My refuge

Hidden in the middle of downtown, between two of the more busy and noisy streets of the city, Bay and Avenue, I’ve found my place in Toronto. Doesn’t matter the season, I go there everyday. The peace it transmits the beauty it has and the silence it produces, have done this place my refuge. I have been there reading a guide of the city when I first arrived, looking for a job, enjoying pregnancy and having the first walk with my baby. It was also there that my daughter discovered for the first time the leaves, the squirrels, the birds and the flowers.

I don’t remember how I found it or when was my first time there but it cached me right away -maybe because is a magical environment or maybe because is an oasis in the middle of the chaos-. Indeed, my refuge has no traffic -just bikes are allowed-, it’s grass is clean, thick and green –perfect to rest and read a book-, and the buildings around are beautiful –it’s surrounded by old university buildings that makes you feel inside a Harry Potter’s film-.

And all of this doesn’t happen just in summer.  I love being at my refuge the whole year. In fall, I like spending hours watching the leaves on the grass creating a mixture of green, yellow and red colours that any artist would find inspirational. In winter, I love seeing how the snow covers the grass and how the sun allows me to sit on a bank having some warm coffee. In spring one of the things I like the most is laying on the grass hearing the birds trying to eat every small piece of bread some student forgot during lunch. Finally, in summer, I love taking pictures of the flowers -with all that yellow and orange bright colors- making me think about the fall season again.

I don’t know if I’m going to live in Toronto for a long time but nevertheless I try to pay attention and keep in mind all the special places I’m discovering. I try to take pictures, to write notes and to put a mark on the map. But with my refuge all of this is impossible: The pictures don’t show the beauty it has, the notes can’t keep all the moments I had there and the map doesn’t show where it is. And it’s ok. I know I would never forget this place. I’m sure that even without notes, maps or nice pictures this place will be the first thing that will come to my mind when in twenty years, someone asks me about my time Canada.