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(In Which I Go On A Harry Potter Bar Crawl)

Josh, Bekka, and I caught wind of this pre-PAX bar crawl that we decided to check out.

Except it’s not just a bar crawl… everyone picks one of the four houses from Hogwarts and travels around in a group with their house. Things are scheduled so that each house meets up with each other house exactly once, at which point a battle occurs.

I’m not a drinker, so I was never very clear on the rules. Something about ordering shots for members of the opposing team, and I think maybe there was a point system or something. And somehow a winner is determined? I’m not very clear on the details.

Oh, and people dress as wizards.

So here’s the scenario: four groups of 50+ people are wandering the streets of Seattle dressed in Hogwarts house colors meeting up at different bars to battle each other via drinking games.

If you think this sounds completely awesome, you are right.

The bars are are apparently pre-informed of the event, and are good sports about the whole thing. One place was screening Harry Potter movies on a big projector on the wall, and another had Potter-themed drinks.

We decided to run with the Ravenclaws for a while, but eventually cut out to get back to the hotel. I seriously doubt I’ll still be awake by the time this whole thing comes to a conclusion.

Josh, Bekka, and I made it to Seattle yestarday around noon. PAX starts on Friday, so we’ve spent the last couple days taking in Seattle, which is absolutely a fantastic city.

We’re staying in a hotel in the middle of the downtown area (on 5th street a few blocks from Pike), so there’s a ton of stuff in walking distance.

Day 0

Right after arriving, we headed over to Pike Place Market for lunch. If you’ve never been, Pike is basically a large open-air seafood and farmer’s market with tons of little shops and restaurants.

We had lunch at a little chowder place — very delicious. It’s easy to spend lots of time just walking around Pike, looking at the fresh seafood and produce, and talking with the artisans selling their products in the small shops around the market; this is exactly what we did.

For dinner, we headed to a local brewery called Rock Bottom. The food was decent, but the service was horribly slow. Bekka and Josh tell me the beer was pretty good, though.

After dinner, we hit up a couple bars around town, ending up at a small venue called The Green Room. Here we took in a set by Johanna Kunin. The show was great, check Kunin out if you’re into indie rock with fantastic vocals.

Day 1

Josh started the day (before I was awake) by going for a walk, and brought back some delicious cinnamon rolls from a nearby coffee shop. After we were all awake, we headed over to the Seattle Art Museum.

It’s a nice place, but it focuses pretty heavily on modern and contemporary art, with comparatively small spaces reserved for ancient through renaissance work (which interests me more). Also, no photography allowed in the galleries.

After the art museum, it was back to Pike for lunch, then over to the Science Fiction Museum, one of the big places on my to-visit list.

The SciFi Museum was pretty awesome. (Although this museum also disallowed photography. What’s up with the photo-hating, Seattle?). The museum isn’t very large, but we didn’t visit the “Experience Music” portion.

The exhibits are what you’d probably expect from the name of the place: movie memorabilia, interesting books, discussions on the role of science fiction in society. Basically, a cool place to visit if you’re a nerd. Which I am.

We ate dinner at this place called Zeek’s Pizza, which is delicious; fresh ingredients, well-made food. If you’re in Seattle and like pizza, definitely check this place out.

We’re at the hotel for now (everyone was feeling tired — lots of walking around, and Seattle is pretty much built on a giant hill), but I’m sure we’ll find something fun and exciting to do tonight.

And, of course, PAX begins tomorrow!