Solo trip! In February I had a work event in Seattle, so I made my first long-haul trip without the Snook in several years.

My hotel room had a nice view of the city. It wasn’t water, but it was still pretty.

The event was an internal work conference so there’s really nothing to share there, but one highlight was that my team arranged for a professional photographer to take headshots for us. He’d asked us to bring a prop that showed our “personality.” As you can see, I figured I might as well bring along the knitting!

I had a couple hours free one afternoon so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to finally visit the Amazon Spheres. Somehow I had managed to work for the company for nearly 4 years without ever visiting Seattle! Time to rectify that.

I walked over from the hotel. The Spheres opened four years ago and are next to one of the big Amazon buildings. They’re made up of three adjoining spherical glass domes, and they’re intended as an employee lounge and workspace. (They do have occasional public tours too.)

The first thing I noticed inside was the heat and humidity. The domes are kept at a constant temperature of 72 °F (22 °C) and 60 percent humidity during the daytime. The other thing I couldn’t appreciate from the outside was how big they are. They’re several stories high inside!

There are various paths through the plants on each level, and I wandered through taking photos. Almost felt like I was back in Australia!

The juxtaposition of the riot of colourful leaves and flowers next to the organic shapes made of steel and glass was really beautiful.

The biggest tree in the Spheres is this 55-foot (17 m) Ficus rubiginosa tree that had to be lifted in with a crane. You can ascend through its branches on a walkway.

I needed to have a work call with a colleague back in Australia, so I found one of the work areas and settled into a chair. It makes for a pretty stunning backdrop!

Eventually I made it to the top floor where I was able to get a better view of the living green walls. The plants have been carefully chosen as different plants thrive at different heights and temperatures. The plants at the top are very different from the ones at the bottom!

Taking a selfie with the Spheres sign is practically a law for Amazonians visiting Seattle. 😂

While I didn’t get to really do anything else touristy, I did manage to catch up with my old blog friends Jeff and Tricia. I hadn’t seen them in person in nine years!

And that was it for Seattle! I headed for my flights back to Munich, passing through O’Hare and my least favourite tunnel in the history of airport construction. 😐