Greetings,
Well, thus far, we've read - we've run - we've rested - and we've had a bite to eat - so next on our trip through the alphabet, we're going to do a little bit of traveling. So many designers, myself included, have listed "travel" as one of the major influences of their work on most every "10 things you can't live without" list that I've ever seen.
But, besides the obvious attraction of the exotic, I also find that traveling can be the perfect 'palette cleanser' for my creativity as well. Wandering through a foreign land removes so many of those pre-conceived notions that we have about how one should (or might) want to live. It allows my mind to soar.
So for our next stop in the "Love Letters" series, let's take a little tour of one of my favourite cities.
"E" is for . .
"Edinburgh, Scotland"
Oh my, how I love this city. A perfect mixture of the ancient and the modern. The medieval castle and palace (on the eastern side of the city) and "New Town" (on the western), which dates from the 1700's. The two areas bisected by the huge railway station.
I visited Edinburgh for the first time in the Spring of 2001, during a long tour through England, Wales, and Scotland. Staying in a little Georgian hotel on the "new town" side . . . and spending long days wandering around through significant (castles and churches) and the slightly 'less' significant (shopping and eating.) I actually found one of my very first Scottish Clan tea cups in a little antique store near Edinburgh Castle - and went back on every subsequent visit to the city until I had purchased all the china that they had . . . lol.
The Military Tattoo on the grounds of Edinburgh Castle
One of the other highlights of the city is the military tattoo - performed daily during the month of August to the delight of locals and tourists alike. I had the great delight of seeing it a few years back - and here's a video of the finale of this year's event.
If bagpipes make you cry, you're gonna love this . . .
sobbing,
tartanscot
all photography used by permission.
