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“An education in Australian Cinema” |
(Before reading this story please see overview)
For one and a half weeks we house minded with our friend Gallon (who my girlfriend Amy had met whilst on exchange in Holland) the home of his parents on Bainbridge Island, a ferry-ride from Seattle. The glass walls of the open plan kitchen, dinning and lounge area looked across the still waters of Puget Sound, over and beyond the city skyline of Seattle to the majestic, snow capped, mountains of the Sierra Nevada.
Whilst staying here, our inclination toward sight seeing was substantially reduced. As was the case in Boston, and Bidderford for that matter, we just wanted to relax, read, hang out with friends and organise ourselves (travelling extensively requires a lot of work – there was also the arduous task of getting insurance for my coffee drenched and decidedly dead computer). The beautiful surroundings to which we woke each day and the winter climate didn’t help. There was the also fact that I wanted time to work on my music and writing.
So, despite staying upwards of a week and a half on Bainbridge Island, the most we saw of Seattle was the bars, cafes and restaurants around Pike Street Market, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Streets and the equivalent in the University District. On Bainbridge Island itself we saw a little more, visiting the cute township cafes and supermarket regularly and going on walks to and along its beautiful beaches and through its leafy suburbs. There were no visits to museums, galleries or anything of historical significance what so ever.
Despite this fact, we had an exceptional time.
For Christmas we blew our budget, bought excessive amounts of exotic meats, herbs vegetables and dairy products, cooked up a feast, drank excessively and in the evening settled down to a movie marathon – in which we subjected our American friend to an education in Australian Cinema (watching Somersault and Romper Stomper – videos we had acquired in the University District from the biggest and best independent video store I have ever seen; the Australian section filled three rows of shelves).
The day after Boxing Day we were invited to a goose cooking - which I just wanted to share... 'cause I like the sound of it. Another of Amy's friends from Holland, Juniper, joined us at this time.
We spent the initial part of New Years evening at a cute little bookstore bar on 1st Street where we downed exotic cocktails.
We then moved to the University District where, due to ID issues (our passports were in transit) we were forced to take up residence in a small Irish pub, which while homey and selling cheep beer and spirits, had a punk band playing so loudly we were unable to communicate. This being the case we were forced, for an hour or so, to keep entertained by taking photos of ourselves making funny faces - quite fun actually.
Junipers friends soon saved us and we were whisked away in a car to ritzy little bar called Mona’s, in which a private party was taking place. It being 11:30 and New Years Eve, however, no one seemed to notice. There were multiple New Years Eve Top hats around which we promptly donned and a guy at the back of the bar giving away porn products (ranging from caps and T-shirts to vibrators). Never ones to shy away from free stuff we took them, studied them in our drunken stupor, then returned to the business of getting more inebriated.
The countdown was received with champagne glasses at the ready and me acting like an idiot.
previous travel blog entry
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