Canadutch
I was looking at a group on Facebook today and saw an aerial photo of my hometown. (( HOMESICK!! )) Then I started looking for photos of other places I’ve lived…
This is my home town of North Sydney, on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. It looks so small to me now but growing up it was my entire world. It’s still as beautiful now as it was then.
When I was 21 I left Cape Breton and moved to Charlottetown, PEI. Another small island but much different than Cape Breton. More of a holiday destination mainly thanks to Anne of Green Gables.
After two years I decided I’d had enough of small towns on small islands and wanted to experience big city life. That’s when I left for Toronto… I loved it from the start. I still love it and miss it all the time. I feel like I didn’t do as much as I would have liked while I was there.
In 1999 I left Toronto and Canada for my new home, Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It’s taken some getting used to but over the years I’ve learned to appreciate this new city of mine and I think it’s a shame that it lives in the shadows of Amsterdam’s popularity and fame. It’s a beautiful city in its own right with more modern architecture and great shopping… not better than Amsterdam or any other city in Holland, just different.
Sometimes I try to see Rotterdam through the eyes of someone who’s never seen it before, someone from back in Cape Breton who has never seen any of Holland, it’s weird buildings or wacky culture. I like to do it because it gives me a rush of that old excitement I used to get when I was first here.
It’s sometimes nicer than looking through my own eyes which have grown accustomed to it all and often forgets how lucky I am to be able to see these things at all.
One thing I never thought I’d ever see in my lifetime is this…
Unless someone decided to rename Glace Bay, I mean.
… and a vote for you on blogexplosion :-)
Wow those are beautiful pictures (especially the purple-ish toronto night skyline). You certainly get around in the world. I’ll have to go visit them sometime.
Wow! I didn’t know you lived in Toronto! You were so close and we never met.
Oh cuz I was in Germany then.
I was coming home to Toronto from Germany when you were leaving to go to the Netherlands.
Oh and you are now so close to the Rhur in Germany where I lived.
Stars that passed in the night.
Well at least I get to read your blog.
It has been a fun year reading you.
Martin and I are off to PEI next week for a camping vacation and can’t wait.
just like you i love Toronto I’ve been there many times and have been there this summer traveling with my mother in law. Seeing different things on various stays in the city…Toronto def has a great charm to it.
I know what you mean about the traffic signs. There is one on the A4 which says ‘London, Paris, Rome’ with the distances on it. That one gets me every time. I drive past and think ‘my god, I’m really here!’
How small is PEI? I know a couple people there. wonder if you know them. :)
I bet you get that lot. LOL I know I do. :P
We just returned from Windsor, Nova Scotia. We took the ferry from St. John to Digby and had some of the best clams ever! I thought of you and I know you must miss Canada very much. It is still a very beautiful place!