Trail Of The Unexpected

Journey to the centre of the universe - in Seattle

As a seasoned traveller, I've straddled the Equator in Kenya, and at the Mitad del Mundo, the Middle of the World marker in Ecuador, and sipped a Diet Coke in pubs and bars across the globe called The World's End. But when I boarded the number 26 bus in the centre of Seattle, I never imagined that in less than 15 minutes I'd step off at the centre of the universe.

As a seasoned traveller, I've straddled the Equator in Kenya, and at the Mitad del Mundo, the Middle of the World marker in Ecuador, and sipped a Diet Coke in pubs and bars across the globe called The World's End. But when I boarded the number 26 bus in the centre of Seattle, I never imagined that in less than 15 minutes I'd step off at the centre of the universe.

The suburb of Fremont lies north of downtown Seattle on the banks of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Founded in the late 1880s and named after Fremont, Nebraska (the original home of some of the pioneer settlers), it thrived until the Thirties, when the opening of the Aurora Bridge resulted in most through-traffic bypassing Fremont. By the Sixties, many of its businesses were closed. However, this meant that rents were low, which attracted (among others) Bohemians and artists back: they became more affluent, and over the last two decades there's been a welcome urban rebirth.

In 1994, following a dispute with the local government over the boundaries of a part of Fremont to be declared an urban village, a group of demonstrators called a referendum on secession, leading to the declaration of The Artists' Republic of Fremont. I suspect it was the artists and other free-thinkers rather than scientists who claimed that Fremont was built on an ancient vortex drawing people here. As such, they claimed that the area was the Center of the Universe. Both claims were officially recognised by the local council, Metropolitan King County; predictably, the United Nations didn't deign to reply to faxes from Fremont on the subject.

The Declaration (plus a Chinese translation) is on display at the local History Museum and is worth a look. Before the bus crosses the Fremont Bridge (you may have to wait while the drawbridge, the busiest in the United States, opens to allow a yacht to sail along the canal), a sign on your right reads "Welcome to Fremont, Center of the Universe". Disembark at the next stop and a few yards away is Waiting for the Interurban – a life-size sculpture of five adults, an infant and a human-faced dog, waiting for a trolley-bus or streetcar that hasn't been running for decades.

Local residents need little encouragement to dress the statues up. During the American Football season, they may well be dressed in the purple-and-gold paraphernalia of the Huskies, the University of Washington's team. Christmas means seasonal decorations. On my visit, the figures looked smart in party clothes and streamers: a banner read "Best Wishes for Ty and Marie's Wedding". Next day, the outfits were gone and the figures once again resembled fed-up commuters.

Your next stop is a fun version of those multi-destination signposts that are dotted around the world: in addition to places such as Rio de Janeiro, the Louvre and the North Pole, the sign gives you the distance and direction to Xanadu, Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle and a bizarre shopping experience in South Dakota, Wall Drug. Opened in the early 1930s, this eccentric store might have folded soon after had the owners not attracted motorists from the highway by advertising free iced water. The experiment worked; 20,000 people a day now visit Wall Drug Store. The sign also shows the way to Fremont's major sites and marks the exact Center of the Universe with an arrow.

Barely a hammer and sickle throw away, what else but an authentic Soviet-era statue of Lenin? The 20ft, seven-ton figure was found in Poprad, Slovakia, by an American scrap-metal dealer and brought over after the break up of the USSR. Vladimir Ilyich stands outside a taco restaurant. Bolted to the corner of a nearby building, the Fremont Rocket also has a Cold War link: it was built from the remains of a circa-1950 rocket missile fuselage. Erected in 1994, the 53ft rocket carries Fremont's motto, "De Libertas Quirkas", which locals translate as "Freedom to be Peculiar".

A short walk west will bring you to one of the newer exhibits. Two topiary dinosaurs (species: Apatosaurus) were purchased from Seattle's Pacific Science Center in 1990 and now reside just yards from the canal banks.

A dark niche under the Aurora Bridge, a few blocks across town to the west, is the home of a VW Beetle-eating giant Troll. Built in 1991, this piece of cement art is the focus for Trolloween, an annual night of party events, street performances, parades and the Troll-a-GoGo dance party, to celebrate All Hallow's Eve and the Troll's birthday. The fun starts at its home and a parade moves on to Fremont's conference venue, the Un-Conventional Center.

Behind most of the public art is the Fremont Arts Council, and at all the sites you can pick up a walking map with a detailed (though not completely up-to-date) list of the sites and local businesses of interest.

Information

British Airways (0845 77 333 77, www.ba.com) flies direct from Heathrow to Seattle. Flying with any other airline will involve a plane change. For more information see www.fremontseattle.com