City Chambers

Today I did a presentation to a group of Post Graduate students
at the City Chambers. The building is very traditional, and formal
with lots of ornate features. As you can see it is all rather grand,
with wall niches, statues, ornate cornices and lots of wood carving-look at the chairs:


and of course, chandeliers:

Duddingston

These quick point and shoot snaps were taken at Duddingston,
over the hill from Holyrood Palace.

Cherry Ripe

My colleague, Kirsty, returned from a holiday in Australia,
and this is what she bought back for me:


Wasn't that kind? She knows how much I miss Cherry Ripes.
Emily loves them too!

Ratho

Today's photo is another canal photo. It is, in fact the same canal from my earlier post.
But this was taken at Ratho, in the countryside just outside Edinburgh.
It is the Union Canal-the canal that links Edinburgh to Glasgow.
The boats were looking a bit sad and sorry today. I guess it's not the season for canal boating.

Stewart's Melville School

These are the spires of Stewarts Melville School.
I just stopped the car on the road alongside and snapped away.
I like how my car roof caught the reflection in this shot:

Coffee Set

Back at work today-so another picture from around the house.
I do love this coffee set-although we don't use it, I love to look at it!

Canal Walk

Emily and I went for a walk along the canal to Fountainbridge.

We started by Polwarth church, an old traditional part of Edinburgh, and walked towards Fountainbridge.
Fountainbridge is an area ungoing regeneration, so the contrast between old and new is very interesting.

The old:


The traditional:


Moving from old to new:

We had coffee at Cargo-that's the blue building.
I think it would be nice to sit outside in the summer time.

Blackberries

I made a delicious blackberry strudel for dessert tonight.
Here is the sauce bubbling away in the pan:

Colinton Village

A street scene at Colinton Village, just down the road from our house.



This part of Colinton is the older part.
Where we live the houses are relatively new, dating from the 1930s.

Edinburgh

These taxis are queued up at Waverley station.



Edinburgh is covered in road works at the moment.
The council is building a tram line down Princes St.
It seems half of Edinburgh's streets are closed.
You never know from one day to the next where you will find road works.
It is a real pain.
Only time will tell whether the tram is a good idea.

And this was my treat today-a mocha from Cafe Nero on Rose street.
If you are ever in need of an interent cafe in Edinburgh this is the place to go-
400 computers!!

Happy Birthday Emily

Edinburgh

I went into the city today to meet my friend for lunch.
On the way I took some photos.Edinburgh had some fabulous old buildings-
and the best skyline!
I really like these photos showing one skyline of traditional bulidings
reflected in the windows of a modern building.
Nice juxtaposition:









Click on image for a larger view.

Botanics

I was at the Botanics today. I took hundreds of photos,
which was just as well because there were lots of duds among them.
But that's OK because I was on manual most of the time.
I was mucking around with different exposures.
Here are a few:



Looking up:


Looking close:


Cacti:

Random shots I liked:

And finally from an exhibition about cycling-

as you can see I was fiddling with the white balance:

Walk

I am so lucky.
I live just 5 miles from the centre of one of the most attractive
and interesting cities in the world, and yet just a two minute
walk from my house is all this:





Who wouldn't love living here in Edinburgh?

Abstract

I was playing around with things today, trying to take some abstract photos.
So this photo is dimpled glass in my front inner door:



Then one is some dowels in coloured room scent liquid stuff,
and the other two are of a loofah type thing in the bathroom.