With the sun gently shining and a lull in the downpour, I left the idyllic suburbs of Renton to visit the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum in downtown Seattle, next to the Space Needle. (Yes, I have a visitor - R is in town.)

The interactive section of EMP is neat, but there aren't enough instruments. The museum wasn't busy, and there were still lines for many of the "touch and play" exhibits. The science fiction museum was a bit of a memory tease, a lot of books were incorporated into the exhibits. (Did I read that?) But, there wasn't much interactivity. In addition, the physical layout of both museums is very poor; they are set up as a series of levels with stairs in between. While there is an elevator, if you search, the basic layout is minimally accessible for the elderly (or anyone with knee issues). Cool building exteriors do not make up for a thoughtless interior. Still, that (an incomplete thought process) is pretty typical of Seattle, so I guess the museum is representative of the area.

For me, both museums are one shots - interesting to see, but I won't be back until I have visitors that want to go. Having said that, I'll definetly take music lovers to EMP - think they would enjoy it. There is a really good history of Jimmy Hendrix (Seattle native) and guitar development. (On my part, if they increased the interactive EMP exhibits, I might buy a season pass, as it was fun to play with them. But, I've no interest in driving over, paying $10 to park, and then waiting to (maybe) play with the instruments for 10 minutes or so.) On a positive note, you can visit both museums for $15 (one ticket for both admissions). It's not as good as the Smithsonians (free!), but it is a huge step up from the cost of Disneyland. On my subjective personal scale, Smithsonians are a 10, the J. Paul Getty is a 9, San Diego Wild Animal Park and Paris' Louvre are 8s, London's Victoria and Albert Museum and Monet's Garden are 7s, EMP is a 6, and the Science Fiction Museum is a 5. Yep, I may be a bit jaded. :)

After checking out the museums, we wandered through Seattle Center. In a stroke of good fortune, we happened onto the Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival. After observing the crowd - a few nice kimonos (none as beautiful as A's; my Happi coat was better than most), great taiko drum performance, and a silent scene (too far away to hear the irate Kabuki performer chew out security, but it was fun to watch), we rode the monorail downtown.

Btw, the festival celebrates a gift of 1000 cherry trees from Japanese government to Seattle in 1976. Via the magic of google, I did a little post festival research. Supposedly, a book by Arthur Lee Jacobs, “Trees of Seattle,” tells you exactly where to find the Cherry trees. I'm not certain, as I am quite horticulturally impaired, but I think that I might even have a cherry tree in my backyard. If you're interested, an interesting mini-discussion of the Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom festival can be found at the following link: http://www.arts.wa.gov/progFA/AsianFest/CherryBloss/facherryb2.html.

Downtown, we strolled the streets around the - signage for the Paramont theatre is pretty darn cool. Ended up having a nice lunch/dinner at Gordon Biersch Brewery before taking the monorail back to Seattle Center (and the car). Actually, for a sightseeing day, I think it's probably best to park by Seattle Center and take the monorail into downtown.

We finished up the day with a trip to Home Depot (really need to tile the laundry room floor) and then rented Smoking Aces. It was interesting - series of parallel story lines, very violent, but the ending didn't really work. The movie builds more interest in the assassains than the young FBI agent, so ending on him was pretty anti-climatic. Not a repeat view, for me.

Overall, a fun Saturday.

PS - I may be a bit of a Japanese culture snob, as I've picked up a lot of tidbits from A over the years. I've had the pleasure of seeing outstanding examples of kimono, Japanese dance, ikebana, and bonsai with someone that could explain the nuances. While my rentention rate is pretty low, I'm become a little picky with respect to thread count and presentation styles. ;p