After I returned from Scotland, it was easy to put the photos taken with disposable cameras at the bottom of my Pile O’ Craptacular Things No One Should Ever see. The nature of my blog, though, is to share not just the photographs I take but also the snapshots. So, in honor of that idea, I’m sharing with you an image taken with a disposable camera in Edinburgh. This was taken of Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street in late May 2007. I wish I could get it bigger but the digital discs that come with developed film are certainly not of a resolution that encourages any sort of use other than an avatar on a message board.

Again, a disclaimer: this was taken with a disposable camera. Deal.

Wikipedia says that Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the sky-line of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

Being American, there are few times in my life that I’ve encountered “old.” The development of my country dates back to the late 1400s/1500s. In Scotland, there are houses that are older than that. Seeing the castle nestled up in that skyline with a cluster of melancholy clouds was definitely a moment to stop and take some time to wonder over where mankind has been and where we are going.