Impressions of Seattle
I’m here at the second day of the Gnomedex conference, and theres’s a tedious discussion of RSS formats underway on-stage. Let me take a moment, then, to offer some general impressions of Seattle. I was here in January, but didn’t have much opportunity to wander around. I’ve skipped a few presentations here, so I’ve seen more of the city (here are some photos of Seattle):
- Apparently only the poor people walk. Wandering around downtown and a neighbourhood called Belltown, the people on the street seemed decidedly impoverished. Additionally, the streets seemed quite empty after 6:00pm. Clearly I’m not in the right neighbourhoods, though, because reportedly a section of the city called Capitol Hill is happening through the night.
- The same goes for restaurants–they’re sparse on the ground, but apparently better in Capitol Hill.
- They’ve got a beautiful harbour–it rivals Vancouver’s.
- The Seattle Public Library, where last night’s reception was held, was a fascinating building. The reception area felt like the inside of a pyramid.
- I dug the Experience Music Project. The building was great, designed by Canadian uber-architect Frank Gehry. I admired the tone of the exhibits, which were schlolarly but accessable. It was tremendously cool to see hand-written lyrics by Dylan, Hendrix et al.
- The city needs an urban planning overhaul. The overpasses through the centre of the town, the big road and train tracks along the waterfront, the silly tourist-centric monorail–they all need to go.
Luna Zoloq 