Tag Archives: surprise

An Icelandic Adventure: The Epilogue…”What about St Giles’?”

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“Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventure-do it well, enjoy it-and then, not now, think about what comes next.

Condoleezza Rice

St. Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, Edinburgh

I was on my way to Edinburgh for a quick week-long getaway with Cousin Doug, when my connecting flight was cancelled due to an unexpected, epic snowstorm…worst October storm in Iceland since records were kept… resulting in two unplanned nights on this snowy island. On day three, I was routed to Paris with a long layover. I’d be arriving late, but I’d finally be joining my cousin. Little did I know, as I found my row and waited for the arrival of the passengers booked into the adjacent seats, that this flight would be the most fun I ever had on a plane!

Without my Icelandic adventure and my detour to Paris, I would never have met Ellie and Kim.

“Realize that everything connects to everything else.” Leonardo da Vinci

When the flight attendant offered wine, we each took a bottle. We had snacks, we had wine, and we had an instant connection with conversations that ran the gamut from where are you going, where have you been, to men, jobs, sex, religion and everything in between. We didn’t talk much about politics. After all, who wants to spoil a good time with that? We laughed a lot…and…got more wine and snacks. I never had such a good time with strangers who became instant friends.

At some point in our conversation, I mentioned that I was carrying a picture of my friend, John. He has deep Scottish roots, loves all things Scottish, and longs to visit this special place. In the meantime, I would bring a photo of him in one of his kilts, with an inscription on the back, and leave it somewhere meaningful, so at least a part of him…his image…would be waiting to welcome him when he makes the trip himself. The next step would be finding the perfect place to position the tightly folded photo.

“I was thinking that Colton Hill, or maybe in an out-of-the-way spot in Princes Street Gardens, would be nice,” I said. “I could discreetly bury it in one of those places. Then it would eventually break down and become part of the earth. Can you think of a better place?”

“What about St. Giles?” Ellie suggested.

St. Giles’ Cathedral is my favorite place in all of Edinburgh, and with its Queen Victoria crown, it is a distinctive feature in the Edinburgh skyline. It was founded in 1124 by King David I and has been a working church for over 900 years. It was witness to Scotland’s turbulent religious history, and it was the parish church of John Knox, the Scottish minister, leader of the country’s Reformation, and founder of the Church of Scotland. Most recently, it is where Queen Elizabeth’s body lay In State before being moved to London.

The first time my husband, Dave, and I came to Scotland, we were on a bus trip…See England, Wales, and Scotland. When we reached Edinburgh, we had a brief time to explore on our own. Back then, I knew very little of this city I would come to love. There was really only one place, beyond those that the tour had planned for us, that I wanted to visit…The Thistle Chapel… a separate chapel within St. Giles’ Cathedral. All I knew about it was that it had an amazing ceiling.

The ceiling in The Thistle Chapel

The Thistle Chapel was created for use by the Order of the Thistle, Scotland’s highest chivalric honour, reserved for individuals—usually Scots or those of Scottish descent—who have rendered exceptional service. Membership is granted at the sole discretion of the Sovereign.

The present Thistle Chapel was designed by Robert Lorimer and was finished in 1911. The craftsmanship is exquisite, and the attention to detail is astonishing. So many details are included in the carvings…religious, heraldic, and some purely Scottish…such as bagpipe-playing angels. Spectacularly beautiful, it is very difficult to photograph successfully due to its compact size and extensive carvings. It is something you have to experience.

A replica of this angel, bought on my first visit, has hung on my wall for decades.
I visit her in person whenever I am in town.

When Scotland opened up after Covid, I brought my sister and her husband to see this place I love.

“I’m sorry. The chapel isn’t open today,” the greeter informed us.

“Oh,” I replied dejectedly. “That’s my favorite place in Edinburgh, and I wanted to show my sister.”

“Well, wait a minute. Let me see what I can do.” Within minutes, he was escorting us to the door of the chapel for a private tour. Upon reaching the door, he handed me the key. What a thrill.

Holding this key and opening the door was such a thrill! Wow!

“What do you mean? What about St. Giles’?”I asked. “I’d love to find a place in St. Giles’, but I can’t imagine where that would be.”

“How about the roof? Maybe you could wedge the picture into a crack in the stones,” she proposed.

“Are you kidding!” I exclaimed incredulously. ” That would be absolutely amazing. But how?”

“I have a few connections. Let’s see what we can do.”

Later that night, I received an email from my new friend, Ellie. “You’re in luck,” she said. “You can arrive anytime tomorrow. Just tell them that you know me and that something has been arranged.”

Oh, my word! I was beside myself. I never expected anything like this. As I was drifting off to sleep, it occurred to me that I had a very small portion of Dave’s ashes in my suitcase. Why not bring him along, too?

When my cousin and I arrived at St. Giles’ the next morning, the gentleman at the door, Callum, recognised my name right off and said he would just be a minute and could then take us up. Presently, there we were climbing the ancient, twisting stairs to the roof.

I grabbed a quick shot of the stairs on our descent.
You can tell there hasn’t been a lot of traffic here for some time.
It was much darker than the photo would suggest.

Suddenly, light flooded into the stairwell as Callum opened the door. We had reached the roof. I could hardly contain myself. There was a bridge that led from the door we had just exited to another door at the far end. Doug and I were instructed that, for safety reasons, we would have to stay on the walkway. Callum would do the actual placing of the photo, but we could help select the location.

“They’ve done repair and renovation up here in recent years,” Callum remarked. “It’s going to be too difficult to lodge the photo between the stones, but I’m sure we can find another place that will securely hold it.” Within a minute or two, the perfect spot had been found, and Callum had carefully lodged the paper into place. Perfect.

Callum carefully placed the photo.
Snug and Secure

The door at the far end of the bridge led to a room that contained the clockworks that regulate the bells. Doug noted that if the bells rang on the quarter hours and the half hour, it was due to ring in about two minutes. We waited. Hearing the bells from inside was a phenomenal opportunity. Wow!

The Clock Works

At the far end of the metal walkway, I placed Dave’s ashes. How appropriate that the man of my past and my friend, the man of my present, are both in this place that is so important to me. Dave’s ashes will eventually be blown or washed away, as they should be, for he has gone on to the great adventure of what lies beyond. John’s photo, on the other hand, will be hidden here for a long time, just waiting for him to make memories of his own in this astonishing place.

St Giles’ has 900 years of history, and now I’m a part of it…and so are John and Dave.

Unexpected Destinations hold the promise of Unexpected Experiences, Unexpected Awakenings and ultimately Unexpected Blessings!! _Unknown

You might call it luck, chance, or serendipity that my path crossed with those of Ellie and Kim. After the Iceland Adventure and the Paris Detour…perhaps…but I prefer to think of it as a gift of grace…an unexpected blessing for which I am so very grateful.

St. Giles’ Cathedral
The Royal Mile, Edinburgh
We were on the left side of the level below the crown,
It’s too dangerous to go up there now.

Finding 92 Year-Old Men on the Thirty-Ninth Floor

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“We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it.”

John Rusking

“Go around the block again.  The entrance has to be here somewhere,” she said. “This is definitely the address.”  

“I just wish there weren’t so many one-way streets,” I added.

Last August, my granddaughter Fiona and I made a rather quick trip to Toronto. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child had been condensed from two plays… a six-hour-two-ticket commitment to a big more manageable single, 3-hour production. The new version could only be seen in New York, San Francisco, Melbourne, Tokyo, Hamburg, and Toronto. Broadway might have been closer, but we are more comfortable and familiar with Toronto, so our plan was hatched. As soon as tickets went on sale, we’d be ready to pounce. The box office opened, and I was ready with my credit card. I chose our theatre seats carefully, but in my haste to secure lodging, I inadvertently booked us into the wrong hotel.

“There must be a front door somewhere. Let’s go around again.”

Night was falling, and we were deep in the heart of the city. Fiona, the patient navigator, and I, the frustrated and very tired driver, were anxious to get out of the car and settled into our room.  We were in an area with which I had limited prior experience and was not at all acquainted with our hotel on the corner of Yonge and King.

“This looks like an alley.  Do you think it’s the entrance?” we wondered aloud as I pulled onto the narrow side street.

Finding our hotel amid the forest of concrete and glass, eventually, parking and checking in was the welcome culmination of a very long day of driving.  Fiona and I both enjoy the benefits that cities provide, but we’re basically small-town girls, even though we live in the capital city of Vermont. We are more accustomed to structures left from the Victorian era than the tall, imposing structures of the 20th century.  We dragged our small suitcases into the empty elevator, pushed the button, and rode in silence to the thirty-ninth floor. The doors opened onto a bank of elevators next to an enormous window that looked out onto the adjacent buildings. Our view was filled with a quartet of huge Art Deco faces smiling directly at us! What an unexpected surprise. They were magnificent!

View From the Elevator Bank on the Thirty-ninth Floor.
August 2022

I was mesmerized.  As luck would have it, our room was also opposite these smiling gentlemen. My first instinct was to grab my camera. These new friends were willing subjects.  Smiling patiently as I took shot after shot.  Upon closer inspection, I realized that in addition to the quartet I had originally seen, there was an entire men’s chorus of twelve visible concrete heads and an additional four on the far side of the building for a total of sixteen.

I had so many questions.  What was the significance of these enormous faces, and even more puzzling to me…why were they constructed so far above any passersby on the ground? 

The Canadian Bank of Commerce Building about 1930
“Hey! Let’s add sixteen massive heads that will be almost impossible to see.”

The Canadian Bank of Commerce Building was built between 1929-1931.  At the time, it was the tallest building in the entire British Commonwealth. It retained that distinction until the early 1960s.  Although towering and impressive,  it is now somewhat dwarfed by the slender concrete, steel, and glass structures that surround it. As Toronto’s first skyscraper, it must have been an imposing presence.  Until it was replaced by the CN Tower, it was from here that curious Torontonians would arrive to see the city spread before them like a patchwork quilt.  The arched openings at the 32-floor observation deck…no longer open…also gave tourists an up close and personal look at the massive bearded heads, albeit from an unusual angle.

From the top of their heads to the bottom of their flowing beards,
each of the gigantic sculptures measures 24 feet high.
August 2022

I was drawn to these steadfast gentlemen and their perpetual smiles.  From my vantage point at nearly eye level, I could see that the 16 men shared two distinct and alternating faces with subtle differences indistinguishable at street level. With a little Google sleuthing, I discovered that they shared four names as well: Courage, Observation, Foresight, and Enterprise, and were said to symbolize the forever watchfulness of the bank. 

Great buildings that move the spirit have always been rare. In every case they are unique, poetic, products of the heart

Arthur Erickson

I appreciate and enjoy the beauty of the natural world, but I am also drawn to the stories told and the mysteries not yet unfolded of great works that humans have built and sustain.  I imagine the council fires where ancient visionaries first pitched the idea of building Mesa Verde, Stonehenge, or Donottar Castle.  Knowing my cautious nature, I’d probably have been among the skeptics.  “You want to build what? Where? With what?”  And yet, our forebears built cathedrals, castles, bridges, and towers that many thought impossible.

I watched as the light of the early morning golden hour transitioned to the velvety richness of the night sky and the glow of countless city illuminations played across each face. 
August 2022

So, why did they place these heads so high above the city traffic below? Google couldn’t help me with that, but perhaps it’s like lacy underwear. Few, if any, other people see it, but you know it’s there. After all, does beauty need a reason? Maybe beauty is the reason.

It was the magic of Harry Potter that drew us to Toronto on this trip, but if we are observant, pay attention, and are open, we can find magic and beauty all around us without the use of a magic wand or whispered incantation. How much I am missing, I wonder, by keeping a steady forward gaze? I must remind myself to anticipate, be aware, and expect to find gifts of wonder, beauty, and delight that others have created for me to discover and appreciate.

Sometimes, booking the wrong hotel can be the right thing to do.