The "U" District and Seattle's other northern neighborhoods are sliced off from the rest of town by water; the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Lake Union with the sea to the west and Lake Washington to the east. Near the mouth of the canal, a procession of boats passes through the Chittenden Locks (bus #17 from downtown), where migrating salmon and trout negotiate a fish ladder laid out with viewing windows, through which you can see enormous fish leaping up (late summer season for salmon, fall and early winter for trout).

Behind the locks is Salmon Bay, with Fisherman's Terminal on its south side, crowded with Seattle's fishing fleet and stalls selling freshly caught fish. On the northern side of Salmon Bay, blue-collar BALLARD (reached by several buses from downtown) is undergoing gentrification and the historic Old Town, on Ballard Avenue, is now home to galleries, bars and restaurants. The heritage of the Scandinavian fishermen who settled in Ballard in the late nineteenth-century is celebrated at the Nordic Heritage Museum , 3014 NW 67th St (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; $5; ), offering memorabilia and folk art associated with their long journey from the Old World through Ellis Island and eventually to the West Coast. The only other site of interest in the area lies further east, on the north shore of Lake Union, where Gasworks Park provides an unexpected delight. A former gas plant turned postmodern park, children now play on grassy hills that were once slag heaps and decaying, graffiti-covered machines offer surreal evidence of the site's previous industrial incarnation.

Ballard and the Ship Canal

• Ballard and the Ship Canal

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