Seattle, Washington

I have always loved Seattle. It is beautiful and classy, with fresh air and lovely people.
This was my 6th or 7th time there (shame on me for forgetting!), but this was the best experience yet!
I think mainly it was due to the fabulous boutique hotel where we stayed, and the amazing venue where we played.
Sadly, we didn't have much time to re-visit places we loved in the past, like the troll under the bridge and the Space Needle.

THE GIST + LINKS:  

We spent 40 hours in Seattle while on tour with our dear friend/talented artist - Beth Hart.  
We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Ändra - a Scandinavian-style 4 star hotel downtown (a few blocks from Pike Place) 
We performed a SOLD OUT show at the Neptune Theatre Feb 7, 2018 (800 seat venue, built in 1921)  
We had take out dinner from Whole Foods, then lunch and breakfast at Lola (next door to Hotel Andra)

THE DRIVE

I was too tired to take any photos of the drive. We were a week into our tour and it was as amazing as it was exhausting. Please don't get me wrong - I LOVE touring and will drop everything to get back on the road, but I don't want to glorify the experience. It is hard, both on your body and on your mind.
I am very lucky to be able to travel and share the joys and the burdens of touring with my amazing husband/co-writer/driver/band-member, Nick. I can't imagine being able to do these trips without him. 
Anyway. I was too tired to take photos on our drive from Spokane. It was rainy, and all we wanted was just to get to our hotel.

We didn't have the energy (or the looks, haha) to go out to dinner. So we stopped by Whole Foods a few blocks away from our hotel and got a few to go items (burrito for Nick and sashimi for me).

Here is THE only photo we took driving up to Seattle:


THE HOTEL

We pulled up to our hotel and were greeted by a very nice guy (valet parking guy) named Josiah. He was great and told us he could charge our car while it was being parked. It was cold and windy, and we were tired, so it was great to have someone help us lug the suitcases and the guitar (we always bring it in - the wood doesn't do well in varying temperatures) into the hotel. 

We were upgraded to a nice suite and had our Whole Foods dinner and some wine before crashing out (we did walk across the street to a store to get some drinking water. It sucks that in most of US cities the drinking water tastes like chemicals, so we always have to buy gallons of water while on the road).


Doesn't the bathroom have a total European feel? It was really cool. And I love the soap/shampoo/conditioner dispensers (can you see them on the very left?).
I find it so wasteful when hotels have tiny disposable shampoos/soaps, this is way more efficient and awesome! Yay for Andra!
I am a sucker for hotel bathrobes. Here is my tired selfie in one. No photoshop at all.
I took a hot shower after the long cold drive and I felt awesome in my bathrobe.
This was also the only hotel where I've seen anti-fog mirrors! No matter how hot your shower gets, the mirrors don't get fogged up! 
In the morning I was supposed to meet up with my childhood friends (from Moscow) but I felt a sore throat coming on and wasn't feeling my best, so I ended up taking an afternoon nap. Health and my voice are the priorities on tour, and no matter how it sucked not seeing friends I had to make that choice.

Thankfully, I didn't get sick! The nap really seemed to help.

After I woke up (and did my makeup and hair) we took this photo for Instagram (totally posed, haha):  
THE RESTAURANT

Nick & I were too tired and had too much work to look for food. Luckily, the restaurant downstairs (next door to the lobby) happened to be exquisite! Everything was delicious (omg, the eggs Benedict!!!) but the donuts with Mascarpone cheese sauce were out of this world! It was so funny: the woman sitting across the aisle asked me if the donuts were as good as my facial expressions and moans indicated. I had no idea I was this much into my donuts, but apparently I was! (She ended up ordering some!)

SEATTLE

We had such little time in town, plus it was cold and windy. Being spoiled by California weather, Seattle felt like Siberia :) But seriously, we did walk a few blocks to re-visit the famous Pike Place (est. 1907) and the original Starbucks (1971). And then bolted right back to the hotel - which counted as exercise for the day :)

Notice the Starbucks Mermaid's nipples:
A few steps from Hotel Andra I could see the Space Needle!!!


THE CONCERT

The Neptune Theater was spectacular and it was an amazing evening. You can watch the videos we took if you're a member of our 2 SONGS A MONTH CLUB (join if you're not yet a member! www.patreon.com/MarinaV)

This was Beth soundchecking:

 This is our green room (with our raw cashews, blueberries and water - as stated in our rider):
Not sure why this face:
Set up our merch.  I always put rubber bands around stacks of CDs just in case someone decides to appropriate one. I thought putting rubber bands would prevent people from stealing, but at one of the shows - before I even performed - a woman tried to put the whole stack into her purse. Beth's PR person - awesome Roxy - saw it and told the woman the CDs weren't free, so the woman put them back. Crazy, right? Strangely enough, the same woman came back later and bought all of our CDs!  

Performing "I'll Be Alright":
Two photos below are by Kirk Stauffer:
This was the night I first braved wearing very sexy boots (by Steve Madden). My whole life I've felt shy and awkward in my own body and only as of late I've been accepting my own self, being okay with who I am. So this was a big deal for me to wear something this "ballsy". It might sound like a minor thing to you, but it was a big big deal for me. Like an obstacle overcome. I even talked about it during the concert. It felt really, really good!!!
After this amazing show we went back to our hotel and took a few pics for social media. Please ignore the mess in the room :)


I really wish we had more time in Seattle on this trip, but I am grateful for the time we had. Here's to coming back!
Thank you, Seattle!!!!

 

New Arrivals at Alala Style

 

P.S. Join our 2 SONGS A MONTH CLUB at www.patreon.com/MarinaV to watch the full tour documentary. 
Here is the trailer: