SEATTLE (AP) — There is one “must do” for Seattle tourists. The memory almost everyone takes away from the Pacific Northwest is a ferry ride across the wide-open waters of Puget Sound. In the days and years before Sept. 11, 2001, that excursion even had its own soundtrack.
Folk musicians and classical quartets performed on board the large boats, playing or busking for tips.
Today the ferries are mostly quiet. The day of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was the beginning of the end of buskers on the ferries and recent attempts to bring the musicians back have been stymied by new security rules.
Most musicians stopped playing when new rules required everyone to leave the boats and take all their belongings with them each time the ferry stopped at a port.
