Seattle

I made it into Seattle this morning.  I went on the underground tour and went up the space needle.  Pretty neat day, other then so many people!  Also, when they say parking is free on Sunday, it is a scam to trap foreigners into getting parking tickets!
The underground tour was very interesting.  Basically, when Seattle was originally built it was on the tidal flats.  This caused flooding, sewer issues, and buildings to sink. When Seattle burned, they decided to rebuild it 10-30 feet higher, depending on location.  The businesses didn't want to wait for the city to build all the raised areas (5-10 years) so they built their buildings with the knowledge that their second or third floor would one day be the main floor. The city mandated that all buildings be rock or concrete so they couldn't burn again.  When the city raised the streets it left the side walks at the original ground level.  So you left a business, climbed a ladder, walked across the street, went down a ladder and into the next business.  This ended up causing some deaths from falls, so he city started covering the sidewalks.  They installed sky light windows in so you could still see when you were on the old sidewalk.  Eventually, due to rats and bubonic plague, they condemned the underground areas.  These areas reopened when proabition came to be.  All the brothels and speak easies went underground.  Now some areas are used by the buildings above and some are part of the tour.  Interesting to look at and hear about.

Coming soon to Anchorage!

Underground tour.  Many of the fancy entrances were built on the upper floors and were un-usable until the streets were raised.  Must have looked funny at the time.

 One of the original 10000 toilets shipped t Seattle.  Oops, no sewer yet!  Not well planned.  Then the issue of being at sea level caused toilets to back up at high tide and to blow backwards at times. 

The slanted walls are the retaining walls for th roads above.

The arches are supports for the sidewalks.

A door made during proabition times

One of the sky lights.

Drawing of what it was like before the sidewalks were covered.

Views from the space needle.

Spiders and their shadows painted on the top of this building.  Looks petty real.

Original high school.

1.5 hp motor to turn the restaurant.  Pretty impressive balancing!