"This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again" - Alexander McCall Smith
"This was a townscape raised in the teeth of cold winds from the east; a city of winding cobbled streets and haughty pillars; a city of dark nights and candlelight, and intellect" - Alexander McCall Smith
"If London was an alien city, Edinburgh was another planet" - Jess Walter
I've been living in Edinburgh for almost seven months now, and while a lot of my wonder over living in a city so old and filled with history had faded quite a bit, it has been reemerging quite a bit lately (perhaps because it is warming up and my walks are no longer determined marches from one warm inside place to another warm inside place). My friends were making fun of me the other day for taking the below photo while we were walking through Grassmarket, saying that I've been here for ages now, I shouldn't be taking pictures all the time anymore. But I feel like there is so much of this city that I haven't captured. And I will probably never be able to capture it through photographs, as they are, while an amazing and wonderful medium, inherently limited in what they can convey. And there is so much of Edinburgh to convey.
There's so much of Edinburgh that I love, and while I sometimes wish to peel the modernity off its surface (particularly the stupid parking meters which are always getting in my photos of amazing old streets and buildings) there is something simultaneously compelling about that collusion of old and new, the mixing of then and now in an endless stream of history, a reminder that what we are and what we do will one day be rendered obsolete.
And, no matter how many trappings of modernity are plastered to Edinburgh's surface, the history rises from beneath, inescapable and undeniable.
No matter how long I am here, no matter how much I explore, there is always another corner to turn, another street unwalked which will suddenly and without warning present you with a view which you were not prepared for, and which is unlike anything else you've seen before in the city.
What a lovely tribute to Edinburgh! I love that you can still feel awe and wonder after months of being there. I understand what you say about the limitations of the photograph; however, I find your photographs capture much of what you are describing. They are truly wonderful.
ReplyDeleteKyra Jensine, This is twice this week I have said this, but, "I am almost speechless". This time at the beauty of the photographs, and then left Me wondering, about the people that live Their lives and work in all those buildings; the history, so much to think about. Thank You, I need to enjoy the sunshine in those pictures, because, once again, (and for the next 3 days) I think We are just enjoying "snow and cold" in this part of the word ;-) ;-) ;-) I love You
ReplyDeleteI love that tension between old and new. In a way, the people are part of the "new", since we are of this time. And somehow Edinburgh seems a city where people fit.
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