Where to Go in Seattle: Under the City

This post was meant for Wednesday but that was before my laptop overheated and wouldn't let me use the internet.

I went on an Underground tour of Seattle last Friday and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever!  I wish I could just explore down there for a whole day by myself.  As long as I had spare camera batteries, I would be one happy camper.  As it was, my camera battery died halfway through the 75 minute tour.  I ordered two spares from eBay as soon as I got home.  They should get here the day before I leave for the weekend and G's best friend's wedding.  I took quite a few pictures before the tour started because I like art and I had been going through camera withdrawals when it was away for repairs.  The reason the Underground exists is that some guy wasn't paying attention when he was boiling glue and then it caught on fire.  He tried to put it out with water and that made it worse.  The whole city burned down because the volunteer firefighters realized they didn't want to work when they weren't getting paid.  So then they just built a new city over the top of the old one.  The Underground ended up being used for speakeasies during the Prohibition.  It's kind of crazy ( and super cool!) because there are just random entrances to the Underground in normal buildings.  First, here are some pictures of some above ground stuff.

This mural was so cool!

There are lots of these cube sculptures in Pioneer Square.  I really like the one with the branches.

These clocks are really cool.

I love the architectural details on all the old buildings.

This sign was at a bookstore that sold only mystery books.

This was at the toy store in the baby toys section and I thought this page was perfect.

Our tour guide told us that this pergola cost millions of dollars to rebuild after a truck driver knocked it over,
even though about 98% of it was reused material from the first one.

And now is the part you have all been waiting for: the pictures from the Underground.

This was actually a room above ground, but I really like the wood carving around the mirrors behind the bar.

I think this picture turned out cool and almost ghostly even though it's blurry.

My favorite thing was the old wallpaper.

They built a boardwalk to bypass this pile of earthquake rubble, which wasn't down here until this was the Underground