EMP Museum, Space Needle and The Underground

This is the final installment of the Seattle series. Over the remaining two days, we visited the EMP museum, Space Needle and also took the Underground tour.

EMP Museum

The EMP museum is located right next to the Space Needle and has exhibits relating to science fiction and music. I skipped the Hendrix, Nirvana and guitar gallery as it did not interest me. I went right ahead to the 'Fantasy: World of Myth and Magic' exhibit which had costumes, props and artifacts from comics, video games, movies and literature. It takes the viewer through a journey of the fantasy world.
 

EMP Museum

 

Guitar tree

 

Dragon exhibit in the 'Fantasy:World of Myth & Magic'

The next exhibit I saw was the "Can't Look away: The lure of horror films" I surprised myself by visiting this gallery which takes an in-depth look at horror expressed through movies over the years. There are interesting videos about some of the most famous horror films that give a glimpse into the reason for their success and brilliance. There are interactive exhibits which are quite fun. This one is better experienced than described.

 

Space Needle

The Space Needle is an observation tower built for the World's fair but has now become a major landmark and attraction. It is 520 feet tall and elevators traveling at 10 miles/hr take people right to the top of the building from where one can see wonderful views of the downtown Seattle skyline, Mount Rainier, Elliot Bay and the surrounding mountains. At the top, there is also a rotating restaurant. We went in the evening as I wanted to see the illuminated Seattle skyline.

Space Needle

View from the Space Needle

Underground tour

This was one of the most enjoyable experiences of our trip. It is an hour long tour where the guide took us through the underground passages of Pioneer Square and gave us a very crisp and humorous account of the history behind it. Basically, the underground that we now see was, in fact, the original level at which the city existed. After the Seattle fire at the end of the 1800s, the city was rebuilt on top of the old level while the lower level  still was accessible. So now there are two levels one on top of each other. The lower level gives us a glimpse of the history and architecture of the time. The guide explained to us how Seattle got its name from the Native American tribal leader Chief Sia'hl with a brief account of rise of Seattle from a small lumber town to one of the top five largest cities in the US. I highly recommend this trip if history interests you.

Historical building in Pioneer Square

Underground passages

Vintage hotel in Pioneer Square

Some of the things that we had planned but missed seeing were Seattle Art Museum, ferry ride and Snoqualmie Falls.