Towns/Places I visited – Picture Perfect Memories for life

Grand Tour of Scotland: Day 2 – Exploring Edinburgh Part 9/20….

After a quick visit to the Ross Fountain we headed to Edinburgh Castle, but Dad was to tired and did not have the strength to go up all the stairs. So we decided to take the long route to the Royal Mile that leads to the Castle.

I still have no idea where we ended up some square with allot of restaurants and pubs…. Next time we are in Edinburgh I would like to go again . If all goes according to plan and this COVID-19 Virus is under control we will visit again in May 2021.

Our next stop was the Greyfriars Kirk yard.

I discovered the Flodden Wall and took some photos of the Edinburgh Castle and surrounding buildings through a gate….

Here are some information I got from Wikipedia in connection to the Flodden Wall.

“On 9 September 1513, the Scots met the English at the Battle of Flodden, and were heavily defeated, with King James killed on the field. An English invasion was widely expected, and in Edinburgh it was resolved to build a new town wall. Construction began the following year, but was not completed until 1560.

The Flodden Wall, was around 1.2 metres thick and up to 7.3 metres high. The Flodden Wall began at the south side of the castle, running south across the west end of the Grassmarket, where the West Port was located, and continued uphill along the Vennel. A watch-tower or bastion survives at this, the south-west extent of the wall. It then ran east, wrapping around Greyfriars Kirkyard, to the Bristo Port and the Potterow Port, both located in the vicinity of the National Museum of Scotland. Continuing east, the wall passed the Kirk o’ Field, where the Old College now stands, and ran along Drummond Street, turning north at the Pleasance to enclose the former Blackfriars Monastery. The Cowgate Port was located at the foot of the Pleasance, and the wall then ran up the line of St Mary’s Street, where it was formed by strengthening existing walls rather than new walling, to the Netherbow Port, which stood across what is now known as the Royal Mile The wall continued north to the Nor Loch, since replaced by Waverley railway station, terminating at the New Port. “

By now dad was really tired and we decided to rather head back to the Guest House so that he can rest up. Because we still had to walk all the way back to Edinburgh Castle to watch the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo that evening.

Thank you for walking with us….

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney

April 7, 2020 by Coreen Kuhn Photography Categories: Bucketlist, Discovering Scotland, Exploring Skotland, Grand Tour of Scotland, My Bucket List, Nature/Travel Photography, News, Towns/Places I visitedTags: #August2019, #beautifulbuildings, #beautifuledinburgh, #bencrauchenguesthouse, #bucketlist, #canon18to200mm, #CanonEOS7DMark II, #canongirlforlife, #capetownbasedphotographer, #capturingmemories, #capturingscotland, #castles, #churches, #citiesvisited, #coreenkuhnphotography, #countriesvisited, #dadandme, #discoveredinburgh, #discoveringScotland, #discoverscotland, #edinburgh, #edinburghcastle, #explorescotland, #fatheranddaughtertime, #Floddenwall, #grandtourofscotland, #graveyard, #greyfriarskirkyard, #lovetotravel, #mypassion, #nordicvisitor, #outdoors, #placesvisited, #scotlandthroughmylens, #Scotlandvacation, #townsivisited, #travel, #travelingtheworld, #travelphotography, #UK, #walkingthestreetsofedinburgh Leave a comment

Grand Tour of Scotland: Day 2 – Exploring Edinburgh Part 8/20….

Here is some information on The Ross Fountain I got from Wikipedea and articles from the Ross Fountain Archives of The Ross Development Trust.

The Ross Fountain was produced at the iron Foundry of Antoine Durenne in Sommevoire, France. It was an exhibit at the Great Exhibition of 1862.

A gunmaker Daniel Ross bought it in 1862 for £2,000 and subsequently gifted to the city of Edinburgh. It was transported to Leith in 1869 in 122 pieces. It was only installed in its current position in 1872. . The Ross Fountain had some major restoration work done and was only completed in 2001.

Its sculptures include mermaids with four female figures depicting science, the arts, poetry and industry. A further large female figure stands at the center of the fountain.

During 2018 another major renovation project was launched and after a lot of research they decided on a turquoise, gold and brown pallet for the fountain.

I must say it looks beautiful and according to them this paint will last at least for 20 years….

I hope you enjoyed this post on the Ross Fountain. Please go visit Ross Fountain Archives for more details on the restoration.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my post.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney

February 28, 2020 by Coreen Kuhn Photography Categories: Bucketlist, Castles, Discovering Scotland, Exploring Skotland, Grand Tour of Scotland, My Bucket List, Nature/Travel Photography, News, Towns/Places I visited, Travel PhotographyTags: #August2019, #beautifuledinburgh, #bucketlist, #canon18to200mm, #CanonEOS7DMark II, #canongirl, #canongirlforlife, #capetownbasedphotographer, #capturingmemories, #capturingscotland, #castlerock, #citiesvisited, #coreenkuhnphotography, #countriesvisited, #dadandme, #discoveredinburgh, #discoveringScotland, #discoverscotland, #edinburgh, #edinburghcastle, #explorescotland, #fatheranddaughtertime, #grandtourofscotland, #landscapephotography, #lovemycanon, #lovemyjob, #lovetotravel, #monuments, #mypassion, #mywork, #nordicvisitor, #placesvisited, #princessstreet, #princessstreetgardens, #rossfountain, #rossfountainarchives, #scotlandthroughmylens, #Scotlandvacation, #summerinScotland, #townsivisited, #travelingtheworld, #travelphotography, #UK, #walkingthestreetsofedinburgh, Castles, outdoors, Travel Leave a comment

Grand Tour of Scotland: Day 2 – Exploring Edinburgh Part 7/20….

As promised I am trying to make up for being so busy over the past few weeks. Let’s continue our walk along Princess Street and crossing the road to Princess Gardens…

I have to say the grass is always greener on the other side…. I took some photo’s of the Princess Gardens over the fence. In our original planning we would only visit the gardens when we came back to Edinburgh after our tour. But plans changed and I am glad I have a few photos of the gardens and the statues. But Edinburgh is definitely on our itinerary for our next visit but this time we are staying a week at least….

I just loved the Sir James Young Simpson Monument sitting in the shade of the trees…

I had to go to visit the ladies room and saw the sign for it, but I took the wrong set of stairs and ended up in the graveyard of the St Cuthbert’s Church. Normally I so not like to take photo’s of graves, but these were so beautiful that I just had to capture them.

St Cuthbert’s are situated at the western foot of Castle Rock and at the west end of Princess Street. You have a beautiful framed view between the trees of the Castle from here…

You also have a very nice view of St Cuthbert’s from Princess Gardens side.

The view of Castle Rock from inside Princess Gardens is spectacular….

Thank you for this short walk through St Cuthbert’s next post will be mostly about Ross Fountain…

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney

February 28, 2020 by Coreen Kuhn Photography Categories: Bucketlist, Castles, Discovering Scotland, Exploring Skotland, Grand Tour of Scotland, Landscape Photography, My Bucket List, Nature/Travel Photography, News, Street Photography, Towns/Places I visited, Travel PhotographyTags: #August2019, #beautifulbuildings, #bucketlist, #canon18to200mm, #CanonEOS7DMark II, #canongirl, #canongirlforlife, #capetownbasedphotographer, #capturingmemories, #capturingscotland, #castlerock, #churches, #citiesvisited, #coreenkuhnphotography, #countriesvisited, #dadandme, #discoveredinburgh, #discoveringScotland, #discoverscotland, #edinburgh, #edinburghcastle, #explorescotland, #fatheranddaughtertime, #flowersofscotland, #grandtourofscotland, #graveyard, #landscapephotography, #lovemycanon, #lovemyjob, #lovetotravel, #monuments, #mypassion, #mywork, #nordicvisitor, #placesvisited, #princessstreet, #scotland, #scotlandthroughmylens, #Scotlandvacation, #sirjamesyoungsimpsonmonument, #statues, #Stcuthbertschurch, #summerinScotland, #townsivisited, #travelingtheworld, #travelphotography, #UK, #walkingthestreetsofedinburgh, Castles, outdoors, Travel Leave a comment

Grand Tour of Scotland: Day 2 – Exploring Edinburgh Part 6/20

Good day everyone, sorry I have been a bit busy with studies and work over the past few weeks. But I hope to make it up to you today.

Where were we? Oh yes turning into the very busy Princess Street…

As we turned I immediately saw the street entertainer with his accordion. I did some window shopping as well. I just love all the Willie Statues all over Edinburgh and later on our travels we will encounter much more… Princess Street was extremely busy and it was difficult capturing the beautiful buildings through the crowds and all the buses and trams passing by. Hopefully next time I will have much more time to explore and take more detailed photos.

I was looking for a Vodashop when we turned into Princess street. I had to get a data sim card. At this stage of our visit we were just winging it. I had no idea where all the buildings and statues was that I wanted to capture and visit. We lost a lot of time wandering around but we also saw much more than I have bargained for.

Well let’s get back to Princess Street… I heard bagpipes and dad also heard it well I must say dad’s hearing is not that great these days, but he loves bagpipes and of course he heard it also over the hustle and bustle of Princess street. Then we spotted him across the road another street entertainer in his traditional Scottish outfit and playing the bagpipes….

I found a Vodashop and took out a 40 Gig contract for our remaining 17 Days in Scotland. We spend about 1 hour in the shop, but not due to bad service just the opposite. The salesman who helped me was supper friendly and he helped me to set up a hot spot on my extra phone so that I can still use my SA number. He also told me about his favorite places to visit and I made notes on my phone of course. Had to make sure we see everything we can fit into our Grand Tour of Scotland When we walked out of the store I saw Edinburgh Castle in all his glory….. Wow what a sight. I could not believe that I missed it while walking down Princess Street. Okay maybe I can I was so focused on that Vodashop I think I missed a lot more….

Around the corner there were a market with Stalls and dad bought his first gifts to bring back home to South Africa… I got so excited when I saw an exhibit on Wildlife and of course Puffins I asked the man where is the best place to spot Puffins and he gave me some very bad news…. “Sorry mam you have just missed them they start migrating end of July.” I was devastated, I was so looking forward to capturing these beautiful birds…

Dad thought it was a big joke and told me to take a photo of the stuffed Puffin at least I will have one photo of one…. Even the Willie statue looked liked it was laughing extra hard at my misfortune….

Thank you for joining us on our walk, we are not yet finished with Princess Street. Up next we will cross the street to Princess Gardens…

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney

February 28, 2020 by Coreen Kuhn Photography Categories: Bucketlist, Castles, Discovering Scotland, Exploring Skotland, Grand Tour of Scotland, My Bucket List, Nature/Travel Photography, News, Street Photography, Towns/Places I visited, Travel PhotographyTags: #August2019, #bagpipes, #beautifulbuildings, #beautifuledinburgh, #bucketlist, #canon18to200mm, #CanonEOS7DMark II, #canongirl, #canongirlforlife, #capetownbasedphotographer, #capturingmemories, #capturingscotland, #citiesvisited, #coreenkuhnphotography, #countriesvisited, #dadandme, #discoveredinburgh, #discoveringScotland, #discoverscotland, #edinburgh, #edinburghcastle, #explorescotland, #fatheranddaughtertime, #grandtourofscotland, #lovemycanon, #lovemyjob, #lovetotravel, #mypassion, #nordicvisitor, #placesvisited, #princessstreet, #puffins, #redfoodtruck, #scotlandthroughmylens, #Scotlandvacation, #spendingtimewithlovedones, #streetentertainer, #summerinScotland, #townsivisited, #travelingtheworld, #travelphotography, #UK, #vodashop, #walkingthestreetsofedinburgh, #williestatue, Castles, outdoors, Travel Leave a comment

Grand Tour of Scotland: Day 2 – Exploring Edinburgh Part 5/20

Let’s continue exploring Edinburgh… We turned right onto North St. David Street walking past St Andrews Square and many beautiful buildings and Statues….

St Andrew Square are situated at the east end of George Street. The gardens are owned by private owners and are opened to the public since 2008. In the center of the square is the fluted column of the Melville Monument, commemorating Henry Dundas, the first Viscount Melville.

Surrounding the square is a lot of office buildings and shops.

When you look down to the bottom of the street you see the majestic Scott Monument….

Walking down to Princess Street I got so caught up in all the details of the buildings and all the people walking. Some walked with luggage either coming to stay in or leaving the city. Some are tourists and well some are local….

Then we reached Princess Street and Scott Monument…

In my next post we will be walking down the very busy Princess Street.

Thank you for joining us on our walk through the busy streets of Edinburgh… Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney

January 28, 2020February 28, 2020 by Coreen Kuhn Photography Categories: Exploring Skotland, Grand Tour of Scotland, My Bucket List, News, Towns/Places I visited, Travel PhotographyTags: #August2019, #beautifulbuildings, #bucketlist, #canon18to200mm, #CanonEOS7DMark II, #canongirlforlife, #capetownbasedphotographer, #capturingmemories, #capturingscotland, #citiesvisited, #coreenkuhnphotography, #countriesvisited, #dadandme, #discoveredinburgh, #discoveringScotland, #discoverscotland, #edinburgh, #explorescotland, #fatheranddaughtertime, #grandtourofscotland, #jenners, #landscapephotography, #lovemycanon, #lovemyjob, #lovetotravel, #melvillemonument, #mypassion, #mywork, #nordicvisitor, #placesvisited, #portraitphotographer, #scotland, #scotlandthroughmylens, #Scotlandvacation, #StAndrewsquare, #summerinScotland, #townsivisited, #travelingtheworld, #travelphotography, #UK, #walkingthestreetsofedinburgh, Travel Leave a comment

Grand Tour of Scotland: Day 2 – Exploring Edinburgh Part 4/20

Dad went to sat down on a bench after the steep uphill and I took the opportunity to capture our surroundings. I loved taking photo’s of the taxi’s some are so colorful. After dads rest we walked past the Irish Embassy down Randolph Crescent….

Due to the fact that my google maps did not work at that stage I tried to follow a map in a booklet. Later we decided that we are just going to walk and see where we end up. Luckily for us we ended up in North Charlotte Street….

We had our morning tea at a cute little coffee shop named Fortuna Coffee Bar situated on Queen Street. After our tea break we walked down Queen Street admiring the architecture….

If we had time I think I would have taken much more photos of the sculptures on the buildings. But that would have meant I would at least spend 30 minutes maybe more per building. I think some would have taken me up to an hour just to capture all the detail…. Dad did some window shopping while I was getting “trigger” happy.

Here’s some more photos taken of the buildings…

Thank you for joining us on our walk down Queen Street.

“If you can dream it you can do it.” Walt Disney

January 7, 2020 by Coreen Kuhn Photography Categories: Architectural Photography, Bucketlist, Discovering Scotland, Grand Tour of Scotland, My Bucket List, News, Street Photography, Towns/Places I visited, Travel PhotographyTags: #August 2019, #beautifulbuildings, #bucketlist, #canon18to200mm, #CanonEOS7DMark II, #capetownbasedphotographer, #capturingmemories, #capturingscotland, #citiesvisited, #coreenkuhnphotography, #countriesvisited, #dadandme, #discoveredinburgh, #discoveringScotland, #discoverscotland, #edinburgh, #explorescotland, #fatheranddaughtertime, #grandtourofscotland, #lovemycanon, #lovemyjob, #lovetotravel, #nature, #nordicvisitor, #outdoors, #placesvisited, #purpleflowers, #queenstreet, #scotlandthroughmylens, #Scotlandvacation, #sculptures, #summerinScotland, #townsivisited, #travel, #travelingtheworld, #travelphotography, #UK, #walkingthestreetsofedinburgh 6 Comments

Grand Tour of Scotland: Day 2 – Exploring Edinburgh Part 3/20

Our next stop on our itinerary was the Water of Leith Walkway. It is a beautiful public footpath and cycleway that runs alongside the Leith River . The Leith River runs from Balerno to Leith through Edinburgh.

Along the way we walked past a few joggers and a one or two cyclists. The scenery along the way is breathtaking.

Luckily there are a lot of benches on the walkway so dad could rest up while I was clicking away.

I love bird watching and although I am not all clued up on all the names I still love capturing them. I saw a Grey Heron on the river bank searching for food.

The Thistle is Scotland’s national flower and it is everywhere. I can see why the Scottish people love this weed so much it is really beautiful…. Along the footpath I saw so many beautiful plants, and for the first time I saw Mistletoe as plant and not just a decoration on a cake or wrapping paper. It is such a beautiful plant and I wonder if it will grow here in South Africa.

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