Well, today was the trek to Seattle to secure my passport. I drove up from Portland last night, so I would have to fight traffic this morning. It was quite handy, as I found a reasonably priced hotel just about 4 blocks from the Federal building. It was late, about 10pm when I arrived. Thank goodness the valet was still available!
The room was small and whole place was a tad rundown, except for the gorgeous carpet they had recently put in. Seemed like the old "lipstick on a pig" trick, to be honest. It has been such a long day and I fell right into bed. Now, at that moment I started wondering why hotels put in mattresses that are comparable to a sheet of plywood. Seriously, the floor would have been softer with that new cushy carpet. If it is a matter of longevity for a softer mattress, charge like $5 a night more and then every couple of hundred nights, they could easily afford a nice new comfy mattress! It isn't rocket science.
As you can imagine, I didn't sleep well. Not only was I sleeping on concrete, but I forgot that downtown hotels have downtown noise. At 6:30am I was laying there wide awake listening to the sounds of the street below and wishing I was still asleep. No idea why I can't seem to drag my body out of bed on a work day, yet a morning I can sleep in for a few minutes, I am wired and ready to roll.
I got to the passport office at 9, checked in with Mr. Window One, then given a number and waited for B208 to be called. The whole process went very smooth! Especially when compared to last week. There was a point when Mr. Window 5 had all my documents spread out and said he would "be right back" and then he disappeared for like 10 minutes. I started sweating. But he came back, just like he said and finished up. All I had to do was pay $135 and come back at 3pm to pick it up.
As I did a week ago, I wandered up and did some shopping and then decided to have lunch down at Pike Street again. The lady at the information booth suggested a french place called Maxemilians (sp?). Yum. So I went down and got a table for one overlooking the sound. As I sat down, I noticed the fellows at the next table were obviously french. They were dressed casually, but were speaking french. There was this popular book out a couple of years ago called French Women Don't get Fat. As a side note I bought it and read it. If you eat cabbage soup every 3rd week and never have more than one bite of dessert...or anything fattening for that matter, you too will not get fat....or that is what the book said. Well, the french-er of the two men obviously did not read this book. Also, I learned today, French Men Don't Bathe. The aroma of them wafted over my table, but it took me a few minutes to realize it was them. It wasn't that fresh "I just left the gym" body odor. It wasn't even the "I stayed out too late and slept in my clothes" body odor. It was SOUR-stink body odor! Like "I rolled around with my filthy wet dog".....No, worse than that. It was a "I haven't bathed in over a week and am totally rank" type of body odor. I had to sit sideways, half facing the wall, to avoid it. I had a beautiful dungeness crab and mushroom omlette, which I imagine must have smelled heavenly if the aroma could have reached my nose over the stench of sour-stinky frenchmen. I only ate about half, because who wants to eat an omlette that smells like stinky frenchmen. The large of the frenchman chatted and ate and occasionally smiled at me. No doubt he was thinking, "I hope she doesn't notice that I smell of an old garbage can".
Well, I paid my bill, left the restaurant and started the hike back to the Federal Bldg. If you have been to San Francisco, you are constantly approached by homeless men and women asking for money. At times I have even gotten nervous from their aggressive "asking". In Seattle, it is the canvassers. I was approached to feed hungry children, help with poverty in the US, support doctors-without-borders and at least 3 others that as I drew near to them, pretended I was crying, so they wouldn't talk to me. This was quite easy because my allergies loved Seattle and came out in full force. From the minute I stepped outside in the morning I had to dab my eyes with a tissue every 32 seconds. Then all I had to do is add a quick blow of the nose and instantly looked like I had just put my dog down, or buried my favorite grandmother. The smiling girl in the raincoat and pink hair would see me and immediatley realize could not go another minute without rezipping her coat, or sort through the papers in her plastic binder.
I think I am a compassionate person, but this was nuts. Most downtown blocks had 3 sets of canvassers! You can only mock cry so many times in a block.
Well, I made it back to the Federal Bldg at 2:30 and this time checked in with Ms Window 7 who had my passport waiting for me! Finally!! I am now officially a US Passport holder. Watch out world!
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