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We drove down to Seattle for a couple of days this weekend and had a surprisingly good time. I’ve always thought of Seattle as Vancouver’s poorer sister - Seattle might have a waterfront location and good shopping, but Vancouver beats it by a long shot in scenery, walkability and fun. Having low expectations probably helped me enjoy what Seattle did have to offer. The waterfront is not much to look at …

… but they do have cool public art.

… and weird buildings:

We stayed at the Kimpton Monaco hotel, which we booked blindly through Hotwire. It turned out to be great: 4 stars, very central, great decor, big room with nice TV, friendly and personal service, all for about $125/night. The best things about the hotel: they have free wine from 5 to 6 pm in the lobby, and they lend you a real goldfish in a fish bowl as company while you’re staying there! Our goldfish’s name was Jayne:

After checking in, we found some Mexican food for lunch nearby and washed it down with some cold Hefeweizen. Then we wandered down to Pike Place Market and took in the sights.

The fish throwing and catching was entertaining, and I loved all the cute stores in and around the market. I found some great deals on kitchen ware at Sur La Table (love Ian’s reflection in this photo!):

We lined up for hot drinks at the first Starbucks (French-pressed Pike Place coffee for Ian, steamed eggnog millk for me).

We napped a bit in the afternoon, watched some TV and then asked the concierge for a dinner recommendation. I was all set on going to Union, but it was fully booked until 9 pm, so we took the concierge’s recommendation and walked 2 blocks down to the Brooklyn. We expected a typical steak house, but it turned out to have great fresh seafood as well. Ian ordered the pan-fried oysters (melt-in-your-mouth delicious) and I ordered the ribs (unexpectedly, the rack of ribs was longer than my forearm! - needless to say, I didn’t finish them, even with Ian’s help, nor did we have room for dessert at the end!).

The best part of the evening: the tasters! The first page of the menu was dedicated to tasters: you could choose from ordering sets of 7 types of microbrewed beer (well enjoyed by Ian), 4 different wines, 4 different bourbons, 4 different tequilas, 4 different scotches, etc.

Why don’t restaurants in Vancouver get this concept yet??