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"Although the world is full of suffering, it is fu

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." — Helen Keller » Edinburgh Castle looms down on the statue of Sir James Young Simpson in Princes Street Gardens. » Sir James Young Simpson was a famous Scottish obstetrician who lived from 1811 to 1870. Simpson is a very significant figure in the history of medicine and he was the first man ever to be knighted for his contributions to the field. » After testing it out himself, Simpson's understanding of the anaesthetic properties of chloroform had a major impact on how surgery could be carried out. As Simpson is mainly remembered for introducing anaesthesia to childbirth, his discoveries had a huge impact on enabling people all over the world to overcome suffering.😊 » We didn't know any of this until we took this photo and googled his name! 😁😂 However, Edinburgh is very well known for its medical history and there are even medical history walking tours on offer in the city usually. » Edinburgh's Surgeons' Hall Museum is one of the oldest museums in Scotland and contains the largest and most historic collections of surgical pathology in the world, including bone and tissue specimens and human remains. Sounds creepy but we can't wait to check it out when it reopens.😁 Have you visited it?! Would you? Let us know if you have or would! 💬👇 » #WanderingOn #LiveToTravel #Edinburgh #ArmchairTravel

“Because when you stop and look around, this li

“Because when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing.” —Dr. Seuss » Brian standing in absolute awe at the El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza!🗿🇲🇽 » Built by the Mayans sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries, Chichen Itza is a huge complex of Mayan ruins located on the northern half of Mexico’s beautiful Yucatan Peninsula.🗿🇲🇽 The complex is an inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. » Built from limestone, El Castillo stands at a height of 30m including a 6m temple on top. Each of the pyramid's four sides has 91 steps up it, making 364 steps total, with the temple topping the pyramid considered an additional step totalling 365, each step representing a day in the calendar.📆 El Castillo is also known as the Temple of Kukulkan as it served as a temple to the Mayan feathered serpent god Kukulkan, or Quetzalcoatl.🐍 » We visited this time last year, however, the spring and autumn equinoxes are the best days to visit to see the “descent of Kukulkan".🐍 » According to legend, twice a year when the day and night are in balance 🌗, the pyramid is visited by its namesake Kukulkan.🐍 Thanks to the crafty and mathematically brilliant architecture of the Mayans combined with the natural rotation of the Earth on the equinox, an amazing eerie image of a giant snake crawling down the temple is created. Kukulkan returns to earth to provide blessings for a full harvest and good health before bathing in the sacred waters below and continuing on his way to the underworld. » If you can't visit on either equinox, don't worry! The phenomenon is recreated nightly during the Light and Sounds Show at 7pm in winter and 8pm in summer. » We love doing things independently as much as we can when we travel. As Chichen Itza is located just a couple of hours drive away from Playa del Carmen (and Cancun) we rented a car and drove there ourselves so we didn't get to stay for the light show as we had to drive back.🚗 » What's your travel style? Are you a DIY person or do you prefer to go on an organised tour? Let us know in the comments below!💬👇 » #WanderingOn #LiveToTravel #Mexico #ChichenItza #SevenWondersOfTheWorld

“Sunsets are proof that no matter what happens,

“Sunsets are proof that no matter what happens, every day can end beautifully.” — Kristen Butler » The sun sets over Edinburgh from Calton Hill, one of the seven hills of Edinburgh.🌆 » Set right in the city centre, Calton Hill is unmistakable with its unfinished Athenian acropolis poking above the skyline, giving Edinburgh it's nickname, the "Athens of the North". » It's a popular sunset spot as it's easily accessed - it only takes about five minutes to get to the top of the hill from two staircases on either side, or you can drive up and park - and it offers panoramic views down the length of Princes Street and of Edinburgh Castle.🏰 There are also great views of the coloured cliffs of the Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat, and the slopes of Holyrood Park.⛰️ » On the last night of April, up to 12,000 people take to Calton Hill for the Beltane Fire Festival, an ancient Celtic fertility festival. 🔥 Traditionally, Beltane was the start of the pastoral summer where animals were taken from their winter shelter to the fields and "Beltane" is the Gaelic word for May. » In Edinburgh's revivalist celebration of Beltane, three hundred or so voluntary performers from the Beltane Fire Festival Society celebrate the ending of the 'dreich' (Scottish slang for dreary and bleak) Scottish winter and the hoped-for season of warmth and new growth with drumming, fire performance, revelry, and a ritualised procession around Calton Hill. 🔥 As well as the fiery displays, acrobatics, pulsating drums, and body-painted theatrics, the Beltane Fire Festival Society retell an immersive story for the crowd. » The revival of this festival started in 1988 as a free event but is now ticketed. There is also a Samhuinn (Samhain) Fire Festival on Halloween night which traditionally marked the beginning of winter in the Celtic calendar. 🎃 We hope to catch the Samhuinn Fire Festival festival later in the year! » Have been to any interesting cultural festivals? Let us know!💬👇 » #WanderingOn #LiveToTravel #EdinburghScotland #CaltonHill

"Stand through life firm as a rock in the sea, und

"Stand through life firm as a rock in the sea, undisturbed and unmoved by its ever-rising waves." — Hazrat Inayat Khan » The sun sets on the Bass Rock, an island just off North Berwick in East Lothian, last November. » Upon first glimpse, the Bass Rock often resembles a white iceberg floating in the Firth of Forth. This tiny volcanic island usually looks as though it’s perpetually covered by a thin blanket of snow or ice, but what appears to be a lingering layer of snow is actually hundreds of thousands of birds and their droppings.🐦 » The Bass Rock is home to the world’s largest colony of Northern gannets, one of the biggest seabirds in the North Atlantic.🐦 » Described by Sir David Attenborough as ‘one of the 12 wildlife wonders of the world’, the Bass Rock is a sanctuary for the gannets, and during peak breeding season 150,000 of them — 10 percent of the world’s entire population of Northern gannets — all crowd onto this one rock.🐦 The gannets spend most of the year on the Bass, until the end of October when they set out on their long journey south for the winter, with many going as far as the west coast of Africa, which is likely where they were when we took this photo.🐦 » The Bass Rock is also known as the 'Scottish Alcatraz', as the near-impenetrable rock of the Bass made it the perfect place for a prison in the 1600s and 1700s. The famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Treasure Island, also described it as ‘just the one crag of rock, as everybody knows, but great enough to carve a city from'. » This is a fascinating destination for photographers, historians and wildlife enthusiasts alike. The Scottish Seabird Centre *usually* run landing trips to the Bass Rock from Easter to Autumn, weather dependent, ferrying visitors in local fishing boats accompanied by an expert guide with a couple of hours on the island to explore. We can't wait to head out onto the Bass Rock to spot some Northern gannets and as soon as we can!🐦 » Do you have any trips in your local area planned when things start to open up? Let us know in the comments! We'd love to hear! 💬 » #WanderingOn #LiveToTravel #BassRock #NorthBerwick #Scotland

"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at

"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up." — Stephen Hawking » We're so thankful to have access to Arthur's Seat and the Salisbury Crags right in the middle of Edinburgh! We can still get our mountain fix without leaving the city! 🗻 And those views! 😍 » What are you thankful to still be able to do right now? Comment below!👇

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! L

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." — Henry David Thoreau » Well, we never imagined we would have the most photographed street 📷 in Edinburgh all to ourselves but hey, we're not complaining! 😉

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with wh

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” — John Wooden » While we may not be able to go out and explore Edinburgh like we had planned to right now (we haven't even been inside the castle yet!󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😬), we *can* still go out for daily walks around the city and soak up the beautiful scenery, incredible architecture and old cobblestone streets. (While social distancing of course!😏) And on a positive note, we have beautiful spots in the city like this amazing viewpoint of Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street Gardens pretty much all to ourselves.🤗