Beacon Hill Park, Heaven in the Springtime

I first visited Victoria in about 1974 – came here on a summer holiday with my parents.  I fell in love with Beacon Hill Park.  It was summer time and the rose bushes were in full bloom.

All these years later, it’s wonderful to return, most especially in the springtime when the cherry trees are blossoming, and shedding a blanket of pale pink petals on the ground beneath.

This is the park which is my new back garden – where I can run on cushioned chip trails through the park up to the cliffs which overlook the sea, then come home and relax in a sauna and hot tub in my new apartment building!  This is my new home.  I love it.

Everything is springing to life, and leafy trees have that special shade of green we see only in the spring time.

The forsythia is in full bloom – its bright yellow flowers bring sunlight even on a gray, overcast day.

Fir trees tower gracefully, they are so elegant. I love the trees on Vancouver Island.  It was here that I first understood that trees are very old souls.  Look at them!  They dance, though are rooted in the soil

Blue Camus and yellow buttercups paint the meadows behind Beacon Hill Park, along Dallas Road

It’s especially nice to return to Vancouver Island after visiting so many other beautiful places.  Everywhere I’ve lived has had its unique beauty, yet Vancouver Island always held a special charm for me.  My photographic skills with my old Nokia N73 don’t do it justice, but serve to give you a taste of the natural beauty.

There are parts of the world I’d love to see and have yet to visit – Central and South America for example – and I’m sure they all hold a  piece of the heaven we are blessed with on this planet.  As I revisit this little piece of Vancouver Island, I remember driving through eastern Hungary, after cycling solo along the Tisza River, and remarking to the gentlemen who had offered to drive me and my bicycle back to Budapest, how very beautiful Hungary is, and how – if they ever have the chance – they should visit Vancouver Island.

I had a job interview last week with a local language school and the man interviewing me told me Victoria is a hard sell to foreign students – they want the night life of a larger city, and yet I’ve only been back a week and have found many things listed in the local events calendar that answer my special interests, while at the same time I’m here on this beautiful, wild and natural island.  And – I think – we just have to sell it to special language students, the ones who want a deeper experience.  The ones who want to learn something they can’t learn anywhere else.  No matter where you go in the world, you can find a night club – and we have nightclubs here – and they all play the same music.  Here – in Victoria – you can cruise homogenized night clubs, and visit this beautiful park every day changing with every season.   You can also experience natural wilderness on a weekend trek in a temperate rain forest, go sailing, ocean kayaking, scuba diving, cycling…and breathe some of the best air you’ll find anywhere.

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