Andrew Munro(1,2)1) King's College, Univerity of Cambridge. 2) Center for Immunology and Immunotherapies Seattle Children's Research Institute
Abstract: The story of my visit to the Space Needle and Seattle Center.
Background: The Space Needle and Seattle Center were built for the "Century 21 Exposition" a.k.a. the World Fair 1962. The iconic Space Needle is 184m tall yet only 42m across at its widest and took a mere 11 months and 7 days. It can withstand a earthquake of magnitude 9 on the Richter Scale and a Category 5 Hurricane (though it does sway in the wind). The Center is the larger 74 acre site of the world fair and includes the Pacific Science Museum, KeyArena (home of Seattle Storm, the women's basketball team) and the Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum (of which more later).
Methods: On Sunday 22nd August the test subject visited the site and made the below recordings of his impressions
Results:
Fig. 1 The Space Needle. Its big, ok thats kinda obvious, but really its
big.
Its not exactly cheap to go up but its $18 well spent. They're a slick operation whisking you up the spiral walkway through the glass pavillion at the base, a quick 'green screen' photo (fig. 2), then a 42 second elevator ride up the outside to the top. The 'disc' at the top contains a revolving restaurant and the observation deck. Outside, but encased in an ominous wire mesh (preventing jumpers, BASE or otherwise), the observation deck provides satisfyingly stunning views (Fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Fig. 2 The 'green screen' shot
Fig. 3 Downtown and the Monorail.
Fig. 4 A 'telephoto' shot of Building One, the Research Institute where I work, this was taken by carefully holding my compact digital camera up to one of the free telescopes on the deck. You can see the rooftop garden on the 11th floor and the window of my boss Anne's office on the 7th.
Fig. 5 The view across to Queen Anne where I stayed at Anne's house the other week.
Fig. 6 Another telescopic shot, this time of Anne's house.
Fig. 7 The view over Lake Union, the lake in the centre of Seattle. If you look carefully you can see a sea plane taking off and at the far end of the lake is Gas Works Park (see my very first post)
Back down on the ground one is inevitably routed out through the gift shop, where I discovered my perfect souvenir of my time here in Seattle (Fig. 8, below). It will stand as a proud monument on my desk next year.
Fig. 8 Lego Space Needle!!!
Fig. 9 All around the Needle outside are large modern art sculptures which make for a nice photo.
The rest of the site contains a variety of museums and my next stop was the Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum. The foyer to the museum contains a huge screen and a small stage used for live performances but through the day comfy couches and music made it great place just to take a moment (Fig. 10 and 11)
Fig. 12 The wonderful sculpture of instruments in the EMP
Fig. 13 A great idea. An iPod embedded in a table to introduce people to the wonders of the Jimi Hendrix Experience
Fig. 14 Hendrix's famous 'Butterfly' costume, I think I may have to get one of these to wear to formals...
Fig. 15 Fragments of just a few of the guitars Hendrix trashed on stage during his career
The Science Fiction Museum allowed me to unleash my inner geek (ok, outer geek) and enjoy a little Star Trek, Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Terminator. Nothing superimpresive, except maybe this great cityscape from Blade Runner
Fig. 16
Conclusion: My outing finished (see what I did there...) by catching the monorail back up to town. While its the more expensive option (buses are free within downtown Seattle), the monorail is faster and more regular than the buses, and lets face it, its not everyday you get to ride a monorail (I wonder if I can persuade Cambridge city council to put one in from King's Parade to the Path building on Tennis Court Road...).
Fig. 17
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