For European guide and public-television star RICK STEVES, soul-satisfying travel is not about hitting touristy hot spots. It’s about becoming a “temporary local.” It’s a view the Edmonds native has advocated since he self-published Europe Through the Backdoor in 1980, which eventually morphed into his well-known TV series. Enriching travel involves nothing more complicated than refusing to accept the mainstream and plugging into the authentic. So when the Euro traveler is back home here in the land of Douglas fir and Boeing, what seems authentic? What would he recommend to Europeans? The view from the Space Needle or from somewhere else? Steves, who has become a passionate advocate for an end to the war on marijuana, says Europeans would need to adjust their cultural viewfinders. Despite Seattle’s 1990s surge onto the world stage as the home of Windows, venti lattes, online book browsing, and a certain trade conference, many Europeans visualize Seattle as Hollywood does: They see Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks pining for love. “Strangely, we are the land of Sleepless in Seattle,” Steves says. So we asked him for examples of authentic local culture and how Europeans might react to them.Philip Dawdy RICK STEVES’ PICKS BEST LITTLE-KNOWN TOURIST ATTRACTION: Edmonds town center on Halloween, watching local businesses give goodies to goofily costumed children and their goofy parents. BEST SUREFIRE WAY TO GROSS OUT AN ITALIAN: Starbucks. “The supersized and Big Gulp culture of America is bizarre to most Italians. A 16-ounce coffee is a horror to espresso aficionados.” BEST VIEW: Drumheller Fountain at the University of Washington, looking south to Mount Rainier. BEST DIAGNOSIS OF SEATTLE’S TRAFFIC MESS: “Our traffic and lack of mass transit are symptoms of what we are famous fornot being very clever about community.” BEST RESTAURANT: “I eat out for a living in Europe 120 days a year. Eating in Seattle just isn’t my forte. It’s not even my piano.” ODDEST THING ABOUT SEATTLE: The shuttle trains at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are the city’s only subway. BEST LOCALLY GROWN MARIJUANA: “Any that doesn’t land you in jail.” info@seattleweekly.com