Hatley Castle

After getting up early in order to take a shower and do some laundry, I finally managed to go to Hatley Castle today. Xue joined me, which was really cool since I hadn't seen her for way too long.
I had thought that there would be a guided tour of the grounds and of the mansion today. Unfortunately, there weren't any tours anymore due to the summer season being over. I was a bit disappointed by that. Nevertheless, just walking through the Hatley Park with Xue was really fun. We had a small picnic and walked through the Japanese and Italian Gardens as well as to a nice lake and several green houses. After we had seen everything the park had to offer, we walked to the nearby ocean. Then we checked out the castle from the outside.
Next we discovered a nice pathway that led us through a beautiful forest. The huge trees and all of the plants around us seemed just so powerful. It made me feel awestruck and like being part of something big. While walking, we tried to make as little sound as possible in order not to disturb the calm of this forest.
Before taking a bus back to Victoria, we made a stop at a cafeteria where Xue had a tea and I had a hot chocolate and a chocolate banana bread. We sat down and relaxed there for a bit. I discovered the quote 'When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world' written on one of the walls in the cafeteria. I really liked this quote as it reminded me of the feeling I had in the forest, that everything is connected.

On the way back home, I felt a little bit melacholic just thinking about leaving this beautiful place soon and maybe never seeing Xue and some other people here again. I figured this feeling had something to do with the song 'Pompeii' which had been stuck in my head all day long...

"And the walls kept tumbling down

In the city that we love

Great clouds roll over the hills

Bringing darkness from above

 

But if you close your eyes,

Does it almost feel like

Nothing changed at all?

And if you close your eyes,

Does it almost feel like

You've been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?"

Later in the evening, I watched the animated movie 'Hotel Transylvania' with Margo and Tuulia. It was really funny and just adorable.