Seattle Grace? Seattle Grey. And I'm loving it.

I'm approaching the 24 hour mark of my first stay in Seattle and I feel like I've packed a lot of excitement into the first day.  It's only half-time, as Nick is away being a busy college student and I have some rest/blog time to prepare for our evening excursions. 

So far, a few things about Seattle have appeared to be true. 

1) As popular opinion will have you believe, it is GREY and RAINY.  The landscape surrounding the city, from what I could see of Puget Sound while we were downtown this afternoon is gorgeous but Nick told me that it's often veiled in the shroud of overcast skies that are making themselves known today.  Of course, this comes immediately after my cab ride into the city where the friendly driver boasted how it had been a week of relatively clear sky and "not a drop of rain."  I'm happy to know that I am capable of delivering things back to the norm.

2) Starbucks is everywhere. 

3) The Space Needle is SUPER underwhelming (at least from a distance.)  It's much tinier than I expected it to be and seems dwarfed in the skyline by the enormous buildings surrounding it. 

After spending the evening with Nicks incredible roommates, Lauren, Rachel and Natalie, I drugged myself to sleep and awoke feeling like I'd drugged myself to sleep fresh faced and ready to explore.  A quick check of the blog and a few bowls of Peanut Butter Puffins later, I journeyed out to take the public transportation of Seattle and get a feel of what city life is like on this coast.  Somehow, even though I grew up a mere 8 hour drive from this metropolis, I've never set foot anywhere in Washington except for Spokane.  There's a first time for everything. 

I'm hesitant to bring this up, as I know it will offend a little bit but I'm always struck by how tame homeless people in New York seem compared to homeless people in other large cities.  In my experience in Detroit, Cleveland and now Seattle are any indication, they seem to be much more abrasive than they are in the city.  Of course I'm generalizing, and now I'll stop. 

Parading around the downtown area, my eyes came very close to exploding from their sockets when I spotted a See's Candy, a sugary staple of my childhood in California.  Anyone who hasn't experienced the deliciousness that is See's immediately needs to get on a plane to the West Coast.  The mall kiosks selling boxes pale in comparison to store bought See's and god forbid you think that Godiva is the best chocolate you've had.  If I could send a sample of heaven through the computer, it would come through as a See's Vanilla Buttercream chocolate. 

An ode to See's:

(Enjoying the streets of Seattle.)

(Who knew they could put your childhood in a little paper bag?!)

(As they would say in Ratatouille "Close to Godliness.")

After doing a little shopping and gorging on chocolate we decided to check out SAM, the Seattle Art Museum.  One of my favorite things to do whenever I go to a new city is check out the local art museums.  Sometimes I'm exposed to something completely new to me while other times I find hidden gems from some of my favorite artists.  Unfortunately I was rather disappointed with SAM.

To start with, the building is beautiful and has just undergone a huge renovation.  Some of the rooms are quaint while others are cavernous with huge ceilings that make the displayed art that much more striking.  Oddly enough though, with all of this recent renovation there is no coherence to the museum at all.  One room with contain Andy Warhol's and other pop art while the next room has eighteenth century portraits and the next has Mexican artifacts.  It's a very strange sense of disconnection that I've never experienced in a museum before.  Even though some of the time periods on display were not my favorite, this was only confounded by the way that they were presented.  Nick and I also had a hard time getting over the dismal metal chairs lining the walls that look more like they belong in a Target display room than an art museum.

(Nick discovered that using a flash makes the escalators much more interesting.)

(Some cool exploding cars were lining the lobby.)

Fortunately, there was one gem that made the entire trip worth it: "Woman" by Willem de Kooning.  My love affair with this brilliant abstract expressionist (I've yet to meet another person that really enjoys him...am I truly alone on this?!) is growing increasingly passionate.  I've recently pondered reading his incredible biography again and seeing this painting today made me wish I had it in hand at the moment. 

de Kooning created many different paintings for his "Woman" series, a violent, psychological, and frantic explosion of the female form which startled the art world with its apparent intensity during the late 1940's.  I've never seen this painting of his before in any books, so it made the discovery in person that much more exciting.  Two eyes, slightly clouded but still the most clear image in the entire canvas, stare out to the viewer in an expression that almost accompanies itself by a silent blood curdling scream; I couldn't stop staring at it.   

All of the abstract expressionist 's paintings have such movement to them, they are as close to dance as I think painting comes and perhaps that's why I'm so drawn to them.  There were a few Pollacks, Rothkos, Klines and even an Arshille Gorky, de Kooning's best friend and mentor.

(Gloriously deranged.)

After the elation that came with that discovery nothing could quite match it but there were a few more things of interest, most notably...

(This incredible robe made entirely out of dog tags.  I've been wanting a new robe, I think I've found my pick.)

That brings me up to this moment, blogging on the couch.  My brain is feeling a bit foggy today, so forgive me if this post was a bit erratic.  Perhaps it was the two other things we found while on our morning excursion?

(I don't think I'll be making a trip  here.)

(But I am tempted to journey here again.  I especially love the crazy Santa on the left.  Slightly out of place?)

(Meaningless pumpkin shot.  I was going to try to connect it to the Seattle grunge scene of the early 90's, but The Smashing Pumpkins weren't exactly a part of that.  Oops.)

(The leaves are fading pretty.)

 

Comments

[Bennyroyce Royon]

What were you doing there? That's my hometown! :)

Benny

[Nathan]

The only thing I can comment on in this blog, because it's the only thing I can even focus on since you mentioned it,....SEE'S!! It's my favorite!! Growing up with See's makes Godiva look like Hershey's!!(an exaggeration, perhaps..) I LURVE IT!! Ok, enough of me being jealous!

Enjoy your time in Seattle! Only been for a day, but I loved it!!

:-)

[Rob]

Sees rocks. It's down the street from me. I get some every Easter. Oh, and if you want tame bums, try San Diego downtown at night. They barely even acknowledge your existance.

[Barbara]

Sees - YES!
Plus - I've never been so nervous walking around a city than Philadelphia - really aggressive homeless people. Made NYC seem like Mayberry.

[Larry]

From their website, I "see" that "See's" has many distributors nationwide, including the Lord and Taylor's only a short distance from my home. But are the pre-packaged products so inferior to the ones you can apparently buy only out West, and if so why do you think they don't make the fresh product more readily available to those of us who can't just jump on a plane whenever we want a bit of chocolate?

[Nathan]

The pre-packaged is not inferior per say! It's still very fresh and very good. Just when you go to the See's store, it's a much better experience!

#1. You get a free sample of the day.(who doesn't love that?!)

#2. You get to make a chocolate box of what YOU want, not what they decided should be in the box. So you don't have to eat the coffee buttercream you don't like and you can add more of the california brittle that you love!!

I'm super excited for when I go home at Christmas, I will be eating a lot of it! ahah

:-D

[Larry]

In case it's of interest, the web site lets you order a custom selection of any 1-10 items for only $87.50 a 5-pound box! (Or $17.50 for a 1-pound box.)

[Linda]

A 5lb box of California Brittle with a touch of vanilla buttercreams for relief would be thrilling! Pre-boxed is better than nothing, but a trip to the See's store is like venturing to the past,black and white decor with a velvet rope to control the crowds and ladies in aprons handing out the sample of the day....yum.

[Miriam Madry]

I'm an NYC girl through and through so cannot comment on See's but that robe is SICK! The way it cascades is insane...I want to see it!