SCHOLARSHIP DAY 83: First Seattle Walk- including Seattle City Library (the most interesting library you'll ever see!)

After the frustration of last night's ordeal regarding a missing laptop charger, I actually managed to meet a few of the hostel guests, enjoy a hot chocolate and get a good night's sleep. By now, the charger should be in the 'express' post being sent from Alaska to Portland. We live in hope.

I decided to get up early and start my Seattle adventure, heading out of the hostel by 8:30am and greeting what was a cloudy but otherwise fine day. With just a shirt and jumper, a 50 degree F heat is particularly warm considering the climate I've just come from! Seattle is shaped in what has been described as an oval, and the majority of its main attractions are distributed over the north-west portion of the city. Today, though, I chose to walk down every avenue, and explore what the city has to offer its tourists. As I expected from the offset, the city provides no end of traveller interest; you just have to get out there and walk.

Starting from the west, and heading slowly east, one of the first scenes you'll come to is Elliot Bay, which is the waterbody that provides many trips for those who want to see Seattle from a distance. I continued south along Western Avenue, and shortly arrived at Pike Place Market; an indoor market I have yet to explore. Unlike Oxford's, which typically has stalls on one level (if my memory serves me correctly), Pike Place extends upwards, as is the case with quite a lot of the city. You can't increase the surface area of a city, but you can grow it talller and taller.

Then it suddenly hit me. Today, I felt closer to home than I have done since I left it at the end of August. It's no surprise that Seattle reminds me of London; after all, they're both cities, and adopt some of the same typical elements. For a start, you can't escape the Skyscrapers; they are all evidence of man's own engineering, mathmatics and phenomenal dedication to physical labour. After observing such untarnished territory in the Alaskan wilderness, I half expected myself to frown upon a tall concrete and glass structure but I couldn't help admiring them.

 But it's not just the skyscrapers. Look around and you'll find all sorts of similarities. Pigeons parading the streets, the occasional use of conventional brick housing, similar cars, 'bendy' buses (although these run on lines above the road which reminds me somewhat of Prague.) I know this may be no surprise, but I've been living three months in Alaska; a state which has none of these attributes, and runs a totally different lifestyle. Perhaps the biggest similarity with London, is the ferris wheel, that overlooks the docks.

There's obviously been a lot of hard work on making Seattle an aesthetically pleasing city, and this is shown in a large array of the city's structure. Yes, metal encompasses the city in buildings, lamposts, metro buses and cars, but the city has also allowed space for some artistic flair with the material, like this design outside the Pike Place Market.

Something else which demonstrates beyond doubt the true effect of latitude, are the trees of Seattle. Once again I felt back at home, passing fir trees, maple trees and finally the big daddy of them all: the mighty Oak tree. I like the way that Seattle has made them almost abundant on every Avenue, ensuring it stays a green city. Alaska might have experienced the autumnal fall a couple of months ago, but here in Seattle, the Oak showcases a display of bright orange. Some trees in some select portions of the city still have green leaves which makes me wonder about the city's impact on nature. Is it as sustainable as it likes to make out? A couple of weeks ago, after a high snowfall event in Alaska, a man was using a blowing machine to uncover the pavements and walkways. Today, I noticed the same device being used to scatter the leaves!

I decided to enjoy something to eat and drink at an eaterie called 'Taste Bar', a small little dining establisment in the Macy's Superstore. It stands proudly opposite a McDonalds, and has a better menu! I took a small Sprite and an egg, bacon and cheese sandwich, which turned out bigger than I expected. It's always the way here in America! There I sat, watching 21st century city life take place on the other side of a thin plane of glass. I suddenly realised my choice to eat something was actually synchronised very well with the weather, because I realised people were undoing their umbrellas. The Seattle Newspaper reports record rainfall for last night, and I feared another one was on the way. I took a short little walk around the Macy's superstore, half expecting the rain to stop, and came across this skybridge, where good views of 3rd avenue could be achieved.

Well, the rain didn't stop. On it poured, so I put on the waterproofs and tried to make the best of it. Luckily nearby on fourth avenue was the Seattle City Library. Lots of people have advertised this free attraction to me, and from the exterior, I was looking forward to what would be quite a new experience for me.

Where to look first was my first issue upon entering. It's an 10 floor building, which is quite short in comparison to the rest of the city's towers, but it's the interior structural design that makes me wonder whether more people come here to take photos rather than to use the library in its intended fashion. I strongly believe it actually enjoys tourists coming in to investigate the extravagance floor by floor, which is somewhat unusal for a building conventionally wishng for as much peace as possible.

You can't fail to notice the diamond shaped windows that complete each wall, and it's the non-symmetrical angling of the walls which make this place iconic. As you walk round, you're consistently reminded how sustainable the building is; the light bulbs are environmentally friendly and are switched off periodically, the wooden floor is composed of scrap wood from lumber yards and some areas of the libary are made out of Bamboo, a renewable resource.

On my journey towards the top, I came across a rather unusual (and perhaps out of place) room called the 'Red Hall'. It was equally as aesthetically pleasing as the rest of the library. Although the lights were the same as any other part of the library, the floors, walls and ceilings had been painted red, although one's immediate impression was that red lighting had been employed.

I escaped this world of red and took the elevator towards the top floor, and noted a sign proudly advertising this floor as the 'highest reachable point' in the building. This was the best bird's eye view that I was going to achieve. A lady commented on how wonderful this library was; she smiled, and I replied: "It's the most interesting library I've ever been in" which in all honesty is true.

I left, having not picked up a single book, but felt I had explored at least one story; the story of how one person's imagination and flair was turned from dream to a reality. This kind of architecture, this flavour of imaginative design, is the future I think for cities that want to stand out from the crowd.

It's amazing; the dynamics of city materials. The same materials that were used to turn what would have been just an ordinary city library, into a recognizable awe-inspiring icon, have produced one of the world's most interesting observation towers: the Seattle Space Needle. Try spending a few days in Seattle and avoid seeing it, and I bet you can't. From every possible angle, the popular needle attracts the visitor's eye.

I'm going to be living the 'Space Needle' experience later this week, so I'll hold off on talking about it for the time being. I headed south towards the hostel again, to catch up on the admin work. It wasn't long, however, that I put on the waterproofs to explore Seattle by night. Although only five o'clock, the Sun had set and city lights were beginning to be turned on. I noticed a noticeable difference in the busyness of the streets as rush hour was beginning to take toll, and although I would have expected the same numbers making their way to and from the city at 8:30am this morning, I found Seattle unusually quiet. Along 4th and 5th Avenues, the many roadside trees had been decorated and brought about a lustrous atmosphere to my walk. I picked up some groceries that I would require throughout the week, and headed back to the hostel.

My first explorations of Seattle have been simply an eye opener to life in what Alaskan's call the 'Lower 48'. I am thousands of miles away from home, yet strangely enough, it feels incredibly similar. Tonight, a Skype call to the family, and tomorrow is set to be one very busy day indeed.