"Scottish Snippets"

"Colour Supplement"

16 December 2006

Each week the Rampant Scotland Newsletter includes a number of photographs which illustrate the weather and the seasons, plus the flora and fauna of the current week around Scotland. There are often so many such graphics of Scottish subjects worth including that this separate "colour supplement" is created where some of the best pictures can be displayed in a larger format. Here is this week's crop of Scottish views!


This is the view at night from Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, looking towards Edinburgh Castle, with the National Gallery of Scotland in the foreground. There are not many cities in the world that can produce a picture like this!


High on The Mound, leading to Edinburgh Castle, is the huge illuminated Christmas tree, gifted to Edinburgh by the people of Hordaland, Norway. For 22 years, this Norwegian city has donated a Christmas tree to Edinburgh in gratitude for the Scottish help and friendship during the Second World War. Other Norwegian towns and cities supply similar trees to Glasgow and Aberdeen.


East Princes Street Gardens, lying between National Gallery of Scotland and Waverley Station is transformed each December with a skating rink, a small fun-fair, an open-air cafe and the stalls of a large German market.


In this picture of East Princes Street Gardens, the giant, illuminated Ferris Wheel, located beside the Scott Monument, towers over the ice-rink below. That's the moon, just rising, between the Ferris Wheel and the Balmoral Hotel.





The gondolas of the Ferris Wheel take passengers high above the gardens and the fun-fair below and offer great views along Princes Street. The pavement below has had to be given a cover to ensure that things don't get dropped from the gondolas (either accidentally or on purpose!) on the pedestrians below.


Here is a closer view of the illuminated Balmoral Hotel and the rising moon, peeking through a thin veil of cloud. Even for folk who have been viewing this scene for a number of years, the only word to describe it was "magical"!

If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page





Where else would you like to go in Scotland?








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