6 May 2014 - Seattle

I've hardly had lunch at all this vacation - which is good. I can now get by on a hearty breakfast, half price frappucino about 3.30pm and a small dinner. I have to leave half of it if I'm not careful.

So today's hearty breakfast, sponsored by Trip Advisor,was the delicious Toulouse Petit. Pancakes, poached eggs, syrup and bacon. Literally breakfast of champions.

Then came the walking. I have walked miles in Seattle. Starting with our walk over to the Segway place. However didn't actually mind, as there was loads to do on the way. IE near the aquarium there is a giant Ferris wheel like off the London Eye which we went for a spin on (to note - if you need a wee, then there aren't many conveniences, which I found somewhat inconvenient). Then we went to Pike St Market. Really lovely. Gorgeous fruit and veg. And of course the home of the first Starbucks. So in we popped! Well it would be rude not to.

Did I mention the horror of my card being declined? Utter nightmare. So whilst at Starbucks in the zone of the wifi's I was on the blower to card provider to get to the bottom of things (obviously I couldn't remember my user name) - anyhow it got sorted in the end - it was my fault!

Another thing I've not mentioned yet - is that whenever you pass a police car, they always seem to be on their dashboard mounted laptops. I like to think that they're like me; perhaps updating their facebook status to 'just arrested a perp. LOL' or trying to log on to internet banking. But I digress...

So after more walking and coffee (and charging up technologies) we were at Segway shop. There was Darren and I and a couple. They'd clearly not been on Segways before. Oh dear.

Ironically when 'training' we were convinced that the woman demonstrated all the traits of being the troublemaker of the group - but no. It was the bloke. He was rubbish at going uphill...

So our Segway glide in Seattle essentially covered the miles that we'd done on our way there - but with more of a voiceover. What was clear was the guides unhidden hatred of Starbucks. Oh dear. I shall share some pics taken on our tour when I have full wifi's at my disposal.

Post Segway we went back to the first Starbucks to collect some trinkets. Well they're special for that one.... And it was time to make our way home. This time we thought monorail. That goes from the central station to Space Needle. Ooh before I forget I was mortified when I held open a door for a youth and he said 'Thank you sir'. I felt about 500 years old. Am clearly not down with the kids.

So monorail back to near hotel, and time to settle on where for dinner.....Whilst on Segways we spotted a nice area around 4th St...and as that's not too far from our hotel, we walked up there. Bambinos Pizza & Microbrewery won. Pizza for me and weird american beers for Darren. It was actually lush - and I actually had a cider with my pizza. Totes lush place. And the good thing was that it was full of locals, not farmer-tan-sporting tourists like me and Darren. What was mildly amusing was that there was a lady jogger in full kit jogged up to the restaurant, came in, collected a giant pizza a jogged off.

Tomorrow it's all about the ferry crossing and finally ascending the Space Needle, so stay tuned.