Westlake Park

If there is a center of Seattle City, it is probably Westlake park, a triangular park at the corner of 4th Ave and Pine St. On a good day, the artificial waterfall will churn loudly. Somehow, there are always a group of people sitting on various ledges with their dogs. There are also always young enthusiastic people with a clipboard trying to get you to take a survey. Of course, there are street artists doing street artistic things to get you to throw a couple of dollars into their collective instrument. I like the bronze live statue guy. He painted himself as a rusting bronze statue, green and brown even with a bit bird dropping. There is this guy who startles you with a burst of “SHOOSHINE.” I never saw anyone doing shoe shining with him.

This is the favorite place for people to protest. There is a standard “The End is Now” sign; always an extreme religious one “You will GO TO HELL if you don’t love Jesus;” the nice silver-haired lady doing a modest sign of “Abolish Nuclear Weapons;” of course, today is the anti-war protest in the wake of the US’s declaration of hostility against Libya.

Funny that walkers-by paid little attention to the protesters. Cops chatting with each others, chess players concentrating on their games, shoppers checking out their stuff, and eaters enjoying their foods. It is just a nice day, let’s enjoy whatever we come here to do. If protesting is your thing, don’t let me inconvenience you.

This is a good place for urban exploration: hang out, eat, have a cup of Joe, or even do some shopping. It is always better to do this with a companion.

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