Here's a picture of Arthur's Seat. Described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design", it is as familiar a sight to Edinburgh residents as the castle is.
But more to the point for this blog is the roof garden of the Museum of Scotland which is the upside down looking affair that can be seen on this slightly more zoomed photo.
These pictures seems an ideal point to launch into a few pictures of my own from. They're from our wanderings in and around Edinburgh during my last time off and the first few are taken from the roof garden you've just seen in the last picture. It doesn't look spectacularly high in the picture but it's high enough to give you a different view of the city.
Below is the churchyard of Greyfriars, famous
for Greyfriar's Bobby and some tricky
goings on that I covered last year. Read about it here
and here
Looking South (ish) over the city. The large building with the dome is the McEwan Hall which belongs to Edinburgh University.
Up on Carton hill you can see this tower which is to commemorate Admiral Nelson. Next to it the Greek looking frontage is the National Monument, or as much of it as they managed to build. It was planned to be a memorial to the Scots troops killed in the Napoleonic wars. It was started in 1826 but there were insufficient funds and it was never completed. It does, neither the less, make a better photo than the tram lines on Princes Street.
You get a different and rather excellent view of the castle from the top of the museum.
The three spires you see in this picture all belong to St Mary's Cathedral.
This leads on, with surprising continuity to another of our visits of the trip. In St. Marys cathedral we saw this rather magnificent stained glass window by Edinburgh artist, Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. Sir Eduardo is most famous as a sculptor but anyone that has passed though the Tottenham Court Road underground station in London may have admired his mosaic designs for the walls.
We got a good sunny day for this so lots of coloured stonework.
The Botanical gardens are always good for a wander. It's been years since I was last in them and since then they have grown a number of sculptures. This as sculptures go may not ring my bell all that much but.....
.......for all it may look like painted wood........
...............it's actually made of metal. Even when you're right at it you have to give it a rap to convince yourself it's not wooden. Very convincingly done.
In the inside area, they have a wicker tent where kids can draw a picture of their visit and post it up.
This youngster had a very different visit to us. We neither got rain nor saw the hippos.
Seems Auntie Jill was here too.
This enclosure to me carries the hallmark of Dumfriesshire sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. I don't know for certain though.
Autumn colours.
They have a rather brilliant gate at the botanics.
Just up from the Water of Leith (near where I never manage to see No 4 Gormley Man) is an old factory with an Egyptian mural on it. It's on Beaverhall road and I have managed to find out nothing about it at all except that it was once Duncan's chocolate factory. This area must have smelled delicious at one time.
This isn't Edinburgh at all, but we had a wee drive out to North Berwick which is just down the coast. There you can get a cup of tea in the cafe of the Scottish Seabird Centre and an excellent view of the Bass rock. It would perhaps be unfair not to mention, since his cousin Robert Louis Stevenson was mentioned earlier in this blog, that this lighthouse of 1903 is one of 26 around Scotland built by David Alan Stevenson.
I found a new friend
Not pictured, but it's worth a mention that we went to see Eddi Reader in concert on the last Saturday of the time off and she gave a quite superb concert - much of it seemed quite unplanned (I don't think her band, let alone us, had seen her play As Time Goes By before by the looks of it). All most enjoyable including Kieran Goss's few songs and Irish banter as a support act.
5 comments:
I love the stained glass windows and the "stained" wall. I agree that looks like an Andy Goldsworthy sculpture, one of my favorite sculptors.
It's interesting how the stained glass shadows look like spray paint. Lots of lovely stuff again, thanks.
Nice to see familiar (and unfamiliar) scenes of Auld Reekie.
Love the comment about the trams.
Hello Sandy, thanks for your comment on my blog. I see we both like a good cup of tea.
I'm always fascinated to see Edinburgh through visitors' eyes. I've been here for 25 years - I don't remember the chocolate factory, but where we used to live at Haymarket the smell of the brewery was very strong. It reminded me of Speyside, where I'm from.
The 'new' Botanics are lovely. 'Auntie Jill' made me smile!
Becky, has Mr Goldsworthy been putting in any appearances on your side of the pond. Perhaps one of his striding arches across the Atlantic.
Shundo, When there's rare Scottish sunshine, most folk rush out into it - it is of course best to rush inside and see what the stained glass is doing.
Jim, Edinburgh seems to be able to always find a nook to hide something you've never seen before.
Trams - a bit of lateral thinking might have told them that the South Gyle railway station isn't all that far away (could they not have done something with that). (isn't hindsight great)
Hello Linda, I spent 4 years in Edinburgh as a student and am often back so perhaps it's slightly different from the average visitors eyes. I like the malty smell that the breweries sometimes give the city.
Auntie Jill, aged 40 something, certainly looks like she enjoyed the visit.
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