To Portland and Back Again – Part 2 – Seattle

– A Thrifty Traveller’s Tale Pictures

Missed the first part? Click here to see the first cruise ship we took.

This is part 2: Seattle, Washington

We spent 1 full day in Seattle. We’ve been there before, several times – this time, we spent the day eating and shopping!

The above photos were taken from the cruise ship.

Another rainy, grey day in Seattle – therefore, we didn’t take many photos!

The W hotel we stayed in offered free service in their fleet of disgustingly big Acura SUVs, so we got a ride to the Plum Bistro, a vegan restaurant. It is located up a massive hill, so we walked down it to downtown afterward.

I enjoyed eating here – I ordered a pizza with vegan cheese and some pretty good sauce. I loved the (Stumptown) coffee they served, and the prices were reasonable. . .like 2 people could have eaten the pizza I ordered (and didn’t finish). 10$ for an organic vegan pizza for 2?! Crazy! We also got an order of yam fries and homemade bbq sauce. Greg got an order of Eggplant  Parmigiana. I also ordered a homemade lemonade. I love ordering lemonade out – I never have it at home or like it from a mix.

The driver that took us to the Plum Bistro’s wife is vegan and he was trying to convert – so we had an interesting conversation on the way to the restaurant.

What else did we do in Seattle? Well, for shopping, we went to Nordstrom Rack – the place that originated in Seattle, that has all sorts of great designer discount clothing/accessories! I scored a pair of David Khan jeans (SO hard for me to find any that fit me/don’t cost a fortune), so I felt pretty lucky. I loved looking at the discounted Prada and Dior outfits, but even at 75% off (or more), they were well out of my price-range!

With our saved-up Airmiles points we were able to stay at the W Hotel for free. The same hotel category would get us SO much more in Asia. sigh. I am so disappointed with this hotel. The deal with them is that they (supposedly) have great service to make up for the lack of amenities. Of course, their service bloody sucks, so can I have my rooftop pool now, please? I suppose this place must have been something special in the 1990s and this clean-lined aesthetic appeals to me on some level, but overall, this hotel was underwhelming.

This room is a bit bland, don’t you think? The logical details are missing – like the tv is huge, but it doesn’t swivel, so you can’t sit on that too-soft sofa and watch anything! And, there aren’t curtains, so light seeps in through those slats! Also, they didn’t have a service where you could change out your pillows for latex or other kinds. A big thing for me is the washroom – I don’t expect marble floors and a bidet, but could they not have put in something other than standard builder’s-grade light switches? Whenever we move, we replace all light switches. They only cost a few dollars each!

Do I sound too picky? I don’t think I am at all. I am all about value – this room would normally cost over $200 a night, and I am comparing services at other places I’ve stayed with rooms that are around the same price point. There wasn’t a coffee maker in the room. . .in a city that thrives off coffee!

The next day, we picked up our rental car and had donuts at Mighty-O’s, a vegan donut shop. They had some new yeast donuts – apple fritters, chocolate and maple longjohns…oh yum! Their coffee is always amazing. We picked up a few extra donuts to go, and then headed to the Chocolate Shoe Box – a vegan shoe store! They had lots to choose from, but I was on the look-out for low-heel shoes to wear to work. I got some Vegetarian Shoes mary-janes. They were only $80 on sale – but would be over twice that before duty/taxes/shipping direct from the online store!

Tomorrow, I will post pictures from Portland.