The office where I am doing my summer internship is located in a Seattle neighborhood called Pioneer Square. This old center of Seattle is recognizable for its picturesque old brick and stone buildings from the late nineteenth century. Working in such a nice location gives lot of opportunities to explore the city during lunch break, especially in summer.
Seattle is working hard to offer a good summer public program. A couple of years ago they invested in the revitalization of the public plazas Occidental Square and Westlake Park. Both of them are now part of the program Summer in Downtown. Equipped with colored chairs and tables they offer a nice place to sit and have a lunch while enjoying the concerts of local musicians. You can also play different games from Ping-Pong and bocce ball to chess and other board games. Since Occidental Square is just around the corner, I usually go there to have lunch. It has a bit of a European feeling. This urban park has an unusual but nice mixture of people working in downtown, tourists and homeless people.
Every first Thursday of each month there is an Art Walk in Pioneer Square. Local galleries open their doors showing the new exhibits. Actually every neighborhood in Seattle has its own Art Walk day once per month. So this Thursday after taking a walk around Pioneer Square and visiting couple of small galleries I went to the Seattle Art Museum. SAM is mostly known for its collection of American, Nativ American, Oceanic and Asian art. In between you can also find some European art, but of course it is hardly comparable with the exhibits in European museums. What I like about the SAM is that it also hosts a special free summer program. It is nice to see that an art museum organizes free concerts but also yoga and zumba in its Olympic Sculpture Park.
