Downtown: Pioneer Square, International & Business Districts

A medical appointment brought me downtown this morning so I stayed in the area to walk streets I had missed in the Pioneer Square and International District neighborhoods. Including walking to and from the bus tunnel and window shopping in the retail core, I walked 8.8 miles.







From 6th Avenue, I walked east on Washington Street to the lovely Kobe Terrace Park which is across the street from the Nippon Kan Theatre.

I noticed a Parking Police Officer peddling up the hill - I would run into this officer a few more times on this morning's walk.

Many of the sites abutting this area have been reported and pictured in prior posts so I won't mention all the sites of these neighborhoods. I did stop to admire the no longer in service Jackson Street and Occidental Park stops of the Waterfront Streetcar,

artwork outside the fire station and 

artists' lofts.

I passed a Sounder (train) station, the Police Museum, 

Seattle Lighting, the Union Gospel Mission, Bread of Life Mission, the Foster White Gallery, the Something Old Something New Thrift Shop, the Pioneer Square Pergola, the New Orleans Restaurant, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, Klondike Penny's Old Time Portrait Studio, the Pioneer Square Post Office Station, the Comedy Underground and, at 2nd and Main, the Seattle Fire Department Headquarters, which is home to the Antique Fire Apparatus Display - I hope to return and visit this display but I was on my way to meet my daughter at Tat's Deli and didn't have time to stop.

I did have time to admire beautiful Seattle Waterfall Garden which was built on this site at 2nd and Main to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of UPS in Seattle in 1907. I was impressed enough to bring my daughter back here after our yummy lunch. This park was privately built and is maintained by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (which was established in 1948 by Jim Casey, one of the founders of UPS, and his siblings, who named the Foundation in honor of their mother).


































The sidewalk around the park is home to many decorative man hole and other utility covers.

Occidental Park is home to totems, impressive firefighter statuary and a stately, ivy-covered building.

I passed buildings which probably predate the Alaskan Way Viaduct and will probably outlive it and other sites  too numerous to photograph all of them (but here's a sample).

The Pioneer Square neighborhood always has much to offer.

Georgetown

This morning, my pastry loving pal and I went to Georgetown and walked 4.5 miles through the northwestern streets of this diverse neighborhood.

We started with a hard decision. Should we eat at the Essential Baking Company or the Alki Bakery Cafe? (They are kitty-corner from each other at 1st and Orcas.) We opted to try Essential on this walk and Alki on a later one. I can't speak for the pastry but my oatmeal was pretty darn good and the cafe was bright, clean and friendly.

Walking east on Orcas, we spotted some single family homes with interesting garden features.

We passed the Blu Grouse then turned south on 6th and passed the Seattle Design Center.


Winding our way back to 4th Avenue S, where we spotted many people lined up at a St. Vincent de Paul outlet. (We suspected they were there bacause the food bank is open on Tuesdays.)

We continued west to the Duwamish Waterway where we saw ships, barges and a pile of brilliant blue glass.

On East Marginal Way S, we heard a train horn and carefully backed away as a Union Pacific train (comprised of an engine, one car and one flatbed) passed by - we even got a wave.

Passing Capital Industries, we spotted a "Now Hiring" sign

sitting on top of a large open container that was painted like an American flag and stated that they support our troops.

We walked down a street where three small bungalows were mixed in with warehouses, factories and businesses.

We noticed The Sharehouse which provides household furniture to families and individuals who have been homeless.

We admired the lovely courtyard outside Espresso by Design

before winding our way back to 1st Avenue where we noticed the Slim's Last Chance mural.

We really got to see a diverse slice of Georgetown today.

Seward Park

After our last few walks in industrial areas, my husband and I were ready for a change so, today, we took a 5.9 mile walk in the residential Seward Park neighborhood.

This is a lovely area near the south end of Lake Washington and we started walking south on Lake Washington Blvd. S.




admiring some impressive homes along the way.

The land here slopes down to the lake and we passed quite a few staircases, especially at the end of dead-end streets

and near spots where streets may have been platted but never build.

We walked into Seward Park and noticed a playground with a small zip line and the Seward Park Environmental and Audubon Center.

Along the way, we saw signs for the Genesee Area - Combined Sewer Overflow Reduction Project, a Mutt Mitt dispenser,

a sign telling us to slow down and drive like we lived here

and some green open space (which were either lovely side yards or platted but never paved streets).

We ended by walking north to the tidy, city-run Lakewood Marina.

We will be happy to return to this area to walk through Seward Park and enjoy the lake views.