Pike Place Market!

Last Saturday we took Kirsten and our friend Chance to Pike Place Market with us for the first time. Lots of people have heard of Pike Place Market, and it's a pretty major tourist destination in Seattle. I'd say the main things in Seattle people have heard of are the Space Needle and this market. And it really is pretty amazing, and reminds me more of something you'd find in Europe rather than the United States. Here's our family in front of the guys who throw fish back and forth to each other. It's pretty cool to watch, but I hate the smell!
Yummy food is very easily found at Pike Place. I'm sure we haven't even tried most of it yet, but Stephen's favorite is a little place called Piroshky Piroshky. It's a Russian place, and Stephen loves the ones with different meats, cheeses, and spinach inside them.

Another of our favorites is Beecher's Handmade Cheese. They give out samples of their cheeses and you can buy them in blocks, and their Flagship Cheese is sooooo good. I got their grilled cheese sandwich for my lunch, and it was perfect! They also have windows where you can watch some of the cheese being made, so Stephen took a picture of it.

Stephen and I have been there a few times before, but this was definitely the most crowded we've seen it. There were people absolutely everywhere, and it was difficult with the stroller to avoid running it into people. We also couldn't weave in and out of people, so it was slow going. But Kirsten did great, even though she was a bit overwhelmed by all the noise, sights, and smells. It was a lot of excitement for a baby!

Part of the market is indoors and part of it is outdoors, and there are street performers and tons of fresh produce, which adds even more to the European flavor. I thought these pepper bunches were pretty.

Here's Stephen, Kirsten, and Chance in front of the flower bouquets. It was impossible to get Kirsten to look at me or the camera, with so much to see!

The flower bouquets are really beautiful there, and if it had been closer to Easter I would have bought one for our dinner table.

Doesn't that fruit look SO delicious? It always looks gorgeous and I want to eat it all. Some of the fruit sellers slice off pieces of apples or pears and give them out as samples, and I usually buy a couple pieces of fruit from them. It's not even apple season, but I tasted an apple that was so good I had to buy one. Other booths give out samples of fresh honey, jam, pepper jelly (another of Stephen's favorites), jerky, and dipped cherries.

Here we are in the outdoor part of the market, with the city of Seattle behind us. Pike Place Market is by the water and right in the middle of downtown, so it can be a bit of a pain to get there and crowded, too. But it's fun and definitely shows the many flavors of Seattle!