Grand River Film Festival By Bus, Part 1

On Tuesday I needed a haircut, which meant a trip to Diverse Barber Shop (60 Frederick St, great cuts for men) in downtown Kitchener. Since my car is out of commission, I decided to make an adventure out of it and take the bus. I was going to be walking around downtown anyway, so I figured I'd stop by the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum and GIG Music Hall, since I'm going to the Grand River Film Festival screening of Departures at the GIG next week, and might end up grabbing some tickets for whatever's screening at the Children's Museum as well. I actually went to the Children's Museum this past winter to check out their Andy Warhol exhibit (surprisingly good), but the GIG might as well have been on Mars.

The bus stop is pretty close to my house, so I headed down the street and waited for the Number 12 (Conestoga Mall/Fairview Mall). I think I was only waiting for around 10 minutes or so. The bus kind of sneaks up on you here and I was the only one waiting at the stop, so I didn't get a good picture. The fare was $2.25 one way, which is kind of expensive.

I took the 12 down past the universities, to King and University. It was pretty busy there, lots of students as usual. This was the only picture I was able to take because just as I got off the 12, the 7 pulled up and I had to run down the street to catch it. The last time I'd taken the GRT was in 2002 during my undergrad, and it was awful, so I was pleasantly surprised by the timeliness of the buses. The 7 driver even stopped for me because I was running to catch it, which was also a nice surprise.

King St. from the bus. The 7 goes straight down King St. to the Kitchener bus station, so my primitive plan was to eventually get off at the terminal and wander around.

Uptown Waterloo from my seat. Around this point in the trip things started getting noticeably more upscale. I remember when the only thing worth(?) going to Uptown Waterloo for was the Liquidation World in Waterloo Town Square.

Along the way, we passed by my favourite grocery in Kitchener (Korean And Japanese Grocery‎, 510 King St W) so I had to take a picture. I come here about once a month to stock up on fish balls and Ujinotsuyu brand tokuyo genmaicha. I don't know if you can find that tea anywhere else in the Waterloo region. It is quite honestly amazing.

Anyway. My original plan was to take the 7 right to the bus terminal, but it ended up stopping on King in front of City Hall so I jumped out. It was cold but sunny out, and there were a surprising number of not-sketchy people walking around. Usually I drive downtown and try to park on the side streets, avoiding King St. as much as possible.

There was something going on at Kitchener City hall, perhaps the filming of a made-for-TV-movie.

 From City Hall, I turned right and started walking down King Street.

 I walked by this building as I was meandering down King. If you can't read the text, this is an art gallery project for (I think) the University of Waterloo to showcase their visual arts program. It was empty, but was opening soon with a free event! Nice!

 Keep on walking down King and you will walk past the Center for the Performing Arts. Right beside it is the Children's Museum, which is actually easy to walk right past if you aren't paying attention. The only real identification is the huge "Watelroo Regional Children's Museum" sign, but it's tough to see if you're on the same side of the street.

Children's Museum found!

As an aside, the cafe beside the Children's Museum, Exhibit Cafe and Lounge, has a mean Americano. I stopped in briefly and the atmosphere was great, but I was too intimidated to take pictures and disturb people.

I went to go inside the Children's Museum and take some pictures, but they were closed. I think they close at 4:00 pm on weekdays. So, I took a creepy stalker/burglar shot for posterity.

Americano in hand, I set off to find the GIG...