I remembered over this Thanksgiving break that this time last year, I was busily booking plane and train tickets and hostels for Allison’s and my trip to Europe. I was finishing up the most demanding semester of my undergraduate career (whew senior workshop!) and reading travel books/daydreaming about the sights I would see in Germany, Austria, England, and Scotland.

Tonight, I’m (attempting) working on finals, listening to Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, and remembering Edinburgh.

Here is one of my pictures of Holyrood Abbey, the chapel in ruins, where Mendelssohn stood in the mist and conceived the melody for part 1 of his Symphony No. 3:

And… here is a clip from the symphony.