Young Buskers

I caught this pair on Saturday. There's more kids busking this year than I can remember seeing before, though most don't do it regularly. These little girls don't look so much like buskers - they have the gravitas and dress that made their performance seem like a concert.

Signs of Spring - 2

Though Sunday afternoon was bleak and gray, here's another sign of spring on the Inner Harbour - the first busking musician I have seen this year. I think his fingers must have been getting pretty cold after playing for awhile. Mine were getting numb by the time I had taken out my camera and snapped this shot.

The Dark Side

Well, I've been trying to present only the positive side of the Inner Harbor Causeway but truth must out and here is the "dark side."Darth may not be the best violinist in town but he's funny and it's always interesting to see the double-takes he often gets from passersby.

Young Violinists - Bastion Square

Bastion Square seems to attract violinists. These two, while providing excellent entertainment, were probably not licensed because of their youth. However, it seems a good and harmless way for young performers to earn a little spare change and gain some experience in the challenges of playing for the public (see short video below).
Below is a 40 second sample of the music these kids were playing. It seemed particularly appropriate for the nautical flavour of Bastion Square (that's an old light house light beside them and the Maritime Museum behind them on their right.)

Violinist - Bastion Square

Downtown today to photograph one of Victoria's mechanical street clocks but got sidetracked about three times on the way there. Bastion Square was decked out for spring and this street musician was seated in front of his home at the Lighthouse Gallery. He can be seen in the broader context of Bastion Square at the bottom right of the photo below.
The second digression today was a visit to the Maritime Museum, just visible through the branches of the tree on the left. I was stunned by the range of interesting artifacts and information there AND one can take photographs so....

Bastion Square is not so much a square as a series of pedestrian-only open spaces running from Government Street down to Wharf Street (two blocks). At this time of year craftsmen and artists stalls here mingle with art galleries, sidewalk cafes and bars. It is the site of the original Fort Victoria and is intimately associated with the history and development of the city. We'll be visiting it often over the next months since nearly every building has a story to tell.