The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

Early Saturday morning . . . the journey begins at the Aberdeen Station.

Booked and bought months in advance. I was very excited about the coming week-end not only because of the Robert Cray concert we were going to see, but because it would be my first train trip from Aberdeen.

The train  follows the coast of the North Sea all the way to Edinburgh.  Beautiful views.

The rapeseed fields were in full yellow flower.

We made a quick turn onto and across the Tay Train Bridge.

A quaint part of Dundee is across the wide River Tay estuary.

There was always something of interest along our route.  Here we cross the Firth of Forth on the famous Forth Bridge, for many years the longest steel span bridge in the world and a marvel of Victorian engineering.  Below are the remains of WWI and WWII military emplacements.  New and old oil and gas platforms in the distance for, and from, the North Sea.

We booked our hotel within walking distance of the beautiful Edinburgh Station.

The walk from the train station to our hotel was, well, interesting.

The walk to our hotel was up a very steep cobbled street.  We stayed above this bistro, but never ate there.

Our hotel was clean, colorful, and quaint.

The original elevator was still operational.  I couldn't resist this selfie.

We dropped our overnight bags in the room and took off for a walk to the Edinburgh Castle through the early Spring streets.

Old Edinburgh near The Royal Mile is a wonderful place.

Among the wonders along the Royal Mile.

There were plenty of buskers and street performers, like this clever woman.  She seemed a bit hollow though.

All roads lead to the Edinburgh Castle.

We walked the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh Castle through the medieval cobbled streets.

We walked up the steep streets to the castle.

We entered the Edinburgh Castle through this gate.

Castle walls.

The castle guards seemed very, very young.

A young and serious castle guard.

The views of Edinburgh from the castle ramparts were spectacular.

Edinburgh is a beautiful and fun old city.

There are many views of the Firth of Forth in the distance.

We like to walk around the small streets and lanes of Edinburgh.

The castle is very organized for tourists.  There were many hundreds of tourists from around the world on the day we were there.

The Great Hall is surely the highlight of the castle visit.

There is a fine collection of coats of armor and weaponry from the across the history of Scotland and the UK.

Royal Hilts.

A nice display of Royal flintlock pistols.

Night's armor.

We spent many wonderful hours at the castle, but we needed to eat an early dinner and get on to the main event of the week-end . . . the Robert Cray concert that evening.

We had an early dinner at the Gardner's Cottage, a very cool organic restaurant where you eat communally.  The food was excellent . . . we flagged a taxi afterward for the trip across town.

We knew we found the right place when we spotted Robert Cray's tour bus parked in front of The Queen's Hall.

The Queen's Hall is actually an old Victorian era church, converted into a music venue.  The acoustics were excellent.

We sat in these colorful wooden pews for the concert. Wonderful.

The average age of the audience must have been 65 . . . so I fit right in.  Old guys like The Blues . . . and Robert Cray is among the very best bluesmen.

I was not disappointed: Robert Cray put on a great concert.  He is as good as he has ever been.  His band was tight, and his singing and guitar work were fantastic.

I had never seen Robert Cray live before.  It was a memorable show, to be sure.  He played old favorites and some off his new album (which I have ssince purchased - it's great!). As my daughter said, "That's one more item off your bucket list."

We wandered around Edinburgh on Sunday morning shopping and trying out a new seafood resturent (pretty good).  I heard music across a park and followed it to this city biker gathering.  Nice folks and very good music.

Nice Scottish Harleys . . . and properly dressed bikers!

We boarded the train in the late afternoon for the beautiful trip up the northeast coast of Scotland to our home in Aberdeen.

We arrived back at Aberdeen Station just before dark.