Seattle Day 2 - Part 2

Seattle Day 2 - Part 2

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop - Underground Tour - Seattle Great Wheel

You often find some of the best and most interesting places when you just wonder the streets with no intention of a destination. In this case I ended up discovering the Ye Olde Curiosity shop at the Seattle water front. Part knick knack shop and part old world curio closet and side show display, it feels as though it would've been featured in an episode of MTV's Daria's Sick Sad World. 

When you walk in and look up, various artifacts hang down, including a replica from one of of P.T. Barnum's most famous gaffs, the Fiji Mermaid. Walking around you'll also find Medical Ed (an early 20th century medical teaching device made from an actual cadaver head), Sylvia the mummy (a Spanish immigrant who died most likely of TB in the highlands of Central America) and even an old timey peep show machine where you'll most likely get to see more than a little ankle. Among the oddities are also intricately carved tusks, preserved bullfrogs and shrunken heads. While the Curiosity Shop may not be on the top of many travelers list of things to see, if you have penchant for seeking out weird and creepy things long forgotten, like I do, definitely stop by.

Later I hopped on Bill Speidel's Underground Tour which ended up being one of the highlights, along with the EMP Museum, of my Seattle trip. The pioneer city has a fantastic history, which unfolds as the guides take you through the original streets of Seattle before it was built up.

If you're not traveling with young children I would say skip the early tour and head on to the night tour of the underground so you can hear the grittier less sugar coated side of the city's early history.

The setting sun caught my eye as I left the Underground tour, which led me once more towards the waterfront. The Seattle Great Wheel was beckoning me to ride with a better vantage point for which to soak in the vibrant orange and magenta hues of the emerging twilight. And at $13 a ticket for a sunset over Puget Sound, I couldn't resist, especially as the last bit of color faded into the night sky.

At the end of a very long day, my tired feet were more than happy to call it quits and hail a cab back to the Panama Hotel.

Up next, my third and last day in Seattle as I maneuver Pike Place Market on a busy Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned! 

If you would like to see more photos of Seattle, click here.