Seattle II

 

view from Aurora Bridge

robe of dog-tags, Do-Ho Suh, SAM

 

Ghanese coffin -SAM

robe of dog-tags Do-Ho Suh- SAM

Seattle Art Museum

Music Experience Project

Larry (Amy’s father) and I in the baseball stadium

robe of dog-tags, Do-ho Suh – SAM

Larry, Amy’s father and I at the baseball stadium

robe of dog-tags, Do-Ho Suh, SAM

view from Aurora Bridge

Seattle ist cool, I can cycle again, the neighbour of my couchsurf host Abba, Janet, saw it at the bulletin board of the house, she knew that I had lost the key because she came for dinner the last evening I stayed at Abba’s. What a relief! I could leave tomorrow , but I think i should wait till my  spare key gets here.

 

 

 

 The last 2 days I saw 2 museums the Seattle Art Museum SAM with extraordinary artifacts and the Experience Music Project which was mainly devoted to Jimmy Hendrix. He was an outstanding musician and it animated me to buy others of his records. I was surprised by the great number of bands from the north west of the US who were successful worldwide, at least their names sounded familiar to me: Nirvana….. The SAM showed works of Anselm Kiefer -lead object – and Josef Beuys -felt objects, one suit -and other well known artists (Koons, Rauschenberg Warhol), but as well a wide range African , First Nations and Aboriginal Australian artifacts, very impressing the Mercedes coffin from Ghana. I liked as well the robe made of dog-tags by the artist Do-Ho Suh from Korea. Tomorrow I am going to see the Lenin monument, it is probably the only one of a commmunist leader in the US!

Yesterday I went on the city underground tour, the guide Adam was really funny, he talked about the foundation of Seattle in the mud flats, the problems with the sewage that was swept into the city by the tide, the big Seattle fire in 1889 caused by heated glue that spilled over and the distillery and the hardwarestore with dynamite that fuelled the fire so that 40 blocks of the city burnt down. Apart of that most females that came into the city pretended living on sewing but inspectors did not find a single sewing machine.  Mrs Graham made a lot of money with her girls located opposite the city hall and next to the church, but she insisted on good education and made the girls study the newspaper every morning. After 2-3years they had made enough money to start a different business. The flooding problem of the city was solved by building walls of  along the streets that were filld with debris, but then the pavement was at least 4ms below . That caused a lot of deadly falls and meant a lot of dirt and scat in a ditch where pedestraians were walking . In the end they decided to build new sidewalks as well so that the gound floors disappeared underneath!

In the evening Amy, Torry and I qwent to a Baseball match, the first one I have ever seen! I got into the rules of the match and against all expectations the local Mariners won. I enjoyed the stadium and being out there with Torry, Amy and her parents who work there but it is not the kind of sport that thrills me!

Against all prejudices: There are American cities with excellent public transport: no German city can compete with free rides in the inner city and 3 hour transfer tickets at $1.50 !!!

Before I got here I did not know, that there are so many cycle paths in American cities!

And Americans are hooked on good coffee, there are coffe bars at every corner which serve fair trade cappuccino. You do not have to go to Starbucks. Coffee is the drug No 1!!!

 

Ghanese coffin -SAM

 

Seattle Art Museum

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Larry, Amy's father, and I