Our day started at Pike Place Market, Seattle's original farmers market. We saw lots of typical crafts, fresh produce, and lots of fresh wild caught seafood. If you buy fish from Pike Place Fish Market they will even throw it to one another for everyone's entertainment. The highlight of the market for us was a delicious Rocky Road cake cup that we quickly devoured.
Next, we walked a short distance to Olympic Sculpture park which featured modern sculptures and great views of Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains.
Some of the sculptures were weird. Here we are listening to the sounds of a freeway below:
Some of the sculptures were weird. Here we are listening to the sounds of a freeway below:
We headed uphill for a quick stop at the Pacific Science Center to check out the house of butterflies.
We found these cool sculptures in the courtyard of the Pacific Science Center:
After the museum, we drove to Boeing's Future of Flight Aviation Center for a tour of the factory that produces the 747-8s, 777s, and the DreamLiner 787s. Our tour began with a movie that stressed how far travel has come since the olden days of getting across the world by sea. After the film we boarded a bus and headed towards the factory, which we learned is the world's largest building by volume. The building is so large that it could fit Disneyland inside of it and still have 12 acres left.
The assembly lines were incredible. These massive planes take 3-4 months to build and require over 6 million parts to assemble. Some interesting facts we learned about the plane of the future, the 787:
-It's the first major airliner to use composite materials instead of aluminum, which makes it lighter and thus more fuel efficient the windows are 65% larger, can be lightened and darkened with a touch of a button, and are located in every single aisle.
-There are more humidity controls inside the plane so passengers don't feel as dry
-The new air conditioning system removes bacteria and viruses
-The lighting system can simulate sunrise, sunset, and starry night to reduce jet lag
-The engines are far more quiet than the 747
-It costs less to manufacturer than the 747-8 than the 777
-It costs less to manufacturer than the 747-8 than the 777
Overall it was a fascinating experience to get a glimpse at the logistics it takes to produce these planes. Cameras were not allowed in the factory, but here a few shots from the exhibition gallery:
We headed back to Pikes Place to stroll along the water from before dinner. We saw the original Starbucks:
And the wall of gum:
And a water fountain in front of a Ferris wheel:
And this marine sculpture:
And a bunch of other fun stuff along the way:
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