27 May Edinburgh

Been a while but have friends from Sydney visiting so been a bit busy doing the tour guide bit.  Here is Stephen in his tour guide mode.

We had a great morning today.  Re-visited the Modern Art gallery so I was in my happy place.  Saw a very interesting selection of art by a South Korean artist called Do Ho Suh.  He lives in London now but has lived in various places and this exhibition focused on the theme of tracing time - the traces you leave as you go through life.    Pretty clever and some of it was a thread drawing embedded in handmade cotton paper like the 2 below.

 Liked this one too of him carrying his home around and the model of a public monument he did which instead of having a famous person on a pedestal, there are little people underneath holding up the pedestal.  Didn't have to be a rocket scientist to work out he was having a go at the people on pedestals who he says "many of whom are deeply problematic" whereas the multiple below represent the diverse people who actually support and sometimes resist the stone pedestal.  Was clever.

The Modern Art Gallery was once a childrens' home.  Has these great Caithness flagstones on the floor and outside this grass banked sculpture I guess you'd call it.  The building itself currently has a neon lit sign across it which says' "Everything is Going to be Alright."

The Modern Art Gallery is on the west side, which I had forgotten how much I liked.  I think I'd live in this part of Edinburgh if I was moving here.  Less touristy and it's got some lovely terraces in a circus shape like the Royal Circus in Bath.

We found one of the entrances to the Water of Leith and photographed me also posing in my jaunty hat which has a tweed top and large brim in an attempt to keep the rain off my glasses.  Oh and took a photo of Stephen posing with one of the Antony Gormley statutes (6 standing figures of a naked man - saw one off Leith pier, one in the Water of Leith and this one.)They are actually made from a cast of the artist's own body.  Bit strange but effective.

We took our friends along a scenic part of the Water of Leith on another day.  Never seen the water flowing so fast and never seen it so high.  Been a bit of rain.

We also conquered Arthurs Seat again.  I did walk all the way to the top but did also say I am not doing this again.  Great views including of the Firth of Forth and Calton Hill with its weird pseudo Greek monuments on it  but not sure my knees could cope with it again.

Our friends have not yet been able to get to Holyrood because Prince Edward has been here getting the keys to Edinburgh apparently.  We laughed at how all the royal bits on monuments etc have been scrubbed to within an inch of their life admist the usual sea of grey stone.  Haven't spotted the Prince as yet just lots of police vehicles and shiny things.

When we went on our walk along the Water of Leith we ended up at Dean Village.  An old water mill village.  It's been preserved and people still live there.  Seems almost commune-like to me.  Had forgotten how interesting it is.  Liked this Hansel and Gretel house  and the various other old buildings.

You can also see how high up the waters are.  You couldn't walk on some of the paths.

And we also did a more touristy thing and went on a guided tour of some vaults that are now open up for viewing under one of the old bridges. It's in the old part of Edinburgh - well the very old part not the not so old part.  The vaults were used for storing things like whisky, and where homeless people lived and being Edinburgh where some witches hung out and of course it is haunted.

The Scots were particularly good at seeking out witches and killing them.  James 1 of UK (Mary's son) even wrote a book about witches.  The guide did not tell us this.  He was mainly interested in telling us about ghosts etc and seeking a 5 star review on Trip Adviser.  Was interesting even if a bit touristy and you can't get there without a tour anyway.

Here is a photo of one of the recreated witches things and another vault.  Essentially it was very dark, dank and would have been miserable for those forced to live there.  

And when we haven't been showing our friends around, I have gone out for some walks, keeping on reminding myself to look up and notice the buildings as they are so different from home.  Here is an assortment from around Leith and some of the hugest poppies I've ever seen.  (There has to be some benefit to having so much rain - the grass etc is so lush and green and the flowers huge).