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Photo-a-day 92: Arthur’s Seat

111 words posted by Simon on 1 April 2012

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This is Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, formed by a 350 million year old volcano, which was partly worn away by a glacier a couple of million years ago. I don’t remember any of that myself (it was a little before my time), but I have it on good authority.

Arthur’s Seat is also an important religious site for Mormons, where Orson Pratt prayed for two hundred new converts almost two hundred years ago. These were duly delivered over the course of ten months. I wonder if, in retrospect, he wished he’d been a little more ambitious and prayed for, say, eradication of all human suffering. Maybe that would’ve been greedy.

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Photo-a-day 91: St Leonard’s Hall

29 words posted by Simon on 31 March 2012

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St Leonard’s Hall at the University of Edinburgh’s Pollock Halls. I don’t really know anything about it, but it’s a building that looks like it has a history!

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Photo-a-day 90: Edinburgh Castle and Ross Fountain

183 words posted by Simon on 30 March 2012

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It’s not the most original shot, but the Ross Fountain seemed appropriate given that it’s only a couple of days since I was in England’s capital: it came from London to Edinburgh following the 1862 World’s Fair in South Kensington. Unlike me, it took a decade to make the journey, and is originally French.

Interestingly, Edinburgh Museums claim it was bought at the Great Exhibition of 1862: a claim that’s repeated on many other websites. As a bit of a world’s fair buff, I think they’ve confused the famous Crystal Palace Great Exhibition of 1851 with the Great Exposition of 1862 – the latter was funded by the profits of the former – but then I’m no historian, and might be confused myself.

I don’t really have anything interesting to say about Edinburgh Castle, other than pointing out that the £15 admission price seems excessive to me: you can visit Alnwick Castle for a whole year for less if you really want to go to a castle…! Though, I guess, that advice isn’t a huge amount of good if you’re in Edinburgh!

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