Pike-Market

Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tasting

Discover the art, science and craft of truly inspired coffee – all of the rare, small-lot Starbucks Reserve coffees are roasted and packaged at this roastery before being shipped all over the world.

We started our day with the signature 'It started here first' coffee experience at the Starbucks Roastery Reserve.

First on the menu was the Whiskey cold brew 'old fashioned' mocktail, followed by an Espresso with olive oil and passion fruit cold pressed foam and finally the Indonesian vanilla gelato and wildflower hot honey affogato topped with an amaretto black cherry..my personal favourite!

Mariah and Kacy led us through making all of these and were fun, friendly and knew everything about the Starbucks journey and coffee production.

Argosy Cruise - Harbor Tour with Dana

We hopped on the cruise from pier 55, with a welcome cocktail made from gin, peach puree and cloudy lemonade given to us by the lovely Dana. We cruised past the bell harbour terminal where the the smaller cruise liners sail from to go to Alaska. Oceania and Norwegian sail from here and the larger cruiseliners such as Princess and Holland America sail from the other side.

Next we went by the Edgewater Hotel which was built in 1962 and as it just missed the date of the world fair opening, the hotel came up with a marketing idea to allow guests to fish from their room balcony. This was banned in the 80s after guests on the lower floors complained that salmon kept hitting their windows! The Beatles stayed here in 1964 and lots more famous musicians followed suit. Even to this day you can hire an amp and guitar to take to your room.

We passed Queen Anne Hill, home to 2 famous TV doctors...Dr Meredith Grey from Greys Anatomy, and Dr Frasier Crane from Frasier.

On port side we got an amazing view of the cityscape, with the Space Needle, business district, Schmidt Tower..built in 1913 and used to be the tallest building west of Chicago..and finally the beauty of Mount Rainier nestling within the blue skies and clouds. We were lucky enough to see some seals sunbathing and of course we had to reinact a scene from Titanic! It really was the perfect day for a harbour cruise and it was narrated so we got to learn a lot of fun facts.

Lunch - Ivar's Fish Bar

Ivar’s Seafood Bars are the go-to destination for award winning fish 'n chips and clam chowder, with 18 locations throughout Washington. We all had their famous cod and chips and bright orange Fanta!

Explore Waterfront - Pier 57 and Seattle Aquarium

Seattle Aquarium - The region’s premier resource for hands-on marine experiences and conservation education, the Seattle Aquarium offers fun, exciting ways to discover more about the amazing Puget Sound and our world’s one big ocean.

The Great Wheel - The Seattle Great Wheel was built in less than a year opening to the public on June 29, 2012. Since then, it has become an icon of the city and a destination for tourists and locals alike. The Seattle Great Wheel is the largest observation wheel on the west coast, standing 53 meters/175 feet tall with 42 fully-enclosed gondolas

Wings over Washington - Strap into your own theatre seat and take a ride in the world’s most current state-of-the-art “flying theatre” that will transport you on an aerial adventure above one the America’s most scenic and beautiful states. Using innovative art laser projection, drones for image capture and a ground breaking surround sound system you will experience diving down seaside cliffs of the Olympic National Forest and Mt. Rainier to the San Juan Islands, to the beauty of the Cascades and the awe-inspiring Snoqualmie Falls. This was totally amazing and one of my favourite parts of the day!

Our next stop was SAM where we met Chelsea.

Art is not something I know much about so took the opportunity to ask Chelsea about the artwork and different pieces that I found interesting

The Seattle Art Museum has been the center for world-class visual arts in the Pacific Northwest since 1933. Visit SAM to see a museum carved into the city, as much a part of Seattle's landscape and personality as the coffee, rain, mountains, Pike Place Market, and the Space Needle.

Bill Speidel's Underground Tour

Seattle’s most unusual attraction, take a humorous stroll through intriguing subterranean storefronts and sidewalks entombed when the city rebuilt on top of itself after the Great Fire of 1889.

The tour guide, Sam, explained all about the Seattle spirit and that it used to be Frontier Town with 3 founding fathers - these all had different ideas how a town should work and all bought different things to make it happen. It was initially on marsh land that flooded regularly which was not very hygienic.

There was a huge fire in June 1889 in a cabinet shop on the hill, a pot of fat caught on fire, the young worker tried to put it out with water but that made it worse. Across the street was a hardware store with gunpowder and dynamite and next door a saloon that had just got a delivery of oak barrelled whiskey so the whole area went up within seconds!

Downtown Seattle was completely burnt out within 12 hours. They decided to rebuild and it eventually became the city it is today.

Dinner & Drinks - Bangrak & The Nest

Dinner this evening was at Bangrak, a cool little Thai joint specialising in locally inspired street food and fun cocktails. Everything was so bright and colourful and the food was fantastic.

Our final stop of the day was The Nest - a rooftop bar within The Thompson Hotel. Amazing views and a glass of sparkling red wine finished off the day nicely.Read more