What do Nirvana, Bill Gates, Jimi Hendrix, Starbucks, Macklemore, Boeing, Amazon and Grace Anatomy have in common? Right – Seattle (Washington), the „Emerald City“ at the Pacific Ocean.

Like Vancouver Seattle was voted several times as best city to live in its respective country – and in this case I completely agree. Seattle appears to me a bit like a more creative, colourful and for sure more American version of Hamburg – maybe because of its brick stone architecture and the multiple green areas. I feel welcome right from the beginning.

One reason for feeling this comfortable and inspired by the city – my friend Chase (we met a a club in Shanghai this march). As a great young photographer (www.chasemcevers.com) he explores the city with different eyes. Due to him Seattle appeared to me as one single colourful photospot.

Without following a specific target we walk through the city – always looking for good shots. More than 300 pictures will be captured by my iPhone at this day.

For sure the quality does not touch the brilliance of Chases’ shots. At breakfast I learn how – in general – a professional camera works. During the day I really love it to wait somewhere about 10 minutes for the perfect shot, the right people to walk along the street or up the stairs – for matching color compositions.

Who works hard also have to treat himself – that’s why we are also snacking around the city. After having had breakfast at stylish Frolik restaurant (an advice of a tinder friend of Chase – well – obviously this platform also can be used for things like this). In the afternoon we are right in time for the happy hour at the W-Hotel restaurant for sushi and cocktails. The next day I even found a shop for mango-doener (a German-Turkish sandwhich). What a delicious city to be in.

On the road we meet a bunch of cool people – mainly artists and theatre students. Chase captures a superb shot of a guy looking like the young Johnny Depp – the photo seem like a move poster.

By strolling around Seattle we also bump into numerous people with crazy costumes (e.g. Pokémon) and follow them to a gaming trade fair – a meeting point for super heroes, magicians and tank drivers.

Sticking to crazy things – the next day I discover famous “gum street” where everyone can leave his own little DNA-gum-footprint.

Looking at the diversity of Seattle it is hard to keep the traditional tourist sights like the Space Needle, the 1971 inaugurated first Starbucks shop in the world and one of the oldest US-farmers markets – pike market at the pier.

At night Chase and I are watching the upcoming dawn on top of Columbia Center – the highest building in Seattle. Besides a stunning view towards downtown and the harbour city clear days allow a view at Mount Rainier – a 4,400 m high volcano mountain resembling Mt. Fuji in Japan as it is also a part of the “ring of fire”.

For me, Seattle was one of the best cities I ever visited. Million thanks to Chase McEvers for an amazing day! Looking forward to see you again in any part of the world.

PS: I actually did not sleep very well in Seattle as it turns autumn and was quite cold at night 🙂