Royal Mile to Scottish Parliament to Arthur's Seat

Phone box by Lauren: Harry Potter birthplace by Sydney:

Edinburgh Old Town by Roxanne:

Buskers by Roxanne:

Chocolate Soup, Christine, Kirstina, Matt, by Sydney:

Christian on Calton Hill:

Hopkins quote, photo by Jon:

Arthur Seat, by Jon:

Photo by Christian:

Art Photo of the Week by Marshall:

Christian!

Arthur's Seat by Chris B:

Bentley by Jon:

The statue of David Hume is next to St. Giles Cathedral, which seems ironic to me (probably because I don't understand Hume):Scottish dairy farmers were staging an extremely low-key protest of the unsustainably low price of milk in front of the architecturally interesting Scottish Parliament. As I was chatting with a demonstrator, one of the pretty little heifers peed on the ground, spattering slightly, as such liquids do. I bet there are not many people who have been peed on by a cow at the Scottish Parliament! Everyone climbed Arthur's Seat but the van driver (me). Fearless leader, by Chris B, Photo of the Day :

Edinburgh

Update:
We arrived. Not all at once, nor really in any sort of timely fashion, but in small groups from the airport or various previous hostels we slowly trickled into the lobby of the hostel. Some, like Bentley, showed up by themselves after a full day of exploring, and others arrived in cabs from the airport, harried and jet-lagged and laying all our luggage in a giant pile, with Christopher watching over it all, periodically opening the box to his brand new guitar to peer in at it.
Many of us went on a first trek—to the Scott Monument and to read poetry on Calton hill—but many of us made small wandering groups of our own to keep mobile and fight off jetlag, as well as exploring our brand new city. We all finally coalesced for dinner and had our first meeting with all members present, accompanied by fine ramen made by Karla. Most of us were too tired to do much after this, but a fine few trekked up to St. Giles’ to hear a concert of Italian baroque music in benefit of the earthquake victims, and came back home around 10:30, dead and crashing into our bunks.
posted by Christian S.

Scott Monment to Castle, photo by Chris B

Matt, photo by Roxanne:

Ladies at the Scott Monument, photo by Roxanne:

Bess and Whitney on the monument, photo by Roxanne:

Rick, photo by Jon:

Lauren, photo by Roxanne:

Monument gargoyle, photo by Sydney:

Jon photo by Roxanne:

Edinburgh, photo by Whitney:

Bess, photo by Whitney (Photo of the Week in the Portrait category):

Arthur's Seat from Scott Monument, Jon's photo:

Fake Parthenon on Calton Hill, photo by Jon:

Dinner at the Youth Hostel, Photo of the Day by Jon:

Our youth hostel is on Leith Street. Also on the street is the birthplace of Arthur Conan Doyle.Everywhere on Leith Street and Princes Street (and probably elsewhere) is construction, as they are putting in a tram system. As far as I can tell, everyone hates the idea. James McDonald Reid, who told stories and played the bagpipes for us, said that it is the Liberal Democratic Party's fault, as a minority party needed for the majority coalition in the Scottish Parliament, the trams are their pet project, and they hold the rest of the government hostage--trams for their cooperation. Politics everywhere! The Scott Monument:

Walter Scott:

The National Gallery and the Castle:

Blenheim

Blenheim Palace is a splendid, lofty place, still home of the present Duke. I can't remember what he is duke of. It is Winston Churchill's birthplace--his mother was at a party and went into premature labour. The most interesting part of the palace is the library. The library in the Disney cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" must have been inspired by the library at Blenheim Palace. The gardens were designed by Capability Jones. In those days they didn't believe in flowers near the house (or much in flowers at all), instead laying out formal water gardens and topiary gardens, and a circle rose garden about a half a mile from the house. What Jones believed in were vistas, and when you own all the land for miles around, that's what you can afford to have. The garden creation required nearly 500,000 trees to be planted. You can imagine. There is a huge artificial lake, with boat tours to the various temples and grottoes and so forth. The old bridge across to a lovely island once contained art galleries and even a small theatre (waterlogged and unsafe now). Most of the kids again had a strong reaction against such conspicuous consumption and wealth. (1997)

Blenheim Palace is, as ever, a gorgeous example of human inequality and exploitation. But just because aristocratic inheritance is fantastically obviously unmerited, doesn't mean that other forms of inequality and exploitation (cue: American versions) are more palatable. Even so, it must be especially rotten in this era to be an aristocrat - one would have to choose between being 1) a rabid reactionary, 2) a blithering idiot, or 3)a raucous reformer - in simple defense against the cognitive dissonance. On the other hand, I may be giving an insular aristocracy too much credit - the royals don't seem to mind being 1) and 2) of the above (e.g., Prince Harry). (2007)

Ruskin and The Ages of Man

Has religion always had an ethical side? Does worshipping God always mean caring for or acting justly toward others? I don’t know of a religious system that doesn’t have such an emphasis. I wonder if the embedded injustice (patriarchy) exists mostly because it/they are simply so old. Religion is deeply conservative, in the best and worst senses of the word—after the initial burst of prophetic, creative innovation. We (people, conservators, women, maintaining tradition, keeping families together, caring for children) make it conservative, turn the wild, mind-blowing innovations into traditions as soon as we can. But I think it’s OK—it’s good. I guess often any continuity—even that based on the wild-eyed revelations of a half-mad prophet—is better than chaos, disruption, disorder, war, starvation, dying children. A dying child is the worst evil. We can put up with lesser evils to prevent that—even our own oppression. Safety is a powerful motivator, one that I appreciate more the older and in some ways more fragile I get. Or more recognizing of the tenuousness, perilousness, fragility of human life.

I was thinking all this as I talked with Mike H. about Ruskin. Ruskin was a reformer, not a revolutionary. Revolution has glamour and cachet for the young, who feel invulnerable and see no hope in slow change. The revolutionary Wordsworth’s children die and he becomes conservative.

Somehow as I get older and more conservative in reality (I think a lot of my revolutionary ideas when very young were only abstract) I should still remember that impulse to overturn everything and make it new. Reform is boring—if safer and ultimately more likely to succeed. Ruskin died depressed, but many of his ideas are embodied now in Britain. Maybe all—revolutionaries, reformers, and conservative (and maybe they are natural phases/ progressions of the life span)—should be considered positive contributors to the benefit of humanity. (2005)