The Romans are Leaving!

At some point during the week, my ears tuned in to the local commercials and I realized that the ancient Roman art exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum was down to it's last few days (Mother's Day is the last). The weekend would be a regular Roman circus of people cramming in to see what the Louvre so graciously loaned Seattle. So...I took Friday off. Friday was also the sole sunny day of the week so I figured I would have a good time at the museum and then wander around downtown a bit.

Unfortunately, I have no pics from the exhibit (no cameras allowed). It was way beyond what I had expected. I thought they might have a dozen statues, some miscellaneous artifacts, one or two "wow" pieces. Uh, no. TONS of stuff and it took me a full 2 hours to work through just the full exhibit (I didn't spend too much time in the regular exhibits after that). There were tons of exquisite marble statuary, friezes, mosaics, painted art, artifacts from daily life, etc. Frankly, it was awe-inspiring and I'm so glad I took a day off to go.

Despite the antiquity of the collection (most pieces dated to about 200 BCE to 100 CE) it was also interesting for me to realize that what was on display was still hundreds of years more recent that something I just finished reading: Homer's Illiad and Odyssey (both date to about 2700 years ago, before writing). If you were forced to read portions of either in school, rethink what you read and go (run!) pick up copies of the new translations by Robert Fagles.

Yes, I do more than knit! (AND I read more than romance novels ;-)

After the Romans, and after a cursory pass through other exhibits (enough to know I have to get back there again), I headed out in search of lunch. SAM is only a block or two from the Pike Place Market so I headed over there. This is a view down the main "alley" on the street level floor when you enter. PPM is known for fish, flowers, fresh produce and all kinds of other odd things from donuts made while you wait to numerous street musicians (some good, some truly awful).

I didn't find a spot for lunch there, but did pick up a few things. I don't have a picture of it, but there was a place with TONS of homemade pasta - I picked up a Southwestern blend (and their recipe to make a spicy southwestern pasta salad using it), some porcini and red pepper orzo, and....(get this) some chocolate linguini. Yup. Dessert pasta. It even came with a dessert recipe featuring the linguini and strawberries. I couldn't resist.

On the way back out, I saw this:

Around on the other side was a huge selection of cookies (I got 4 different ones to try later). The also had monstrous Texas doughnuts (think...the size of a dinner plate and about 3 inches tall). There was a group of tourists absolutely mesmerized by the donuts and I could see that the man traveling with three women was already envisioning himself reading the Sunday paper with a cup of coffee and just ONE doughnut.

I also passed the famous Flying Fish market on my way out. BTW, the whole Pike Place Market scene is pretty much mandatory for tourists. See the brightly colored fish? Parrot fish.

Farther up first street I finally found someplace for lunch. It was a little hole in the wall restaurant (but seemed a lot cleaner than anything in the Market!) with bagels and bagel sandwiches. The sandwich was great. As I started to wander back down the street toward the car, I found this:

A gelato store. I got half chocolate orange and half hazelnut. (Yes, I did eat my way through the Market district!). I finally headed back toward the lot where I'd rented (at an obnoxious fee) a small piece of Seattle real estate for the afternoon (i.e., parked my car). I had parked at the base of Harbor Steps. It's hard to really tell from this picture because I couldn't get ALL the steps in, but this is a butt-firming climbing from wharf level up to SAM, PPM, etc. There are a LOT of steps. Seattle is definitely a downtown that will get you in shape.

I had originally planned to walk more along the wharf, but my feet were wiped out so I managed a Diet Coke and a shot of the Seattle Aquarium just to prove I hit waterline at one point.

Coming soon: adventures in cable repair accompanied by some really bad photography.