Happy Sunday! Tina from Travels and Trifles is the lovely hostess for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge and this week, we are talking about spiritual places.

When I planned for our recent trip to the UK, mom specifically said no churches and cathedrals. Personally, I wanted to see at least while in Europe as such thing is rare in the U.S. unless we visit the east coast, even then, it’s most likely not as old as the ones in Europe. While in London, mom wanted to see the Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, we were in a time crunch, needed to catch the boat for our river cruise that day.

I had scheduled we’d be in Edinburgh for 8 hours that day – arrive by bus at 9 AM and leave at 5 PM. After Edinburgh Castle, we spent the day wandering down the Royal Mile with a small bite at a café.

St. Giles Cathedral is located one end of the Royal Mile while Edinburgh Castle is located at the other. With time to kill before needing to head back to the bus stop, we decided to stop by the cathedral and take a look inside. Not only the architecture that caught my attention, the vibe inside the cathedral made me take a seat and take in the whole thing.

This is a temple in Foshan, China. I visited there during my 4-month hiatus in China in 2017. My aunt told me this is a well-known temple but failed to tell me why. Being a Christian and a curiosity-driven person, no matter how many times I’ve witnessed people in other religion worship, whether be on TV or in-person, I’m still always fascinated by just how many ways people worship.

As you can see from the photo, this temple is located in the middle of the city. I remember it’s across the street from a shopping center. However, the moment you step inside the temple grounds, you would immediately feel like you’ve been transported to another world. All the city noises seem to instantaneously fade away, which leave you with the sound of gentle streams of water from a nearby manmade pond.

Last but not least, there’s no better spiritual place than being in nature, knowing God has granted life to the trees – whether wild or placed there by man – and flowers. It’s mind-blowing in the most amazing way.