Hanging out at the hotel room here in Seattle and since I got a great deal online, I'm staying in a four-star hotel for dirt cheap.....because of that, it's making it really hard to get my day started....but I do want to do more sightseeing today, so we'll get that done eventually....
My biggest complaint about this city is that it's just soooo confusing to get around here....talking to one of the locals last night as well and he said the same thing....I told him that I just came from Portland and he instantly said how lucky I was to have been there instead....don't get me wrong, it's another beautiful city and it would be great to live here, but for someone getting around for the first couple of days, it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and few have the patience to do that....
Great train ride from Portland to Seattle and the train yard is literally beside Safeco Field, hence why you would hear the horns from the trains throughout a Mariners game....I'll get to Safeco Field in a second...I still want to rant on the transit system here.....
What a bunch of garbage.....Ottawa is still worse, don't get me wrong, but I'm getting spoiled now by being in so many cities where they've managed to get it right.....Seattle has a good system for those who work, but if you want to use it at night, good luck as I quickly found out....
For starters, they implemented a subway service just recently, but it's only runs until 7 at night.....have you ever heard of a subway system downtown only running until 7? Not me....but I made the mistake of relying on it after the game....
Then I got on the bus and it vaguely took me to where my hotel was, so I hop on.....ring the bell for the stop and the bus comes to a halt....I step down at the back doors waiting for the door to open only for the doors to stay closed and the bus to continue on its way....I ring the bell again and this time head to the front of the bus....this time, the driver opens the door and as he does, he says, "No exiting out of the back after 7, front doors only..." WHAT?!?! What kind of bus doesn't allow people to get off the back? Isn't in encouraged for people to get out the back doors so you don't have congestion at the front? I was just so ticked off with the city at this point, I just decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel....all the bars that I passed by were empty anyways, so there was nothing going on.....
As for Safeco itself, it's not bad, but there's nothing special to it....I would have thought that they would have integrated the trainyards a little more, but after thinking about it, the trainyards are the dirtiest part of the city, so you wouldn't want to really expose that....
It's a retractable roof stadium, but in 2009, there's no cache to that anymore, so it doesn't really give a stadium a lot of points like it would have before.....everything else is adequate as well, but I guess the word "adequate" would be fitting....it's not a dump by any means, but it's nothing eye-catching either....I didn't think it would make it this far down the list, but here's the updated list...
1) Minute Maid Park - Houston
2) Camden Yards - Baltimore
3) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
4) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
5) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
6) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
7) Fenway Park - Boston
8) Yankee Stadium
9) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
10) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
11) Safeco Field - Seattle
12) Turner Field - Atlanta
13) Tropicana Field - Tampa
14) Nationals Park - Washington
15) Dolphins Stadium - Miami
Alright, my stomach is dying for some food, either that or Starbucks since I've started my day with a frappuccino every day for the last three days.....if that's the case, there's a Starbucks connected to the hotel....lol
Off to sightsee and then, it's a day of flying to San Diego tomorrow.....
My biggest complaint about this city is that it's just soooo confusing to get around here....talking to one of the locals last night as well and he said the same thing....I told him that I just came from Portland and he instantly said how lucky I was to have been there instead....don't get me wrong, it's another beautiful city and it would be great to live here, but for someone getting around for the first couple of days, it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and few have the patience to do that....
Great train ride from Portland to Seattle and the train yard is literally beside Safeco Field, hence why you would hear the horns from the trains throughout a Mariners game....I'll get to Safeco Field in a second...I still want to rant on the transit system here.....
What a bunch of garbage.....Ottawa is still worse, don't get me wrong, but I'm getting spoiled now by being in so many cities where they've managed to get it right.....Seattle has a good system for those who work, but if you want to use it at night, good luck as I quickly found out....
For starters, they implemented a subway service just recently, but it's only runs until 7 at night.....have you ever heard of a subway system downtown only running until 7? Not me....but I made the mistake of relying on it after the game....
Then I got on the bus and it vaguely took me to where my hotel was, so I hop on.....ring the bell for the stop and the bus comes to a halt....I step down at the back doors waiting for the door to open only for the doors to stay closed and the bus to continue on its way....I ring the bell again and this time head to the front of the bus....this time, the driver opens the door and as he does, he says, "No exiting out of the back after 7, front doors only..." WHAT?!?! What kind of bus doesn't allow people to get off the back? Isn't in encouraged for people to get out the back doors so you don't have congestion at the front? I was just so ticked off with the city at this point, I just decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel....all the bars that I passed by were empty anyways, so there was nothing going on.....
As for Safeco itself, it's not bad, but there's nothing special to it....I would have thought that they would have integrated the trainyards a little more, but after thinking about it, the trainyards are the dirtiest part of the city, so you wouldn't want to really expose that....
It's a retractable roof stadium, but in 2009, there's no cache to that anymore, so it doesn't really give a stadium a lot of points like it would have before.....everything else is adequate as well, but I guess the word "adequate" would be fitting....it's not a dump by any means, but it's nothing eye-catching either....I didn't think it would make it this far down the list, but here's the updated list...
1) Minute Maid Park - Houston
2) Camden Yards - Baltimore
3) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
4) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
5) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
6) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
7) Fenway Park - Boston
8) Yankee Stadium
9) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
10) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
11) Safeco Field - Seattle
12) Turner Field - Atlanta
13) Tropicana Field - Tampa
14) Nationals Park - Washington
15) Dolphins Stadium - Miami
Alright, my stomach is dying for some food, either that or Starbucks since I've started my day with a frappuccino every day for the last three days.....if that's the case, there's a Starbucks connected to the hotel....lol
Off to sightsee and then, it's a day of flying to San Diego tomorrow.....
