We parked ($5 for two hours – not bad in that neighborhood!), and went looking for Sweet Petula, an awesome bath & body boutique that I originally found on Etsy, the homemade and vintage online market. I can’t go without their olive oil-based Ginger Blossom soap, so I stocked up with four bars.
Then we stopped by the Klondike Gold Rush museum. It’s run by the National Park Service, and offers free entry for info, stories, and interactive displays pertaining to the late 19th century and the role that Seattle played as a major stopover and supplier for those heading to the goldfields.
Next we headed up to the Elliot Bay Book Company, an awesome, creaky indie storehouse of wonderful books in many fabulous editions. I was almost sucked into the vortex that was their cookbook section, but ended up saving myself in YA and Fantasy/Sci-Fi. The best bits were the little hand-written ‘staff recommends’ cards hanging off of every shelf in all the bookcases…
By that time we were getting a little hungry, and we went over and stood in line at Salumi, a famous sausage deli (and Seattle institution). It’s right down the block from a fire station and police precinct, so we had a good mix of uniforms, bike messengers, tourists (me), and other regulars in the line. Anthony Bourdain featured the little place on his show, so it’s ‘famous,’ but it’s also still so small that you rub elbows with your neighbor regardless. I had the fennel sausage sandwich with fresh mozzarella and onions on Panini bread. Serious YUM.
We walked over to a little courtyard with a fountain next to the King Street Train Station to sit in the sun and eat our fill. Afterward we crossed the street to the Uwajimaya Asian market, where I bought some almond Pocky sticks for dessert and we scoped out the Manga in the bookstore.
Then we ran like the dickens back to my car, because we saw a tow truck on the block and were 5 minutes late! (No worries…no ticket…) And so ended a pretty perfect couple of hours tooling around the Pioneer Square district. If you’ve ever been, do you have a recommendation?
