Free breakfast! Well, nothing is for free, really, but it is nice to believe so. Once they say free breakfast, then you go get it! If you thought (like I did) that this was a fairly typical Hungarian thing, you were wrong. It was also an international thing. Yuka loved free food and so did all the other backpackers. So as far as my limited observation went, backpackers and hostel people adored free food. I had my first peanut butter jelly sandwich with banana, orange, and pineapple on the sides. An ugly yet tasty combination I never would have though I loved. Tomorrow, I'm having some more for sure.
Going over the plans in my head, we had ourselves quite a busy day ahead, starting with a ride on Washington State Ferry, line Seattle to Bainbridge Island. A ride so Grey's Anatomish, I cannot even describe. McDreamy were sailing the same boats, Meredith got hypertension and drowned just by the waterfront and then yet again drank coffee on the deck years later. A 30-minute ride I'll always remember. At least until dementia gets me, or unless I die young.
Getting on the decks I, proudly pretending to be a chatty tourist (no, I did not have to pretend), I asked the guy working on the ferry to help us out with the best spots on the boat to get the best view on the skyline. He was happy to point out the best deck and even came and visited us to ask our opinion on the views. How nice? We started chatting about both our origins and sharing micro-stories about each other, how he lives by the ocean and has the privilege to work on this boat to take the ride a couple of times a day. You can now decide what you think of his job. Make your own deductions, but I envied him. In the best way. If you saw the view, you would have, too.
Bainbridge was lovely. It had a European forest feeling, with the amazing tranquility of a small town by the lake. Except this was the bay, not a lake. Air quality was beyond great, I could feel my lungs soaking in the oxygen if that is even possible. Walking around we have bumped into officially the cutest bookstore I had ever been to. I did not fail to point this out to the shop assistant lady, who was ever so kind of helping us out with our tiniest questions. Having not much time left until our boat was departing back to Seattle, we walked down to the waterfront, where we took amazing pictures. A nice man (seemed to be a sailor just heading to his boat) asked if we wanted to have our picture taken together and chatted us about SJSU, as Yuka's shirt gave us and our identities somewhat away (HUGE SJSU logo). And no, this man did not want to kidnap us either. These are just regularly kind people, for no obvious reason. Welcome to the land of promises.
Can you picture an ice-cube? Cute looking? With a longer blonde hair popping out from under the hoodie, dripping nose, cold hands you can barely move to wipe your nose, wind ringing in your ears, moving around just enough to keep you from freezing? That was me. On the way back to Seattle. I remember just for a second dreading getting a cold, but eventually, I could not care less. I was on a boat heading to Seattle, no way I was going back into the warm deck. I was standing in the front of the boat, facing (at least halfway) the wind and the view, only to store it deep in my memory.
Awarding ourselves after the cold ride back to the city, we tasted the official best chowder in North America at Pike Place Market. The traditional New England and the Salmon Chowder prepared us for the next big hike to the Olympic Sculpture Park (something much less special than we had anticipated) and the Space Needle. The latter one was fantastic, as vibes all around the needle felt very much like Central Park in New York City. This was our clue to have a Starbucks (our first in Seattle, so we held up just fine) hot chocolate right then and there and to have our very Seattle-styled pictures taken. Once we had enough, we set our sight on our final target that day, Kerry Park.
If you watch Grey's Anatomy, you know what scenic place that is. The one you can overlook the whole city from. It is located in the Queen Anne district, home of Meredith Grey and the Intern House. You might rightfully think I am a Shonda Rhimes fan. But not big enough of a fan to find the house of interns. The view was grasping, though. We got there in daylight and stayed until sunset. Back to ice-cube mode. But the view was unbeatable. Lots of tourists, who proved to be useful this time! One guy was pointing out something in the distance and I may have just heard something like Rainier. I looked up and there it was! What I had previously anticipated to be a bunch of clouds lingering around was a huge mountain top full of snow. Then the sun shone down (or up?) on it, and you could see the unimaginable, towering over the city and stealing the spotlight big time. I just could not take my eyes off it. I was standing there for almost 2 hours, until the sun set and was stone cold, but having the best time. Remember? Soaking it all in. We were lucky to catch glimpse of Mount Rainier, as weather conditions just cleared for that afternoon and no other time did that happen while we were in the city.
Once we were completely frozen and numb from cold, we hurried (literally almost ran) back to the hostel just in time for free taco night. You know the feeling you are so exhausted you can barely feel you are hungry? This is what we had, I believe. Yuka and I gobbled down the food so fast you would not believe. And I am not revealing a big secret about myself if I tell you I am a slow eater. My friends would testify. Exhausted, we went to sleep satisfied that we closed my crazy activity circles 1.5 times, 479 calories burned in total.
23 October 2022
YOU ARE READING
Memories I am afraid I'll forget
Non-FictionWelcome to my American Days' Journals! I do not particularly have any talent in writing things up from scratch, especially not my own experience as a Fulbright scholar, but you have got to start somewhere, especially if you are too afraid that you'l...
