There's nothing quite like getting on a bus in a strange city where you don't recognize the streets and you're uncertain of your destination. If you've got an inkling to undertake such a journey, I would highly recommend Victoria as the city to do it in. Why? Well, I never in my life would've expected to encounter such friendly ridership. It took me a a few stops to figure out that just about every second rider was stopping to thank the bus driver as they exited the bus - not from the front, but the back exit, which meant they had to call out across the distance of the bus to express their gratitude. Victorians might take this kind of behaviour to be run of the mill, but coming from Ontario, it seems highly out of the ordinary. Well mannered people riding public transit? That's just plain weird...and very welcome.
I rode the bus down to the Fernwood neighbourhood of Victoria to check out the Rock 'n' Roll Christmas market at Logan's pub. Market at 5pm, music at 9pm, $5 cover in support of an emergency youth shelter program. The market offerings were an interesting mix of Christmas arts and crafts more on naughty as opposed to nice side: life sized rock guitar cake raffle (yum!), hand knit bordello accessories, scull and cross bones holiday cards, and roller skate cookies baked by the 'Eves of Destruction', Victoria's premier roller derby league. I purchased some cards and managed to cross a few names off my Christmas shopping list.
I think I'm liking Victoria so far...
