the cultural aspect of the city, the emphasis they have on art and music especially.

I went on a "duck tour" which is a land and water tour of the city on some vehicles designed from WWII amphibious trucks, that was fun, I learned quite a bit about the history of Seattle and the layout of it. The guide was telling us that all around the city we'll notice pieces of art everywhere, and that's because for every building that's built in the city, 1% of the cost has to go towards some kind of artwork. So everywhere there's fountains, statues, sculptures etc, it makes for a beautiful city! Also on the tour we went down to look at some floating houses, like the one in Sleepless in Seattle. Apparently, before the film came out, it used to be that houses on the water were the cheapest living option in Seattle, but because the lots became limited to about 300 properties allowed on the lake and the growing popularity of floating houses the prices have gone way up and it's now the most expensive. Most of the original one story houses were torn down and newer 2 story houses were built, some of these houses look absolutely amazing. There's this one that the guide pointed out. Apparently has 3 levels, 2 above and one basement below water with lights illuminating from the windows, isn't that amazing? Although all I can imagine down there are seedy red suede couches... (house pictured below with the columns)

Anyway!

Walking around the city was great, it wasn't too hard to find my way around. Ended up wandering through the Pike Place Farmers Market. It reminds me of Victoria Park Markets on the weekends, with stalls as well as stores inside, but it also sells produce, fresh fish and meat along with other bits and pieces. Took some photos for Mum. It was a pretty cool atmosphere.

You could definately see all the art everywhere walking around the city. After wandering around I caught the Monorail back to near the Needle and went into the Experience Music Project (EMP). It was pretty awesome. It went through the Eras of music, and music development within Seattle, from jazz to rock and roll to punk to grunge etc etc, it had really good displays and audio guide. They had a room dedicated to Jimi Hendrix so that was cool too, and the evolution of guitars and electric guitars. They also had recording boothes if anyone wished to record a song and buy on cd, and also a virtual stage where people could go up to play and have screaming fans etc and you could also buy that on cd. I wandered around EMP for a couple hours before making it to THE SPACE NEEDLE.
Actually, I went for a walk down to the Sculpture park before then. It was a really nice evening, lots of people walking their dogs, jogging etc, all amongst these pieces of art.

So the Needle wasn't like I was expecting it to be. Being only about half the height of the Sky Tower and only having one viewing deck (with the option to go outside) that had annoying wires around it to stop anyone from jumping or taking any good photos, it was kind of "oh.". But taking into consideration that this was built in the 60s, it's pretty impressive. The view was pretty cool, I have photos up on Facebook. Managed to sneak in a bit of the sunset for a few of them, even though the sun set at 9pm! That was the other thing that amazed me, it wasn't completely dark until about 10pm, it's worse here in Edmonton, it's still dusk around 10:30!
When I arrived, they had a similar set up to the Tower, I had my photo taken infront of a backdrop of the city before lining up for an elevator. No chance to be confused, they escort you up and down, so I guess that's taken care of. The cafe was kind of terrible. I hadn't eaten dinner so I decided on soup and a panini that was really foul, there was probably a reason they didn't have them on display, I think it may have been the orange cheese... I never do well with orange cheese. The only other things they had available were bottled drinks, a few rolls, crisps and starbucks coffee. Ick.

I think that was the extent of my travels so far. Here's a link to some photos!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135916&l=4fe8c&id=830225371

I'll update as soon as I get settled in Montreal.

xxo.