STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - EDINBURGH OLD TOWN

 

The Old Town of Edinburgh sits on a ridge. It has a long central road, known as the Royal Mile, with meandering streets and alleys leading from it. Population and pestilence brought the city down the hill into the regular grid of New Town. We were grateful for our luck on the weather, given how wet it was when we arrived.                    

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - RECITAL

 

Didn’t get any editing done on the plane from London yesterday. Big meal, watched a movie, fell asleep. Flight from Chicago to St. Louis two hours late (bird strike on the inbound plane on landing!). Anyway, doing some fill-in today. This is the great hall of the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, a wacky collection of fine art, natural history and Scottish bric-a-brac. It has a huge organ and there was a recital starting when we entered. Hard to see here, but the organist is in a blue and white plaid shirt in the center. Quite a treat.               

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - GLASGOW CATHEDRAL

Glasgow Cathedral is said to owe its roots to a chap named St. Mungo, a 7th Century priest sent to convert the heathen Scots. Never heard of him (but wasn’t there many years ago a one-hit-wonder pop singer called Mungo Jerry?). Anyway, what became a major Catholic church turned to the Church of Scotland during the Reformation, but now is maintained by the state. Well-preserved Gothic. 

I’ll edit more on our long plane rides today.              

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - THE SPIRIT OF GLASGOW

It’s been a long time since we visited this city. Some of it feels more modern and elegant, some even more gritty than I recall: the Hugo Boss store across from our hotel and the homeless man cocooned in a nest of blankets just down the street. Posh hotels and boarded-up storefronts. We passed a wall where it was written:

We are not from the left.

We are not from the right.

We are from the bottom

And we are coming for the top.

The city has a wonderful sense of cheeky irony. The photo above is in front of the modern art gallery, a statue of the Duke of Wellington with a traffic cone on his head. It was there when we visited ages ago. The council took it down. People put it back up, and so over and over. The council proposed to make the plinth much higher. There was a huge public outcry and the authorities relented. It is now a local symbol.

The picture below is the water cooler in our hotel lobby. Whisky flights are available at pubs and restaurants at almost every corner.

Edinburgh airport hotel tonight, long journey home on Wednesday.

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - ISLE OF SKYE

Driving around the northern part of the Aisle of Skye yesterday. There is another grand vista around every bend. The places that are easy to reach from Portree, the main town, had full parking lots and crowds that reminded me of some of our national parks at home. The more remote areas were beautifully quiet. 

I have lots more pictures from today to edit, maybe on the plane Wednesday. For today, the southern half of the island and then heading south.                 

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - THE HIGHLANDS

 

Gorgeous, lonely scenery as we drove beyond Loch Ness toward the Isle of Skye. Once we had crossed the bridge onto the island we were dismayed by the great increase in development and traffic since we were last here perhaps 25 years ago. We hope to get out to the less populated parts of the island today.

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - INVERNESS

A pleasant and prosperous city on the banks of the River Ness, the outlet of Loch Ness to the North Sea. Not that much to do in town but there is an excellent restaurant scene that we enjoyed. Today starts with a visit to Cawdor Castle, where we will not speak of the Scottish play (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_Play). Then down the length of Loch Ness, stopping at a couple of gorgeous, romantic castles, and ending our day on the Isle of Skye.                    

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - EDINBURGH

Taking in as much as our wobbly old legs will carry us to. First, the National Gallery of Scotland, which has a remarkable collection. Second, one of the vaguely Gothic buildings of the University of Edinburgh, a snap that may have been taken by accident. Third, a scene in a pub. The man is intently watching a giant television screen showing American football. Last, from the ramparts of Edinburg Castle, looking northeast toward New Town and the Firth of Forth.

Up to Inverness today, perhaps followed by some Nessie hunting.             

STL DPB IN SCOTLAND - ST. GILES' CATHEDRAL

Long, hard day walking around Edinburgh. It’s hilly and our legs are old. A main attraction is St. Giles' Cathedral, https://www.stgilescathedral.org.uk/, which has been Roman Catholic, Church of England and Church of Scotland, which is to say, Presbyterian. The Calvinists smashed all the windows and devotional represtational stuff, but it has been richly restored. There was a pianist rehearsing for a recital Monday evening and we walked in to one of my favorite Chopin nocturnes.  If you would like to Play Where’s Waldo, Mrs. C is somewhere in the seats.               

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - NAME YOUR POISON

First night in chilly, wet Edinburgh, Scotland. We went to a little restaurant and pub next to our hotel that had a large array of whiskies (and this isn’t all of them). Now major jet lagged, got to get to sleep.             

SCOTLAND THE BRAVE

Lots of places in the US have what they call a Renaissance Faire. The conceit is that an area is supposed to be converted into a slice of 15th or 16th Century Europe. The one here is loosely based on our sister city relationship with Lyon, France.

But that all falls apart quickly. People dress up as faeries, pirates, elves, monsters or whatever suits their fancy. There are lots of shows and they don't necessarily have a thing to do with the Renaissance. This bunch of make believe Bravehearts call themselves Pictus, probably after the people who inhabited eastern and northern Scotland a long time ago. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts ). It's a bagpipe and drums with a pretend fierce attitude. For all I know they could be pussycats at home.

Have you ever listened to bagpipes for an extended period of time? I have. It is either A) an acquired taste or B) the road to madness.          

Scotland The Brave

Anyone who has heard massed bagpipes play Scotland The Brave knows what real head pain is like. This group of imitation Highlanders at the Idiotarod spared the crowd's ears but not its eyes. Above, while trying to sway the judges, they perform a dance that I heard was personally condemned by Robert the Bruce. Just below, they offer their final respects to their honors before taking their place at the starting line. They seem to have lost some of their enthusiasm by the time I took the last picture an hour later.