Tourists and Me

I live north of Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. As such, there are many, many tourists coming and going. Last night, my friend Alice came over for dinner before we went to the ballet. She brought vegetables and I went to the Market to get salmon. Whenever she comes over, I wince at going to the Market on a Saturday afternoon. Yesterday, I went around 2:00, peak tourist time. If I go around 4:30, the market is slowing down but some vendors are starting to close up for the day and then I have to rush.

I talked about the crowds at the Market with Alice and she said the place was "people-y," a new word to me which means a place has too many people. When I went the fishmonger, tourists were "clumping" in front of the displays, blocking the path for me to get Copper River sockeye.

There is another side to tourism in my neighborhood whichI encountered this morning. I went to church a few blocks from my condo, and there I met a woman from Galway, Ireland at the coffee after mass. She told of some good places to hit next time I'm in Dublin, and I told her to visit the Olympic Sculpture Park and the Amazon Spheres.

A few weeks ago, I was at a restaurant/bar called the Nest with sweeping views of Seattle. There I sat next to two women from Australia. At Le Pichet, I met a couple from New York. The woman was of Irish nationality and her boyfriend was Indian. At the Pink Door, I met a woman from Palo Alto.

Alice was talking about how much she likes to absorb the culture when she travels, and how she likes to meet the locals. 

In Seattle, I am the local. I am the person tourists meet.