Bellevue, Washington

Bellevue: construction was everywhere.

Bellevue is not a tourist destination. None of its attractions would crack the top ten in Seattle, which is eleven (11) miles to the west across Lake Washington.

That said, Bellevue didn't seem to have visible signs of inner-city problems like homelessness, crime, graffiti, and decay.

Construction was everywhere, and we had difficulty driving the blocked-off streets. Navigational problems were exacerbated by Maps apps misdirecting us on several occasions.

For example, the hotel was on 106th Pl NE, and we kept ending on 106th Ave NE, only a block away to be sure, but aggravating to get back on track with stop-and-go traffic, one-way streets and pedestrians whose heads were buried in cellphones.

Next to the hotel was a French-style bakery where we spent each morning. At 8 AM half the tables were occupied by groups of two or three talking shop.

The temperature was in the 90's and humid; the women wore summer attire, while men were in business shorts.

The pastries were flaky and airy; we brought a box to the post-wedding decompression lunch at the bride's parents the next day.

Within a one-box radius there were four lunch places serving poke. Chinese dumplings, tacos , Korean lunch boxes, and salads were also close by. If you hankered for a hamburger and fries, you were out of luck.

Bellevue has little to offer for a memorable visit, but it looked like a nice place to live and work.