Chihuly Walk of Glass
Hard to believe the weekend is already coming to an end and I am heading back home tonight! I had to get some work out of the way in the morning and then headed down to Tacoma to check out the Chihuly glass exhibits and grab some lunch before we head back into Seattle. Unfortunately, the weather was slated to be rainy today (what a surprise lol) but it was more windy than anything else....at least at first!
We got to Tacoma and we were both STARVING. We had a map which showed the various spots around the University of Washington, Tacoma with Chihuly pieces on display. The first stop that caught my eye....The Swiss Pub! Hmmmm....fooooooooood. :-) We walked in and I absolutely fell in love with this place - it had a warehouse, funky vibe feel! There were some Chihuly pieces above the bar and some very interesting art work throughout.
We checked out the glass pieces it a bit and then went straight to order food, figuring we could take photos after lunch! I had an Italian Sub and I believe Shane had a Swiss Dip - not entirely sure since I only saw it on the plate for about two seconds before he inhaled the whole thing! :-) I was pretty hungry too and about 3/4 of the way done with my sandwich when I realized we forgot to take photos of lunch! HA HA HA. Good thing our resident foodie is headed off to the Galapagos right now and may not see this entry for awhile! :-) The sandwiches were good and this is another place that has Smithwick's on tap.
Now we were off to brave the wind gusts and check out the free Chihuly exhibits. There is an awesome bridge that has a number of his pieces in cases as well as the "ceiling" of the bridge itself. With the glare, it was somewhat hard to get decent photos of those but it's definitely something you need to see in person - photos cannot do it justice. The bridge is the walkway from the University area to the Tacoma Art Museum (which we learned is closed on Mondays! LOL) and the marina area there. We wandered around the marina district a little and then ventured into the old Union Station which is now the US Courthouse to see the remaining pieces. OMG! The chandelier piece is unbelievable and more spectacular than the piece he did at the Atlantis in the Bahamas.
We were headed back to the vehicle to try and defrost a little when I spotted this sign that said "Artisan coffee - locally brewed". One of my missions on this trip was to find local coffee that is not available elsewhere - lord knows I can find most Seattle coffee on every corner outside of Seattle! I wanted something different and this was definitely it! Super reasonable prices for my java fix - $6.95 for 1/2lb and $11.95 for 1lb. After having a previous blonde moment, I bought 5 bags and then came to the realization I had to fit those plus my new Coach purse in my already overpacked carry on luggage!! Uuuugh.
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In addition, the Swiss Pub has two other rooms connected to the main part - one has a stage for live music and beyond that is another room with pool tables! And they have free wi-fi too!
Food is ordered at the walk up counter and brought to your table. We ended up sitting at the bar and talking to a few of the regulars who all seemed very nice. 35 beers on tap (they had Smithwick's too...finding that twice in one weekend...WOW). Their menu is quite an interesting mix and there's something for everyone on it! We opted for sandwiches since it was lunchtime. I tried the Italian sub ($6.95) and I believe Shane had the Swiss Dip ($6.75).....at least I think so. He inhaled it so quickly, I don't quite remember! LOL. And as Shane pointed out in his review, we were terrible foodies (sorry Mel!) and remembered we didn't take pics of the food until Shane's sandwich was long gone! Oooops! The food was excellent and I love the decor in this place. Definitely coming back next time I am in Washington!
