I've been meaning to post a few photos that I took when I went into downtown Seattle last weekend. It was my first time there for quite some time - specifically by the waterfront. And it has changed. I-99 used to run along a viaduct, but the viaduct has been demolished and replaced by a tunnel that runs beneath downtown. The main consequence of this is a quite impressive (and expensive to build) urban park behind Pike Place Market that snakes down onto a redeveloped waterfront. And naturally all of this has been accompanied by other new construction and changes - places I used to get food at have long gone. It was busy - thanks to a cruise ship being docked by the waterfront, plus a number of sporting events going on that weekend. It was also my first time taking the light rail into downtown - something that went surprisingly smoothly. I was easily able to find parking at the station nearest where I live - which is good to know for future trips. Though apparently the parking lots fill up by 8 am on weekdays, so this becomes somewhat of a less viable option during the week. And yes, you still see a fair few number of homeless folks downtown - but perhaps I'm just used to that because it didn't particularly bother me on this visit. I suspect I might make more use of the light rail and go more into Seattle proper in the future. And it does make me miss living closer to public transport.
