Day 52: Seattle--Museums in Seattle City Center

Glass, Towers, Spaceships, and Muppets

Seattle Waterfront, as Viewed from the Top of the Space Needle

We woke to an overcast Sunday, which promised a fair morning and a rainy afternoon-- just perfect for some museum going.  However, before heading out for the day we availed ourselves of the condo's fantastic location to pop over to the Market to pick up some chicken sausage and fresh mushrooms for dinner. (Which were really good, by the way.)

Morning errands done, we decided to walk a few blocks over to the Monorail which would take us the mile or so over to City Center to our museums.  On the way, we passed a tour of a dozen or so Lamborghinis.  We're not sure exactly what they were doing, other than sitting in traffic with all the other cars-- that is except this taxi, which was apparently not at all impressed and just wanted to get through traffic as fast as possible:




The rest of the day was largely spent at the City Center museums-- we began with the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum, then rode up to the top of the Space Needle,  and then had a fabulous time exploring the Museum of Pop Culture.  Here's a rundown.

Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum

As we were expecting afternoon rain, this museum was our first stop.  We are glass fans, so it was fun to see all of the original pieces-- as Chihuly glass is now more of a production commodity than the artist's individual handiwork.  We honestly didn't spend much time reading exhibit notes or sculpture names-- we just enjoyed looking at the spectacular colors and impressive massive works of glass. (Bob of course was partial to anything orange and maroon-- as you will see from many of the photo choices below.)

In the Atrium at the Chihuly Museum

Chihuly Glass Boat

Outside in the Chihuly Glass Garden

A Large Chihuly Composition

Hokie Colors Make Great Glass

The Space Needle

The World Trade Center it's not-- but the Seattle Space Needle is a neat throwback to what the future looked like to those living in the 1960s.  It was undergoing renovations, so the restaurant was closed. But, we could and did take the elevator to the top and then walk around on the outside viewing deck. The wind kicked up a bit, but it wasn't yet raining so we had some fantastic views of the city.

Luckily we have a great view of the Seattle Great Wheel from our condo, so we had a landmark by which to locate our building from the top of the Needle. Here it is:

Approximate Location of Our Condo (Taken from the Space Needle Viewing Deck)

Here are some other great views from the deck:

Looking Down on Seattle From the Space Needle

Looking Down on the Seattle Center Museums from the Top of the Space Needle

The Museum of Pop Culture

This was by far my favorite stop of the day.  The last time we were here the museum was called the Experience Music Project and was chock full of great music exhibits (including a special exhibit on The Doors, one of my personal favorite rock bands).

However, over 15 years things change; and the museum is now dedicated to everything Pop culture including sci-fi movies/tv, video games, fantasy games and movies, and yes popular music too.  

By the time we reached this museum it had just started raining, and people were coming in with umbrellas.  We saw something we had never seen before-- umbrella bags.  Apparently they don't want you to drip your umbrella on the exhibits (or perhaps the floor so people don't slip). Only in Seattle I guess.

The Most Unique Sight of the Day: Umbrella Bags

Anyway, back to the museum.  It retained a few of its music related exhibits including one of the history of guitars from the late 1800s to today's high tech base guitar designs and everything in between.  For the folkies out there, here is one of Woody Guthrie's Guitars:

Woody Guthrie Guitar

There was also a Hendrix exhibit, and a gallery of photos taken by Mick Rock (largely of David Bowie, but with some other faces thrown in).  Whether you are a Bowie fan or not, you could not help admiring the artistry of the photography.  They were all truly striking.

But my favorite exhibits by far were the sci-fi galleries-- one related to sci-fi in general and one dedicated solely to the many incarnations of Star Trek.  As you will see in the photos below, I am the true sci-fi Geek, and Bob is happy to humor me (and take pictures-- lots of pictures.)

This one is me standing in a Borg Regeneration Unit from Voyager, taking the place typically occupied by Seven of Nine.

Lisa Regenerates

This one was taken in the exit hallway of the exhibit, and allowed me to commune on the Bridge with the Next Generation Enterprise Crew.

Lisa Joins The Next Generation

In this one I am standing at the end of a replica Jefferies Tube.  Bob did his very best to convince me to crawl through it, but I wouldn't budge (perhaps there is a bit of Klingon in me...as anyone who knows my temper would readily agree).

Lisa Does Not Climb Through Jefferies Tubes

And special for Seth, here I am taking pictures of a real case of Tribbles (so not the caterpillars).  Bob takes much better pictures, so you get the one he took instead of the one I am taking.

Lisa Takes a Picture of Tribbles

The other sci-fi exhibit included props and costumes from classic movies and tv shows.  I walked around pointing and exclaiming-- "That's the Thing from the Show" and Bob walked around saying, "I remember-- that's from episode 12.1a" not having a clue what he was looking at.  

There were examples from The Martian, Blade Runner, Mars Attacks, Star Wars, Alien, The Terminator, Ghost Busters, Battlestar Galactica (only the new version-- no clunky Cylon costumes), and more.  The only major missing show was Babylon 5.  And, Doctor Who was sorely under-represented-- but at least they included this Dalek, without which the exhibit would have been woefully incomplete.

Exterminate!

While most of the Fantasy gallery was lost on us (except for some Lord of the Rings/Hobbit exhibits from which it took 6 doors to exit), they did at least pay homage to the Wizard of Oz as one of the original fantasy movies.  Here I am wearing the Wicked Witch Hat:

Lisa Finds Her Hat 

My other favorite gallery was a special exhibition dedicated to Jim Henson's work.  It included everything from his early puppeteering, to Sesame Street, to The Muppet Show, to his Fantasy movies. I was walking around like a kid again-- but most of the childhood charm was lost on Bob who was all grown up by the time Sesame Street came on the air, and while the Muppet Show had its run.  So the rainbow connection of lovers and dreamers was left to me-- while he looked on amused (and I think delighted).

When we first entered the exhibit we were greeted by Kermit.  Bob did his best to play along.

Bob Waives Back with a Goofy Kermit Face

We saw Ernie and Bert, Grover, and The Count.  When I noticed that his first hand was 1 and his other was 2, I had to join in and continue the string.

And Lisa Makes Three

There were a number of muppets from The Muppet Show on display, and this wall of snippets from the series was impressive and fun to watch.

Wall of Snippets from The Muppet Show

I was disappointed that many of my favorites did not show up including Cookie Monster, Oscar, Sunffy, Miss Piggy, and Animal.  However, Cookie and Oscar made an appearance in some of the videos.

So, tonight I'll leave you with a mini muppet montage:




--Lisa