Outdoor Sculptures and Iconic Buildings in Seattle

Space Needle is an iconic building
in Seattle.

 It used to be the tallest building outside of New York City when it was completed in 1962.

The Space Needle building can be seen almost everywhere in Seattle. We wanted to visit this famous building after our second walking tour.

However, the Space Needle was closed for repair and maintenance work that day.

It is located at the Seattle Centre, the site of the 1962 World Fair.



















Many interesting attractions and entertainment can be found in this area

Moongates, Seattle Centre

Though the weather was wet and drizzling, it didn‘t deter us from walking around the ground of the Seattle Centre.

 Black Lightning at Seattle Centre

We admired the sculptures built for the world fair.






















We enjoy looking at sculptures as they reflect the history, cultures, ideas and beliefs of the people in that city.



Olympic Iilad, one of the many scupltures located on the ground of Seattle Centre.

A flower sculpture standing in front of  the Chihuly Glass Museum at Seattle Centre.

MoPOP - the Museum of Pop Culture, founded by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen 16 years ago.

It is a multi coloured structure built with curves rather than straight corners.

MoPop - The Museum of Pop Culture with the Space Needle in the background.

My most favourite sculpture in Seattle is the Hammering Man standing in front of the Seattle Art Museum.

We saw it during the day and was awed by its size.

Hammering Man at Night, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA

But we were more impressed by it when we walked by the museum and saw it at night with its gigantic movements reflecting off the wall of the museum.

Standing at 48 feet tall and about 22,000 lbs, the Hammering man is an impressive moving monument installed in 1992.

His strong powerful swing brings down his hammer at 2 1/2 times per minute.


The Hammering Man honours all the workers in the world and celebrate their achievements. He can be found on 1300 First St in Seattle.

The Great Wheel, Seattle Waterfront 

This is the joy of travelling for us!
 Learning new things everyday and experiencing the fantastic artworks and creativity of the artists from other countries and cultures!

An interesting building in downtown Seattle

A park close to our hotel in Seattle

 
We totally love the thought of finding something new and exciting to see everyday on our trip.  Our intellect heeds to be challenged.



















Seattle did not disappoint us at all!





R.T.
Seattle, USA

Discovery Centre at the Melinda and Bill Gate Foundations Headquarters, Seattle

Entrance to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundations' Discovery Centre, Seattle

Microsoft is located in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle. 

We heard of the great work done by the Melinda and Gates Foundations, therefore, we were determined to  visit this organization located near the Seattle Centre in Seattle.

The Discovery Centre was opened not long ago.

It has a spacious exhibition hall that can accommodate school groups and a large number of visitors.

It hands on and interactive displays.

The Gates' Discovery Centre is also set up with a number of theatres allowing visitors to learn of the projects in which the foundations are involved. 

We saw displays showing the applications of the needed technology which people can use to improve their lives in poor countries around the world.

For instances :

1.  A display on a waterless and self- composing toilet

.

2.  Problems caused by mosquitoes in African and tropical countries.


















A display showing the provision of mosquito nets to African countries to reduce mosquito carrying diseases

3. A display on how girls are missing school during their menstruation in some less developed countries.

There was a hands on activity  encouraging visitors to design a hygiene kit for girls.

Visiting the Discovery Centre at the  Gates Foundations Headquarters, helped us to gain an appreciation of what the foundations are doing to help and improve the health conditions and lives  of the needy people around the globe.

The Discovery Centre is more than a place to gain much information about how technology and  human creativity can help to solve problems in the world.




















It has many interactive activities for adults and children alike.

For instance, in this station, it asked visitors to share their wish on some social issues about which they felt passionate.

The supplies needed  to record these ideas down were there. So that people could take time to think about them and write them down.

After ideas are written down on the paper discs supplied, these paper chains of ideas would be put together and hung up in the area and become part of the displays.


















We saw many of these visitors' ideas on  paper throughout the exhibition hall  becoming part of the decorations.

The lamp shades in the Discovery Centre's exhibition hall sitting area were made up of these ideas, pictures and drawings on paper too.

How creative was that!

There were many short videos, books and other displays at the Discovery Centre. 

The part we enjoyed the most was the Centre's numerous attempts in getting visitors involved, sharing their ideas in various different ways.  

Becoming a part of the solution in whatever way the visitors could seemed to be the Centre's focus along with educating and informing the public.




















Participate we certainly did!

We shared our ideas at the photo booth.


















In less than 5 minutes, we saw our picture appear on the big screen in the exhibition hall along with many other visitors before us.

It was neat!!!

We also appreciate the Discovery Centre's efforts to be inclusive in its displays and exhibitions.


This efforts has not gone unnoticed on our part.

The Melinda and Bill Gates Discovery Centre provides a great learning experience to its visitors, both young and old. As an educator, I highly recommend it!

Thumbs up to the Gates Foundation for creating this Discovery Centre!

R.T.

Discovery Centre
Melinda and Bill Gate Foundations Headquarters
Seattle, Washington State
USA

Learning About the Klondike Gold Rush at Miners' Landing in Seattle

People fishing by the Seattle Waterfront

On Thursday, after our friends drove back to Vancouver, we took a guided walking tour in downtown Seattle.

This was the second tour we took with "Seattle's Only Pay What You Feel Tour". The first one we took was Historic Seattle and the second tour was Seattle 101.

Miners Landing at Seattle's Waterfront

This tour lasted for two hours and we learned more about Seattle's recent history and development.

This tour ended by the Seattle waterfront.

We visited the Miners’ Landing at the Waterfront Park.

This was the exact spot where two ships and some miners sailed in with their bags of gold in the late 1800's and started the gold rush to Yukon. 


























Instead of a modern building, this building has been built and decorated with the theme of the gold rush era.

Statues of sailors, old pictures in wooden frame of prospectors and their tools depicting their adventures lined the walls of the Miners' Landing building.

We felt as if we were carried  back in time to the early 19th century.

The Sourdough Restaurant at Miners Landing

A restaurant specializing in serving sandwiches made with Sourdough,beckoned visitors to enter and try their food.

We did and tried a sandwich with sourdough bread which was one of the staple food items for the prospectors.


















This restaurant was charming with its old fashioned decorations.

 I  heard of the gold rush in North America.

 As a very young girl, I was told of the stories of the gold rush in California..

Many people with dreams of finding gold and big hopes, including people from as far as China, were lured to America which they named the Gold Mountains.










Stories of  the gold seekers staking their claims on the mountains and trying to find gold abound.

Thousands of people went to Alaska to find gold during the 1900's gold rush period.

Many of these stampeders came through Seattle to set sail for their gold seeking dream.

Prior to their journey, these stampeders stopped in Seattle to buy and stock up on their supplies.

Unfortunately,  of the 100,000 people on their journey seeking gold, only about 50 people did.

Instead of the miners making a big fortune mining gold from the gold rush in California, the merchants of Seattle, who sold supplies to  the thousands of them coming through Seattle, did.

 The city of Seattle benefited from the gold rush and had an economic boom.  Hence, the phrase - Mining the Miners, was born.

Another attraction at the Miners' Landing is the Great Wheel which provides a good view of Seattle from above.

However, it was foggy and drizzling so we would not be able to see much from up there.
We gave up the attempt to take a ride on the Great Wheel.

In front of Sammy Davis Jr. and his band, Miners' Landing, Seattle

It was an informative visit to Miners' Landing, an interesting educational, and FREE attraction in Seattle!

R.T.
Miners\ Landing
Waterfront Park
Seattle
USA