1. Hamilton is a CITY.
2. The Location
3. The size (population)
4. The scale
5. Creativity and the arts
6. The buildings
7. The nature
8. The film industry
9. The markets and restaurants
10. The trails, paths, and running routes
11. Gore Park
12. The climate
13. The safety
14. The landscapes and views
This is where my (small) artistic streak kicks in.
Line of sight matters to me.
Vignettes matter to me.
Composition and frame matter to me.
I'm particular about what I put on a shelf.
I'm particular about the views one sees as they walk into a room of the house or the perspective one has while sitting in each chair.
I've been able to greatly improve those views over the past couple years.
And for the city itself, I've been struck since moving here how amazing those views can be --- and how terrible others can be. One more category where our main streets do a great disservice to the rest of what's out there.
From my back deck, I can see a lot just about anything. A lot of sky, to start.
To the south and east, I can see several kilometres of the escarpment. At night, this turns into a swath of rock criss-crossed with streams of light. (In the winter this is even more incredible!)
To the north, I have a pretty clear view of the city to the harbour and several century-old trees.
And at night, inside from my floor-to-ceiling windows that face the west, I see tree branches moving in the breeze, and behind them a tower that gleams with 43 stories of light. (Here's a few of the views from that tower.)
And when there's a storm, I can sit under the porch roof, watch the rain pour down and the lightning strike and stay warm, dry, (mostly) safe and entertained.
Hamilton has waterfront. Escarpment. Forest. Waterfalls. Trails. Buildings. Lights. Towers. Ice. Snow. Leaves... open fields on the Mountain, shallow creeks. Gardens. Ravines. In short, there's a lot of places and a lot of great landscapes and views in the city.
For me, my favorite part is what I can see on a clear night looking up from my deck or my sidewalk... a sky full of stars - thousands and thousands! - that come second only to what I've seen up north. I never expected that in the city, but wow... I'll take it!
We have a ton of spectacular views. And that's another reason I love Hamilton.
No comments:
Post a Comment