Seattle Tour Saver Coupon Book

Shutter Tours is happy to be partnering with Seattle TourSaver for the 2010 tourist season. TourSaver can save you hundreds of dollars on tours with 2 for one coupons without restrictions. Our coupon will be good for all dates of our walking tour next year. Subject to space availability.

From their website:

TourSaver is an easy-to-use, travel discount book with 100 buy-one-get-one free, Seattle travel deals, that saves 50% on Seattle travel.

Seattle TourSaver has 100 2-for-1 coupons for Seattle’s top attractions–a smart, hassle-free way to see more and spend less!There’s San Juan Islands and Victoria B.C. deals too.

“If you’re visiting multiple attractions in Seattle, then Seattle TourSaver will likely save you hundreds of dollars.” About.Com

“The $79.95 coupon book can repay your investment countless times over.” The Travel Insider

In case you missed it, see our video from Evening Magazine.

Join us starting at 6 PM this Wednesday 7/22, for a Tweetup to watch Shutter Tours appear on Evening Magazine at 7PM. We have reserved the Museum room at Pike Brewing Company for the event and we look forward to seeing you there.

We will be having drawing for a few fun, photography related prizes.

Hammering Man by Michaela Fisher

Michaela added some photos to her blog from our tour today. I love her perspective and it gives you an idea of some of the images you can create on our tour.

See more of her photos at http://michaelafisher.blogspot.com/2009/06/shutter-tours.html

Great job Michaela !

Looking for a unique gift for Father’s Day? Why not give Dad some Shutter Tours tickets? Purchase the tickets now and they can be used throughout the tour season when you have the time available to take the tour. We’ll send out the tickets the same day you order them, then all you have to do is give us 24 hours advanced notice to your tour date and you’ll be all set. Ticket price is $40.95 and children under 10 are free.

Tickets can be purchased by calling Terry at 425-516-8838

We love the gum wall, but for your germaphobes, this is not the place to be. In a survey completed on Trip Advisor, the gum wall came in second for “Germiest Attractions”. First in the survey was the Blarney Stone. (According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). Hopefully customers don’t start kissing the gumwall, because we’d really have to up our liability insurance. We just hope that you’ll become a better travel photographer.

Good article and video via KOMO 4 News

Maximus (alternative spelling Maximos) is a name formed from the Latin term for “greatest” or “largest.”, Minimus is of course something small. So along comes a large steel pig to whet your appetite with a large taste on a small budget. In the Twitter world, one discovers so many great things going on in the city and neighborhood. I kept hearing about Minimus Maximus, so I needed to see what all the fuss was about. So, last week I went down to 2nd and Pike, and sure enough, there was the large metallic colored pig with the smell of pulled pork coming wafting in the air.

Almost like something you’d see out of Mad Max or at Burning Man, only more tastefully done. The menu is very simple, a pulled pork sandwich with lots of sauce (Maximus) or not (minimus), a Vegan Sandwich, Cole Slaw or homemade chips. When I arrived, there were about 15 people in line, within ten minutes more than 40 people were lined up and the line was growing still.

I ordered the Minimus and chips and when I got back to to the office, I was thinking “Wow, this is fantastic”. If you are hungry between our 10 am and 2 PM tours, this is a perfect low cost meal, just one block east of our tour starting point.  Currently their hours are 11 am – 3 PM on Weekdays.

Check out their website for updated info www.maximus-minimus.com

Also read what the Yelpers have to say about it.

If you need more food, how about a meal with 10 eggs, 10 bacon, 10 sausage, 10 toast, 5 black puddings, tomatoes, beans and mushrooms?

2nd Ave & Pike St
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 601-5510

Images via iPhone

Tim of Vital T-Leaf

Yesterday I was able to give Lorrie a private tour of the city. These are the tours that are fun, because it gives a great opportunity for one on one interaction and allows us tour guides to “Focus” our attention on what is most interesting to the customer. Though our tour is a very leisurely walk with almost virtually no hills to walk up, it’s always nice to be able to take some time out to give ourselves a break.

As we walked by Vital T-Leaf, I pointed out the store and let Lorrie know she can taste teas, but I had not taken the time to do so. Usually with a group, you have to stay on schedule as most people don’t have much time in the city and want to get in all the travel opportunities that they can. Lorrie suggested we take a break and I was happy we did.

For the next half hour, Tim let us try many different types of tea from Monkey Pick, Blue People, Hibiscus (My favorite) to various Oolong teas. It is an interesting process, first he showed us that you must wash your tea. Wash your tea? “Well you wash lettuce?”, he asked. We nodded. He said that all Chinese wash the tea first. I assumed that it would remove some of the flavor , but this is not the case. In fact we learned you can use your tea leaves over again for multiple cups. I think he said 5-7 times.

We also learned one does not boil the water, but should use a temperature of approximately 170-190 degrees to make an ideal cup. Steep it for 15-20 seconds and you are good. No 2-3 minutes in boiling water? Too hot of water and steeping too long can give it a bitter taste. I learned more in that half hour about tea with Tim, than I had ever known.

I was glad we took the time to stop by. Lorrie and I both walked out with bags of tea and I was surprised to get dried Stevia for only $2.00 a bag. Tim was also kind to let us take photos of the interior of the store.

You’ll never know what surprises you’ll come across on our tours.

Visit Vital T-Leaf

Vital Tea Leaf
1401 1st Ave.
Seattle, WA 98121
Tel: 206.262.1628

We may lose a few photo opportunities in the market without cars, but are happy with Sunday's being car free.

Starting this Sunday, June 7th, the streets will be closed at the Pike Place Market every Sunday through September 27th. All we can say is a great big YAY! The weekends can be a bit of a pedestrian challenge at the market, especially when you want to take photos from the the street without having to frame out cars. Maybe one day they will make it a pedestrian only area, but for now, having a Sunday closure is great news. Of course, this means our Sunday tours will be that much better.

Make your advanced reservations now.

Yesterday at the Pike Place Market Street Festival, the dogs were dressed in their very best or as the one above, completely undressed. The festival is always for a good cause, to help the Pike Place Market Foundation. With the picture perfect weather, the crowds were pretty big, so we hope the foundation was able to raise some funds to continue their work at the market.

Veraci Pizza brought in their wood fired pizza oven

One of the big vendor hits, was the portable wood fired pizza oven from Veraci Pizza. The smell of burning wood, combined with melting mozzarella, was a big crowd pleaser. According to their website, “we will be featuring our delicious wood-fired pizza year ’round at the Fremont outdoor Market & Ballard Farmer’s Market on Sundays. In spring & summer we will be returning to the Phinney Ridge Market, Bellevue Market & Mercer Island Farmer’s Market. “.

I also had a nice conversation with Jim Nilsen. a local photographer based out of Edmonds, WA. As I was walking by his booth, out of the corner of my eye, I saw some vibrant colors and shapes that I thought were paintings at first. On closer inspection, I realized they were the photographs of Jim. His images are super sharp, super bright and take you to the rolling hills of Tuscany or the beautiful canals of Venice. We had a nice conversation and he’s the kind of photographer you want to be right next to while you are travelling to Italy. He had just spent a month traveling throught the different regions of Northern Italy. I encourage you to check out his website, his work is inspiring.

Here area few more images for you to check out from the day at the market.