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Travelling along Mosaic’s route five
Over a two-hour span on Saturday, you could comfortably visit three countries — all from the convenience of home.
Rajesh Mettupalli chose to experience the final day of the Mosaic multicultural festival on route five, along which bus drivers shuttled festival goers to three pavilions at Evraz Place: Filipinas Philippine, Hellenic Greek and Kyiv Ukrainian.
Saturday was to be a busy day for Mettupalli and his wife, whose plans included riding route five and then hopping aboard the route six bus for tastes of China, Bangladesh, Ireland, Korea and Italy.
“We can’t visit personally all the countries,” Mettupalli explained while waiting for a bus. “But here, we can visit the people of so many countries … We’re trying to cover them all.”
Route five was one of six free transit loops that connected festival goers from the Regina Inn downtown to every Mosaic pavilion.
Route five driver Rock Legendre estimated he would have bused at least 200 people to Evraz Place on Saturday.
There was a steady stream of people lining up outside the hotel at 2:30 in the afternoon. Many were sitting along the curb, leafing through their festival passports. Some were overheard discussing which pavilions offered the best food, which were must-sees for entertainment.
About 15 people stepped onto Legendre’s bus, including Mettupalli’s group and five teenage girls who took their seats near the front and began chatting.
Their plan for Saturday, it turned out, was to ride routes four and five until their passports were stamped full.
They seemed confidant they would hit their goal. They wanted to see it all.
“We don’t have much knowledge of other cultures,” said 17-year-old Shara Khan, “so we’d like to learn about their customs and how they function.”
