And the answer is ... Seattle!

The Feet and Forks at Starbucks in Seattle's Pioneer Square,
with a Cow Chips cookie bag from next door.

Three alert readers correctly identified the mystery city as Seattle! The first one to get it was Michigoose (of Michigan), so congratulations to her!

The Fabulous Feet and Forks, with me in my 20-year-old
Southwestern coat that I bought at a mall in Manhattan, KS.

We took the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle and walked the short distance to historic Pioneer Square. Fortified with warm Cow Chips cookies and Starbucks coffee, we continued our walk through Pioneer Square, playing with the sweater-wrapped trees and window shopping at art galleries.

The Northwest is a hot bed of art glass. Most galleries carry it, and at the Glasshouse Studio you can watch glass artists at work.

The guy in back is working with molten glass.

Due to Seattle's location on the Puget Sound, you also see a lot of references to marine life. This is another view of the mural in the last post, but here you can see the scale next to the woman passing by.

Looking DOWN at the Space Needle from Columbia Center.

Everyone knows about the view from the Space Needle, but if you want to look DOWN at the Space Needle go to the 73rd-floor Sky View Deck of Columbia Center. It's twice the height of the Space Needle, 1,049 feet above sea level, with a 270-degree view of the city, mountains, highways and the Puget Sound. It only cost us $3 each (senior rate) and there were only a few other people there, so it was quiet, peaceful and dramatic.

Noontime gray skies and Mt. Rainier from our 73rd-floor perch.

From there, we hoofed it down 4th Avenue to the Public Library, known for its unusual architecture. I'd never been there before and I was horrified once we got inside by the hideous sickly glowing yellow escalators and elevators, the gray, and the cold industrialness of it all.

Weirdly colored escalator at the Seattle Public Library.

For a few minutes I thought the escalator's glowing yellow was fun. Then the novelty wore off and I decided it was wrong on so many levels. You'll see that same yellow in some of the other photos here, and I like it everywhere except in the library.

About the best thing I can say for the library is that it makes an architectural statement and provides some good photo ops. But I think a library should be warm and welcoming and make you want to spend the whole day there learning, reading and dreaming.

This library just made me want to GET OUT.

View from inside the prison -- I mean library.

From there, we found refuge in The Teddy Bear Suite, below, at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. It's the polar (pun intended) opposite of the library.

We went there to see the hotel's decorated trees but discovered they'd been auctioned off. Instead, we got to see this suite decorated entirely with teddy bears, green feathers, red glitter and lime ornaments.

Then it was up the hill and over to the gingerbread train station display at the Sheraton. Pretty impressive.

The exhibit depicted train stations from around the world, including the one above from New Zealand and the one below from the North Pole. (If you've seen the holiday TV show about Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys, you'll recognize the characters below.)

So there you have it! Another glimpse into an exciting day with the Feet and Forks. (Yes, we did live up to our name and use our forks for a late lunch at a brew house. But I forgot to take photos before the plates were cleared away.)

Have a colorful day!