The Rough Guide to Seattle 3 (Rough Guide Mini Guides)
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Seattle straddles and sprawls across waterways, around lakes, over hills, and along miles of coast. Spread out over numerous communities, connected by tunnels, highways, and bridges, it can be a confusing place for newcomers, but it doesn't have to be. Richie Unterberger employs easy-to-use maps, concise prose, and a judicious selection of travel information to help you feel comfortable in Seattle. As the title implies, it's a tiny book--less than six inches tall and four inches wide--fitting inconspicuously into pocket or purse, but it's a fount of Seattle wisdom. There are chapters on all the major neighborhoods, from Lake Washington to Capitol Hill to Downtown; listings of accommodations, cafes, restaurants, and bars; sections on the performing arts, gay nightlife, festivals, sports, and activities for kids, plus shops and galleries; and a chart on climate, with average temperatures and monthly rainfall. It also contains the basics on getting to Seattle; getting around the city by metro, monorail, car, or ferry; and the best Web sites for surfing Seattle on the Internet. An ideal primer for incoming University of Washington freshmen, business travelers, or city weekenders, the Mini Rough Guide accomplishes a lot in a compact package. --Stephanie Gold
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
INTRODUCTION The sparkling waterside city of Seattle is one of America's newest, and most attractive, metropolises. Laced with parks and lakes, the "Emerald City" is almost perfectly sited between rugged mountains and sylvan islands, at the northwest corner of the contiguous "lower 48" states. One of America's most livable cities, Seattle is packed with scenic hills and winding streets, with an appealing array of public artworks and outdoor markets. Its central core, narrowly saved from the wrecking ball by popular outcry, has been converted into a series of colorful historic districts, which also hold the city's best arts, shopping, and nightlife.
Before the rise of the high-tech economy, Seattle's years as a thriving port, relying on the timber industry for its well-being, did little for its national image; neither did its role as home to the enormous University of Washington, or hosting a world's fair - even one which left Seattle with its most prominent icon, the Space Needle. The city did not really make headlines until the early 1990s, when a few key companies like Starbucks and Microsoft, along with the subcultures they generated, made Seattle a household name. Perhaps equally important was the advent of grunge music, with Seattle as its nominal birthplace, which led to the meteoric rise of seminal bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Buoyed by the go-go late-1990s economy, it seemed that the good times might never end, and that this once-obscure city in the Pacific Northwest might finally rival the likes of San Francisco and LA in West Coast prominence. Unfortunately, the main thing Seattle turned out to have in common with those Californian giants was its propensity for earthquakes, which manifested itself most recently in February of 2001, when a tremor shook the town to its core. More importantly, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, and national recession, hit Seattle like a tsunami, and the city's economic fortunes increasingly began to resemble its winter weather: dark and dreary. Even so, the countless museums, shops, cafés, and hotels that were built on the wave of the 1990s remain in place - and they're increasingly affordable for visitors, since the local recession put the brakes on price hikes.
For all its arriviste character, Seattle is neither overly dynamic nor a 24-hour party zone, and those expecting the throbbing pulse of a New York or Tokyo will definitely be underwhelmed. While its museums are reasonable, its theater scene vibrant, and its café culture unmatched in the US - offering social centers where coffee-drinking, avant-garde decor, and lively performances meld in one artsy pot - the overall mood of the city is decidedly low-key, requiring time to fully appreciate. In fact, Seattle is best experienced on an itinerary that puts as much emphasis on nature hikes, neighborhood strolls and ferry rides as it does on traditional sightseeing and untamed nightlife.
The Rough Guide to Seattle 3 (Rough Guide Mini Guides)
The Rough Guide to Seattle 3 (Rough Guide Mini Guides),ROUGH GUIDES,Rough Guides,1843530619,Travel,Travel - United States,Travel Guides - U.S.,United States - Pacific - Washington,United States - West - Pacific (General),Travel / United States / West / Pacific (AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA)
Cheap Books:
Recommended Books