America's favorite city?

Amid a swarm of camera-clutching, mapwaving tourists last spring, we asked a native Seattleite what he thought of all the attention the city has been getting. "It's like growing up with a tomboy kid-sister and all of sudden she's Miss America. I'm not sure I like it."

But it;s happened. Hardly a week goes by that the national media don't tout the virtues of Seattle. Tourists (an estimated 5 million last year) flock to the city.

When you're in Seattle, there's no mistaking it for any other place. Even in highrise downtown, the natural setting stops you dead in your tracks: Mount Rainier floats to the south, while to the west down steeply pitched streets you glimpse Elliott Bay (part of Puget Sound) with a ferry sliding in front of the snowy Olympics.

Downtown has a Scandinavian order and enjoyment of the seasons, a love of long, warm days celebrated with flowers in window boxes and hanging baskets. At noon on benches, rows of office workers, faces tilted toward the sun, seem to be trying to absorb enough solar charge to make it through the winter.

From the water, virtually all of the 19 buildings over 35 stories are visible, giving downtown a Little Manhattan look. But the streets convey none of the dark canyon feeling of San Francisco or New York. Buildings offer places to sit, artworks on display, and beautifully planted spaces.

Downtown stretches about 1 1/4 miles from Pike Place Market and the Convention Center south to the International District. I-5 borders it on the east, Elliott Bay on the west. North-south (numbered) streets are quite level, east-west (named) ones steep--useful to know if you're walking. If you mix walking with some innovative public transportation, you can scoot through town with surprising speed. Several transportation systems link up to make it simple to get around. Use stops as bases for further exploring.

Buses. The $470-million Transit Tunnel, opened last year, is an excellent way to move quickly. Free trolley buses depart from five art-filled stations about every 5 minutes between 5 A.M. and 7 P.<. weekdays, 10 and 6 Saturdays.

Surface buses also run north and south, most on Second, Third, and Fourth avenues. They're free between Blanchard Street (south of Seattle Center) and S. Jackson Street (in Pioneer Square).

Waterfront Trolley. Trolleys resembling ones that ran in Seattle around the turn of the century were brought from Melbourne, Australia, and refurbished in 1982; they go from just south of Seattle Center to International District Station.

Monorail. Built for the 1962 World's Fair, it continues to be speedy link (2 minutes) between downtown and Seattle Center (Space Needle, theaters, museums). Riding three stories high, you get a different perspective on the city. Trains run from downtown's Westlake Center (third floor, east side) about every 10 minutes between 9 and 9 Sundays through Thursdays, to midnight Fridays and Saturdays. Cost is 60 cents each way.

Convention Place, Westlake stations:

explore the northern parts of downtown

Convention Place Station is across from the landmark 1929 Paramount Theater and a block north of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, which connects to Freeway Park,

The more than 7 acres that make up the park and the convention center are built over Interstate 5. They're striking as you stroll them amazing if you look down on the roaring freeway. The park muffles the sounds of traffic from downtown; it also provides pedestrian routes across the freeway. Plantings are profuse, and the waterfalls, sculpture, seating areas, and grass make the park a delightful place for a picnic with food picked up at Pike Place Market (see page 56) or a take-out restaurant.

PacificFirst Centre, 1420 Fifth Avenue (1 on map, opposite). This gleaming postmodern tower, opened in 1990, contains 25 stores (from Barneys New York to The Pottery Barn) found nowhere else in the city; they bring people to shop on three art-filled, plant-bedecked floors for high-style goods.

At the second level is a spacious lounge spotted with beautiful examples of Pilchuck and other art glass. A large display window along one side is filled with the fanciful work of world-renowned Northwest glass artist Dale Chihuly.

Through the windows facing Pike Street, you'll see the lavish terra-cotta facade of the Coliseum theater. Built in 1916 and now dark, it was America's first (and the world's second) exclusively motion picture theater.

Across Sixth Avenue from PacificFirst Centre, the Sheraton Hotel lobby and restaurant also display Chihuly glass.

One Union Square, 600 University Street; Two Union Square, 601 Union Street (2 on map). The plazas,flower displays, and Northwest gardens (complete with granite boulders and waterfalls) that connect and surround these buildings and lead on up into Freeway Park are great places to settle in for a brown bag lunch, a cappuccino, or even breakfast. Set apart from the street, these are surprising oases in the urban scene. Plantings mix evergreen and deciduous shrubs with annuals and perennials typical of what's becoming known as the Northwest gardening style.