Busker Rendezvous...

Joan found this a while back, so we coordinated our time to be in this area for the Busker Rendezvous in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.  For those not familiar with the term, buskers are street performers... this Rendezvous seems well populated with physical acts: juggling, acrobatics, circus-type acts.  But, there are also musicians and artists.

We headed north at 9:00 this morning, crossing the international bridge into Canada.

The stop at Canadian Customs was brief.  They had our license plate pulled up before we got to the window.  I handed the agent our passports and he asked the usual questions: What will you be doing in Canada? (Busker Rendezous in Kingston)... How long will you be here? (Just for the day)... Do you have any weapons, guns, mace, anything for protection? (Nope)... followed by: "I wasn't asking you that last part about guns just because you are from Texas - we ask everyone that."  (No problem)  He handed me back our passports and said, "Welcome to Canada - have fun in Kingston."

The highway after the bridge seems like a continuation of our Interstate... well, with a difference in the road signs...

And, the speed limit sign that said, "100"... oh, we can drive really fast here... what?... that's kilometers per hour? (about 62 mph)... Are you sure?  We got off the main highway, to take the back roads.  Some discussion about how to pronounce this town...

There is the right way, the wrong way, and the Gananoque... (Gan-a-NOK-way).  Nice boat-centric town, with the St. Lawrence River bordering on the south side of town.

A fun speed limit as we got out of town...

What?  Kilometers per hour again?  Nevermind.  It was a pleasant drive into Kingston, mostly farmlands.  One of the first things we saw in Kingston...

If you have heard of the rock band Tragically Hip, they are from Kingston.

We drove around the city a bit to get our bearings - a population of around 120,000, it seems larger than that.  Well kept, and a very pretty waterfront.  We found a place to park and wandered around to check out the busker venues and see the city...

We weren't the only ones...

This sign is at a crosswalk - not the same rules as in the US...

Speaking of signs...

Yes, we are tourists.  ;-)  In the US, buskers are often thought of as "panhandlers who perform for money"... no so in the rest of the world: busking is supported and not looked down on; some places regulate the busking with licensing and rules... some have performance schedules that the buskers must adhere to or their spots are given to someone else.  We really enjoy seeing the street performers, especially in Canada (the waterfront in Victoria is one of our favorite places).

Joan in the Kingston sign...

Chalk art on the sidewalk...

We had time for a nice lunch before the acts kicked off.  We found a sidewalk restaurant that turned out to have great food, and a view...

On to the first venue...

This performer did juggling, a very tall unicycle, and comedy...

This couple is from Israel - their act is more "grown-up," would probably be best in a Cirque-du-Soleil venue...

Yes, she is standing on a bottle in that photo above.  She walked across bottles in ballet toe-shoes on that cart - very impressive.

The chick in the lavender in this photo was on her way to put something in "their hat"...

The buskers who have traveled here are not paid, nor reimbursed for their travel expenses; they make their money by people "paying for the entertainment" at the end of their show.


This guy also had a juggling act and some very sarcastic humor, directed at the crowd.  Joan wasn't crazy about it, I thought he was hilarious...

On to other venues, this couple singing...

These young musicians were playing classic rock 'n roll...

They didn't have much of a crowd, but we enjoyed their playing - Joan was the first to put something in their guitar case - she said, "They need to 'seed' that case with some money."

This guy did balancing stuff and balloon "sculpture" - sounds cheezy, but he had the crowd going...

This guy did an act that included slight of hand, mime, and performing with and in a hoop...

That is that same kid on his back as he is spinning in that hoop...

He is one of the event's headliners and definitely knows how to play to the crowd...

Welcome to Canada, where their dollar is worth about 75% of ours.  This cracked me up...

Nothing to do with buskers, but it was while we were moving between venues.  We finished our day up with the Flying Tortillas - 4 guys from Huntington Beach, California...

They did more talking about what they were going to do than actually doing it, but they kept the crowd engaged.  In the shot below, it is one of the guys jumping over a bunch of people from the audience...

A fun day watching buskers, but it was time for us to head back to the US.  On the way back to the car...

That SAS store above has nothing to do with shoes (Smith Army Surplus).  I didn't know they have Bubbas in Canada (aren't they called "hosers" here?), but you have to appreciate poutine and pizza...

We decided to take a different route home: instead of back across the international bridge, we got in line for a ferry from Kingston to Wolfe Island.  We were in line for about 15 minutes before they started loading cars.  This ferry is a LOT smaller than the ones we used in the San Juan Islands - it holds about 50 cars... I had my doubts that we would get on, with the line of cars in front of us.  The parking attendant let the car in front of us go, then stopped us... damn!  She kept looking towards the ferry, then waved us on... yay!

We shoved off - you can see there are still cars in line - next ferry...

The Kingston waterfront (above).  It is about a 20 minute ride on the ferry, to get to Wolfe Island (still in Canada).  We had time to take more photos...

On Wolfe Island, this is one of the first things you see...

Wolfe Island was pretty, mostly farmland on our route.  At the end of the road, we were going to get on another ferry, to take us from Canada to the US.  The 20 minute Wolfe Island ferry is free - the little ferry that takes you to the US is $17... and holds about 5 or 6 cars...

You drive onto it from the side, then do a 270º to let another car on.  I can't say for sure, but this didn't feel anything like the rest of the Canadian ferry system - more mom & pop have a boat...

You can see the ramp area is almost underwater.  I don't think there is a schedule - go when there are enough cars, or when it doesn't look like any more are coming.  We had 3 cars and a couple bicycles on this crossing...

The "passenger lounge"...

I asked Joan, "What's next - they load up one car on a pontoon boat??"  ;-)

In a few minutes, we were back in US waters and up to the landing at Cape Vincent...

You can see the sandbags on the road in the photo above.  The little kiosk near the center of the photo is US Customs.  Not sure what you have to do wrong to get stationed here - the Customs officer looked at our license plate and asked, "Where you goin'?"

"To the RV park where we are staying in Alexandria Bay."

"What?"

"We are traveling with our motorhome - it is in an RV park in Alexandria Bay; we're heading back to that."

"Oh, you're done," and he handed our passports back to me.  No asking if we bought anything in Canada (other than lunch, we didn't), or what we were doing there, or any of the usual questions they ask.  Joan and I looked at each other and drove away.

Cape Vincent is actually on Lake Ontario - the far northeast (on the US side) edge of Lake Ontario.  Another 24 miles, past the town of Clayton, along St Lawrence River, and back to the coach.  Some patio and guitar time with Izzy joining us.  A long day.  My feet need a rest.  ;-)