I spot the same Real Change vendor day after day.  I get mine at a different location, so not much interaction with this wild haired distributor of the underground news.  A few juggalos can be seen from time to time trying to get money for the next gathering of the juggalos.  I spy the same old lady walking west towards the freeway with her walker and bag of groceries.

Also, without fail, the light allowing the madison traffic to continue forward will change from green to red when I approach.   Directing me to cross from south to north and wait for another light to pass so I can continue my journey to the east.  I don;t need to cross to the north at this intersection but I do if the light is going my way (which is general always).  This confounds me to no end.  Why is the light traffic direction signal always being activated when I arrive?

Answers? I have no answers.  Yet I still continue on this path and obey when it changes without fail.

Le Panier is a lovely spot for lunch.  A popular spot for lingering tourists stopping off for a french baked good and a quick pick me up.  Pre-made sandwiches displayed in the case are my draw.  Crudités, Jambon-Fromage, and Pâté de Campagne are provide the nourishment to finish the arduous day and recharge the batteries.  Times have progressed as this bit of nourishment has increase by a half dollar.  The chewy baguette makes you work for you lunch.

To obtain this prize, you must enter the confines of the Pike Place Market.  Entering the market on a summer day is not something that is undertaken by the meek or those short on time.  Wandering and gaping are popular pastimes around the noontime hour during summer’s call.  Flowers fishes, and vegetables are presented in their splendor with the gentle waves and breeze beckoning from nearby Elliot Bay.  Tables adjacent to this harvest are lined with belt buckles adorned with the Space Needle, waxy sticks of honey presented in an array of flavors, and t-shirts adorned with wolves howling at the distant moon.  Opportunities like this don’t present themselves as often as they should!

Headphones on, with eye on the prize mentality, I enter the gauntlet of the market on a summer afternoon.  I weave through the masses on the sidewalk.  As long as the caravan  keeps moving, the sidewalk will remain my domain.  Eventually, the eyes of the outsiders can not resist the allure of the tourist trappings.  The need to escape the confines of the sidewalk weighs heavily on my brow as the forward progress declines.  Luckily the roadway along the market stretch is full of slow moving traffic.  It provides a quick escape route if the mass influx of people refuses to move.  The cars are much easier to avoid than the stoppage of the human experience.  But alas, without the mobs from abroad descending upon the market, these options may not be available to me on a daily basis.  I may be salty but I am still practical.

View Walks in a larger map