Homestead Seattle-Redmond Bellevue

We never really did make it to southcenter mall, and I knew we wanted to have lunch at Dixies BBQ, one of my favorite restaurants in the Seattle area. So we just drove up the Bellevue square, one of the most opulent malls in the pacific northwest to do our walking around. Inside, there was a Lego store, which I just HAD to stop at. Mostly just to ...

... The Ace hotel which is in the Belltown area - quite a few cool bars and restaurants nearby, which we walked past, peered inside and then made our way back to the hotel and ate in the downstairs restaurant, which was actually recommended as a place to people watch (not that many people about on a wed). Hotel was cool, but was LOUD. I now know why they gave you ear plugs in the mini bar. Ade was impressed as they gave you a copy of the Karma Sutra rather than a Bible - such a shame we ...

... After we settled in, we played a few rounds of gin rummy and then headed out for dinner at Zao's Noodle house in University Square. Excellent food. Kinda similar to noodles and co. but fresher and more authentic Asian cuisine. After dinner, we walked around University Village (Great shops: Coach, H&M, Sephora, Lucy's, etc.) However, it was after nine o'clock when we finished our meals so we headed to Barnes and Noble for some late night magazine ...

... complete but we were stood on top of the missing element so we headed up the hill behind the needle to try and see the full skyline made famous by the credits of Frasier. It wasn't quite possible to get the angle right, or even see it properly due to the condos (they're flats, don't you know) of Seattle's loaded population which had some amazing views and were in the way of my camera. Eventually we found a driveway and had a peek over someone's fence and got a look and some photos.

... dia jawab: "Yes"...ahhh gue ada temen pikir gue...trus gue tanya lagi: "where are you come from??" die jawab: "Indonesia"...HAH! Wadauw mimpi apa gue semalem...nemu temen sekampung di airport and senasib pula rasanya senenggggggg bangetttttt...kenalan lah gue sama dia...Namanya Alex, dia kuliah di Seattle ngambil jurusan bisnis... akhirnya kita berdua seraduk seruduk kesana kemari buat ngurus tuh Special Registrant... Telpon Customs dia nyuruh minta gate pass ke United Airways ...

... America. What we heard from most people was "I like Americans, but I hate your government". This was reiterated over and over again. The good thing is, if you also don't like the American government you can chat with them about this and they will like you even more. There are terrible governments all over the world and everyone country has had a few bad governments that they would ...

... made so much money during the 'gold rush' even though they were hundreds of miles away from any strikes. If you ever get the chance, take the tour. We stayed downtown for the 'Art walk' they have once a month. That wasn't that impressive, but we did visit an incredible 'glass art' store. They actually blow glass right in the store. We watched a guy blow this amazing glass bowl/vase. The boys loved it.

Well, what a ride home! I managed to get to the airport 2 hours before my flight as I was told to do, and it turned out I needed the entire 2 hours! I stood in line for 45 minutes just trying to get to the desk to check my bags, then was told that because I did not have a print-out of my flight information (we don't have printers at the the school so I had copied down the information by hand) I did not have enough information ...

... Amsterdam / Budapest run, so I was finally able to get some sleep stretched out over 3 seats. Since the Northwest Airlines flight was two hours late, my ride from the airport at Budapest to Komarom had to be modified. My contact in Budapest, Fergus, had another engagement on Sunday night, "but I can give you a ride to the train station." Fergus was supposed to drive me all the way to Komarom, but, ever alert for The Real Thing, I said "Sure." The Budapest I saw from Fergus' car is ...

Sunday we took no pictures, but the day was fascinating in other ways. We went to Karen and Alan's church in the morning--First Presbyterian of Bellevue and found that we were attending on a special Sunday. Twice a year they offer a major sacred musical composition at their Sunday a.m. service, hiring a professional orchestra to minister along with their church choir. This time the piece was The Company of Heaven, by Benjamin Britten, the great 20th century English composer. I (Steve ...