We started our last day in Scotland with breakfast at our favorite cafe, The Coffee Mill. We came here to get delicious scrambled eggs and cappuccinos every single day of our trip, mostly because we fell in love with the jolly owner, Gino, who always gave us discounts and made our orders exactly to our liking. If you're ever in Edinburgh and you see this sign, definitely eat there - it's delicious!
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| Our favorite breakfast spot |
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| The group with our beloved Gino, front and center |
We were thankful for our hearty breakfast, because next we began the climb to the top of Arthur's Seat. This dormant volcano towers over the city, and it's the highest peak of the gorgeous hills of Holyrood Park. When we came up to the base of the hill, we saw that for the the first stretch you could either take a long, winding path of switchbacks, or you could go straight up the side of the hill using a steeper, less worn path. As you can see below, we decided to challenge ourselves with the steep path, and it turned out to be a hold-on-for-dear-life-and-don't-look-down kind of path. But we made it!
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| The steep climb! |
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| Girl pic! We definitely needed a break after the first hill. |
After an hour or two of hiking (and LOTS of pictures) we made it to the top! We could see absolutely everything - the coast, the castle, dense patches of bright yellow flowers, small lakes filled with swans tucked away in the valley, and basically every building in Edinburgh.
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| The peak of Arthur's Seat |
The magical view really had an effect on us...Lesli and I were able to conquer an age-old challenge of humanity - being in two places at once! Prepare to be amazed...
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After hiking back down the through the valley on the other side of the park, we spent the afternoon relaxing in the plaza outside the Scottish National Gallery. As usual, there were street performers playing an interesting style of traditional and contemporary music. There was an electric guitar, bagpipes, and drums, giving an electronic feel to the traditional bagpipe sound. And, an old little homeless guy decided a dance would be a nice touch.
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| The street band, and the dancing, shirtless, homeless man |
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| View of the park that separates Old Town from New Town |
After a while, the droning of bagpipes starts to pierce your ears and make you cringe, so I decided to pop into the Scottish National Gallery to see if there was anything of interest inside. There most definitely was! Lavishly decorated rooms, floor to ceiling paintings, and multiple works from the likes of Van Gogh, Monet, and Raphael! I was blown away by the grandeur of the rooms alone, and even more so with the presence of valuable masterpieces.
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| Entrance to the Scottish National Gallery |
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| Main gallery |
I'll take a moment to praise my two favorite works of art in the entire gallery. Maybe some of the best I've ever seen! The first is Monet's "Poplars on the River Epte." The picture below doesn't do justice to the vibrant use of pastels in this soft, peaceful oil painting. The poplars were painted by Monet in the open air from a boat on the river Epte, with the poplars being part of a small village in France called Limetz. Monet painted his celebrated series of paintings of poplars between the late spring and late autumn of 1891. I love this painting for its serene landscape and the gorgeous blend of colors.
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| "Poplars on the River Epte" - Claude Monet, 1891 |
When I saw this next painting, I was in awe. It has quite a lot of personal significance to me. It is Hans Holbein's "An Allegory of the Old and New Testaments." It's a religious work, and it explains the central themes of Christianity in a beautifully blended arrangement. In this painting you can see Adam and Eve being tempted in the Garden, Moses receiving the commandments from God, Jesus' crucifixion, and Jesus with His disciples. In the center, Man is caught at a crossroads between disobedience that leads to death and God's grace through Jesus' sacrifice that leads to salvation and eternal life.
The central theme of this painting is the contrast between the sacred law (upper left) and the forgiveness of God (upper right). You can see that the entire painting is divided by the tree in the center, marking Man's choice between his own sin and God's grace, love, and forgiveness. My favorite parts of the painting: Jesus literally stomping on death in the lower right, and the physical posture of the man sitting in front of the tree. His body is turned toward sin, but his face gazes longingly towards Jesus on the cross and the grace that God freely offers us! This is a beautiful description of the way our earthly bodies struggle with sin, but our souls crave the reconciliation that comes through belief in Jesus' sacrifice. Through Him we receive the grace and unconditional love of our Heavenly Father!
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| "An Allegory of the Old and New Testaments" - Hans Holbein, early 1530s |
If you're ever in the UK, I highly recommend making the trip out to Edinburgh. Like I said, it's my favorite city in the world (thus far in my travels). Tomorrow, you'll hear all about my weekend at Stonehenge and Bath! Then on Friday...drumroll please...I'm heading to Sicily!!! I couldn't be more excited to get on the beach and feel some HEAT.
Much love,
Hayley
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