Wednesday 13 June, 2007

A Needle's Eye View

Spectacular view of Mt. Rainier in the background of
Seattle's Skyline from Space Needle.

The skyline, the turquoise waterfront and the majestic Mt Rainier, all add to the amazing view from 520 ft above the ground atop Space Needle. Could u believe that the mountain is 60 miles (96 kms) away ? !! The view was so awe-inspiring on this clear and bright day, that I spent about 3 hours here, having a coffee and enjoying the view. Was also waiting for it to get dark so that I could get some snaps of the lit skyline. Unfortunately, the sun was a good 20 degrees above the horizon at 8:00 pm when I waqs forced to return! The sun sets after 9:15 during the summer here.

To give u a better picture of where the space needle stands relative to downtown Seattle, its the distinct tall tower to the left in the pic below. This snap was taken during harbor cruise, which is an hours cruise around the Seattle harbor. I was told by the guide of the cruise that this kind of a clear view of Mt Rainier is available for about 5 days an year, when there is neither any haze over the peak nor any clouds in the sky. Until recently, Seattle had the dubious distinction of being the rainiest (wettest) city in the US. The rainiest city close to rainier mountain!!


The Space Needle was the second tower in the world to host a "revolving restaurant". Yes!!, it revolves to provide a 360 degree view of the city and the sea, as u have a romantic candle light dinner at a height of 520 ft. Wouldn't it make an amazing first date ??!! (just perfect... specially for a gal who wouldn't have to incur the brunt of the bill ;) ). The revolving restaurant is clearly visible in this one:



This would prolly be the first and the last post to feature steel/concrete structures. Lots of pics featuring nature at its best in the west .. to follow!

3 comments:

vinu said...

nice start...
and yeah..post more snaps of the colors of spring out there. :-)

Shekhar said...

@vinu (as though some one else is viewing it too ;) )

thnx :) ...u mean spring or fall ? spring here is colorful too.. but for a very short duration (Mar)..like about a week or so.. the tulips and bulbs are not found widely in US .. so spring colors are a lot more special in western Europe !! Here spring is colorful due to cherry blossoms and some occasional bulbs here and there...otherwise its mostly the return of greenery after a long colorless (brown & white) winter!

Fall (Oct-Nov) is amazingly colorful, only in the east coast. U can find some good ones in my orkut album. Will surely post some on fall splendor during this fall too!

vinu said...

yeah..i meant fall.. :-) yeah ur orkut album has some lovely snaps...