International Tourists: Try Showing Some Class! A RANT!
Love them or hate them, this town lives off the tourists.
Without the cruiseships and the many thousands of visitors they bring, this place would dry up and blow away... We all know that.
I was downtown last night taking in the sights, acting like the perpetual tourist that I am, even after six years of living here in Victora. Playing the part of a tourist gives you great freedom when it comes to aiming a camera anywhere and everywhere. The locals put up with a lot... having cameras aimed in our faces is the least of it!
The streets were jammed up by the horse and carriage trade...
That looks like a big load for two horses, don't you think?
The lower boardwalk was busy. Water taxis came and went every couple of minutes.
The tourists come from all over. We have many visitors from Japan and China. I meet a lot of people from the UK and Germany. That Australian accent is easy to overhear on the streets as is the Spanish language. And then of course there are the Americans. Lots of them. The nicest people in the world one-on-one, but get them in large groups and look out!
I guess last night a bunch of young people were drunk and boisterous. It may have been a visiting sports team or high school marching band. There was loud and bellicose singing.... a national athem. I don't want to say from which nation, but the singers were drunk, abnoxious and surprisingly on key... I just caught the end of the song:
O’er the land of the freeeeeee...
and the home of the brave
Waves of loud raucous laughter. A guy in a Vancouver Canucks hockey jersey looked and me and shrugged. "Play ball?" he asked and rolled his eyes.
Now I gotta ask: are you seriously going to come to a foreign country, stand on the lawn of the parliament buildings, beneath a war memorial and sing your own national anthem? Allies or not, you people need to shape up and show some class! I'd like to see some drunken Canadians try that at Arlington National Cemetery, or better yet, outside a bar in Boston.
You can't read the writing on the large plaque of the memorial in this image, but this is what it says:
To Our
Glorious
Dead
1914 - 1919
1939 - 1945
And below that:
Korea
1950 - 1953
Afghanistan
2001 - 2014
Overheard last night beneath the war memorial: Hey look, they got the starting dates wrong for both world wars! HaHa!
So yeah... that actually happened. To which I must reply...Dear whoever you are... GO HOME, AND DON'T EVER COME BACK. (leave your cash before you go, thank you)
End of Rant.
p.s. Am I actually upset? Nah... I just wanted to show you some pretty pictures. Still - just sayin' you know? WTF???
Please be sure to check out my latest posts:
* Fireworks For Monomad
* Happy Vacation @Petals!
* The Swiss Barbershop and Alien Abductions ~ Two Photos for #Monomad
* A Day Late And A Dollar Short!
* MonochromeMonday ~ E-Type Jaguar ~ Film Noir Style
* Sublime Sunday ~ Dinner ~ Sunset Harbour Walk ~ Wizard and Gnome sighting
The sea is coveted for all tourists in the summer
Truly wonderful photos have been well published😍
Thank you very much!
Well I'm certainly glad that they're not from here! Cough!!
That single statue is not Arlington, but you get it, right?
Totally. ;)
I didn't even get to compliment you on all these fabulous photos that I'm taking him with me so I can fawn over them for a little while.
Upped and steemed
Thanks so much Denise! I really appreciate it.
Love the photos. Not much has changed at the waterfront from when I visited a friend in 2000. I think tourists are pretty obnoxious wherever you go. One of my most embarrassing moments was o a trip to Costa Rica almost twenty years ago. My husband and I were staying at a very nice resort on the Pacific coast and had decided to eat at the Italian restaurant for a celebratory dinner. At a table for 16 on the other side of the restaurant was a group of very sunburnt and obnoxious drunk Torontonians being oblivious to everyone around them. They were dancing on the tables and throwing food around like animals. At that point, I was very embarrassed to be Canadian, since the waiter had just asked us if all Canadians acted that way...
Well yeah... people from Toronto are the worst. I'm from Toronto, so I should know! :)
Why should that be? I have met people from all over Canada, travelled from coast to coast when I was 18. Loved it. Toronto doesn't have the market cornered. Montreal is right up there with them. Tie for first place!
Toronto is certain that it is the centre of the universe - which is why it is universally hated by the rest of Canada. You only have to travel a hundred miles away to find people hate Toronto. They're all just jealous though because Toronto really is the centre of the universe! It's true, just ask anyone who lives there. Montreal.... don't make me laugh!
Toronto does have a culture which I miss here. Live theatre, symphonies, nightlife, dinner theatre, concerts and hockey games!
All kidding aside, Toronto is a wonderful city, one of the best large cities in the world to live in.. it's just way too big for me now. We're heading back there on a road trip in a couple of weeks to see the children. It's funny that a 4,400 km drive doesn't worry me, but I already dread driving in Toronto traffic. The 401 highway is now up to 18 lanes wide in some sections.... I just can't imagine driving on that thing again. This article claims it is now the busiest highway in the world: http://livetrucking.com/this-north-american-highway-was-named-the-busiest-road-in-the-world/
I like to visit as I have relatives who live there, but I could never live there. It is just too big and sprawling. I hate driving there because of the traffic so I get there by train or plane and bus, taxi and subway where I want to go.
You are one of my guilty pleasures, Keith! @keithboone
That's funny, Denise thank you :)
@ keithboone the place seems to be very beautiful.And you have taken a very nice shot of this place.this place has been coveted with tourist.keep sharing.
Thank you very much :)
We have to put up with those same drunken idiots when they get home. You have heard the term Ugly Americans? I bet everyone has a story. But, your photos are better than any of theirs, so take heart!!
Thanks, Melinda, this was nothing at all really, just me being grumpy. Probably some fans of the Wenatchee Washington Applesox, or the Portland Oregon Pickles... I would have to check the local baseball schedule :) Yes, those are real teams from the WCL - West Coast League :) Have a happy Sunday!
Lovely photos. I actually haven't run into too many obnoxious tourists in my tourist town. Although I can remember a few incidents from traveling, one in particular sticks out that happened in Amsterdam. It was in the Red Light District, I remember a huge group of men, either American or from the UK, chanting very loudly and banging their hands on the table. There were so many of them you could hear it well blocks away. I felt sorry for those women having to be near that pack behavior, but it was the Red Light District, so what did I really expect? :)
Wow, that's truly bizarre - the head banging thing? Never heard of that! Alcohol drives a lot of crazy behaviour. Worse than any tourists were my previous neighbours. The guy was a drummer who liked to practice whenever and also launch fireworks from the deck at 2 AM... Good times... :) Have a happy Sunday!
It was actually "hand" banging - better described as fist banging. Head banging would have been much more dramatic, and I regret that they did not do it.
Wow, a drummer and a pyromaniac. Sound problems seem to dispel the old saying "Good fences make good neighbors".
Beautiful photographs @keithboone. I had to go back and look at them as I missed them whilst reading your rant! 😂
Glad you were able to get it off your chest. 😁
Thanks, Gillian, I hope nobody takes me too seriously for calling out what was at worst only slightly "eye-rolling" behaviour. I enjoy observing the similarities and the differences between nationalities, particularly when it comes down to Canadians, Brits and Americans - oh and let's not forget the Australians!
I'm also perfectly capable and likely to go off on any of the rest of you, just for fun :)
As I read on a car sticker once - "everybody is a stranger/foreigner almost everywhere" - people should really start acting that way and start to understand that they are visiting someone else's "backyard".
And before putting a camera in anyone's face - ask first.
But then again - in goes the alcohol and out goes all the manners...
Be careful with your new hometown :)