Well, I've been living in Hamilton, Ontario for almost 8 weeks now. Having grown up about 40 minutes from here, I knew of Hamilton but other than a few visits and a hospital stay when I was young, we almost never went there. I knew of the steel mills and had driven past the large smoke-spewing stacks and dull grey manufacturing buildings when we headed for Niagara Falls. The impression I had of the city was bleak.
Fast forward to today. Moving here to Hamilton has been great so far, but of course in the back of my mind is this past impression I've had of the city. I live close to the major highway in and out of the city and work down that highway towards Toronto, so have little reason to head downtown. But, I am making a point of checking out the area and have been a little surprised to find some beautiful spots. My best friend came to visit just after I had moved here and we took that opportunity to go and explore some of the trails near the house. Not only did we find a forest with the beginnings of fall colors, some awesome rock cliffs which are part of Hamilton mountain but we found a couple of some apparently 100+ waterfalls in the area.
I have included a pic of myself and my friend from that weekend. But I also made a point recently of walking around a small section of town near the Y I go to. I have walked past these huge, old churches quite a few times, but this time I made a point of getting a closer look.
I will admit, there are still a lot of dirty streets, buildings that are falling-apart, vast uneven concrete parking lots, old and peeling signage etc. but I am making a point to look for some of the nicer spots in Hamilton. I will continue my search and post the little gems I find from time to time. As we all know- "Beauty is everywhere"- sometimes you just have to look really hard to find it.
No comments:
Post a Comment