I am bad at saying good-byes; meaning I say them well in front of people maybe without so much of emotion as I mean them. Today was no different. Initially, when I landed in Seattle, I had decided that I was not going to like the place as much as I do Switzerland. The weather was bad; -- it was raining, public transportation wasn't as good...Many of the places we went to for food (specially the first night) was exorbitantly expensive. Even I tried to argue that the coffee was better in Bern.
But it's only that much. It was my initial hesitation in accepting change that was saying all that. As time went on, I am glad to say that I could see beyond all this, feel the culture of the city, the culture of America; and why you should never compare beer with wine! I already wrote about all that in my last post.
Well, anyway. I just have to add a couple of things before I finally say goodnight and go to sleep (.... I have to wake up at 5 AM tomorrow morning). The first one is the Columbia Center, also serving as the Bank of America building. The tallest building in the Seattle skyline, (about twice as tall as the Space Needle), you would see it's huge, but you would not really realize it's SO HUGE until you go all the way up and then look down. I have heard so many arguments of my sophisticated friends against the skyline of the US cities rendered ugly by the skyscrapers; but today, all these arguments really turned to water when I was up on top of the building and looked down at the cityscape, the landscape around it, the lakes and then finally the mountains beyond. There is something in beauty that defies all arguments...
The second thing is the University of Washington campus. A sprawling one, I've often wondered what it would be like to play Treasure Hunt in there. Again, it is here, that I have had the chance to observe the American University students life, albeit from a distance. It is something I have seen so many movies about, wondered so much about; but this is the closest to which I have experienced it. It would have been fun if I was here as a student: going out with friends to the University street on a Friday night for a cheap dinner of Thai food followed by a couple of beers in a local alehouse. Fun, eh? The campus has it's own charms, old buildings shrouded in tall trees, grassy lawns, cherry trees in full blossom in spring, the vitality of youth everywhere,...
...anyway, Goodbye Seattle. Hope to see you again soon!
But it's only that much. It was my initial hesitation in accepting change that was saying all that. As time went on, I am glad to say that I could see beyond all this, feel the culture of the city, the culture of America; and why you should never compare beer with wine! I already wrote about all that in my last post.
Well, anyway. I just have to add a couple of things before I finally say goodnight and go to sleep (.... I have to wake up at 5 AM tomorrow morning). The first one is the Columbia Center, also serving as the Bank of America building. The tallest building in the Seattle skyline, (about twice as tall as the Space Needle), you would see it's huge, but you would not really realize it's SO HUGE until you go all the way up and then look down. I have heard so many arguments of my sophisticated friends against the skyline of the US cities rendered ugly by the skyscrapers; but today, all these arguments really turned to water when I was up on top of the building and looked down at the cityscape, the landscape around it, the lakes and then finally the mountains beyond. There is something in beauty that defies all arguments...
The second thing is the University of Washington campus. A sprawling one, I've often wondered what it would be like to play Treasure Hunt in there. Again, it is here, that I have had the chance to observe the American University students life, albeit from a distance. It is something I have seen so many movies about, wondered so much about; but this is the closest to which I have experienced it. It would have been fun if I was here as a student: going out with friends to the University street on a Friday night for a cheap dinner of Thai food followed by a couple of beers in a local alehouse. Fun, eh? The campus has it's own charms, old buildings shrouded in tall trees, grassy lawns, cherry trees in full blossom in spring, the vitality of youth everywhere,...
...anyway, Goodbye Seattle. Hope to see you again soon!
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Finally, some after-thoughts and after-remarks without which this whole Seattle series wouldn't be complete. First of all, let me explain how Nature find a way of getting back at me every time I plan something. So today morning, while on the shuttle going to the Airport, I thought of having my camera out with me, since I have often wanted to take pictures from air. And I forgot. And then looking out, I almost wanted to bite my fingers. I was sitting at a window, and asking all the people to get up is something more than I can manage; so let me just mention these scenes. Those of you who read this, and have been in similar situation will realize what I mean.
I have often said that the defining characteristic of Seattle can be taken to be Mount Rainier. A volcano, it is set apart from others in its grandeur and beauty (see here for a description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rainier). And there is was. From the window of my seat, I looked so marvelous in the fresh morning light. And I did not have the camera with me. The next time it was Philadelphia. While take-off, when we were taxiing to the runway, there were a series of planes standing in a row, at nearly right angles to our path. What caught my eye was the remarkable order in which they were standing -- their tail-fins tracing out an absolutely straight line. Again my camera was in my bag and above my seat. The last time I felt this was in the very early morning in the plane. Before the sun rose, there was just a fantastic layer of orangish-red light tracing out the curvature of the planet. And since the light was refracted via the atmosphere, it was just a layer. It was fantastic. This time again, the camera was in my bag, but it was within my reach, since the seat next to me was empty. But this time my bag was kept in the part of the overhead luggage compartments in the opposite row, and which was unfortunately curtained across since some stewardess was sleeping there, and the flight attendants didn't want to wake her up.
The next thing is about the skyscrapers. Again. From what it seemed like in Philadelphia and Seattle is that the American cities have awful lot of tall buildings, but they are typically always in the downtown. The rest of the city is flat. True, I have only seen Seattle and Philadelphia, and I should not make this generalization; but there you are. And it didn't look so bad. What I mean is, if there were very high mountains in the background then high buildings would probably spoil view, which to some extent one can argue for the case in Seattle. But when it's flat, it's all right. Anyway, I find it so!
Finally, it was pleasant to come back in Switzerland. This time I had a residence permit, and believe it or not, I wasn't asked a single question at the immigration. Even the lady behind the counter "merci"-ed me as she returned the passport and the residence permit. Given that she noted I had a Bernese resident permit, and knowing the Swiss, I interpret this to be a high honor indeed!
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