***
Europe CNY 2012
Day 9, Part 2 - 27th January - Edinburgh
At Edinburgh Castle, quite a few cars had had the EU GB license plate. This was expected, being Crown Land.
"Modernising Waste"
Modernisation involves being fined for putting your trash out at the wrong time. Can you do it in the morning before going to work?
"Hanam's. Kurdish & Middle East Restaurant. Shisha Area Now Open"
This was on Castle Hill
"In a house on the east side of this close, Robert Burns lived during his first visit to Edinburgh, 1786"
They don't know which house. Sad.
George IV Bridge. I'm wrong - it is really a bridge, at least for most of its path.
"Central Library is proud to be at the heart of Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature"
George IV Bridge
Road under Central Library
I had 2 pizza slices for lunch. They were lousy as I expected (though a French speaking couple I asked said it was good) but there were time constraints and the shwarma shop up ahead was closed for lunch (wth), and I needed energy to climb the hill later on. I suppose there're advantages to ordering your own pizza, not slices.
the elephant house
"Magic..!! Is the only way to describe the ambience of the Elephant House"
"Birthplace of Harry Potter"
Maybe it was cheaper if you got takeaway
Augustine United Church
I then went to the National Museum of Scotland. Since time was limited I decided to look at the Scottish historical artefacts, though there was a bit of everything: natural history, technology, history and other odds and ends. My theory was the uniquely Scottish stuff was where their comparative (and absolute) advantage would lie, and I am not very interested in anything after the Renaissance anyway.
All-purpose toilet
Hunterston Brooch, AD700
War Trumpet. Roman Era.
The Romans had only occupied a bit of Scotland and only for a short time, yet there were a lot of artefacts.
Commemorative Inscription, Roman Times
The labelling was somewhat different from virtually all museums, so often it was hard to identify the name of artefacts and what time period they came from (it was in such small print that it was easy to miss, as many of my photos do - darn; in fact it seems some items are undated). All the same, the presentation was very innovative.
Combs
Roman Grave Sculpture, 2nd century AD
Viking Grave
Gravestone
Altar Front, 8th c. AD
St Ninian's Isle treasure
On the St Ninian's Isle treasure
Carved Stone with Female Aristocrat, 9th c. AD
Carved Stone with Drunk Warrior on Horse, 11th c. AD
Gold torcs, 300-100BC
Bizarre statues (which are used to display items)
Painted ceiling from the Guthrie Collegiate Church, Angus, 15th c
"It is the only painted ceiling surviving from before the Reformation"
Various church items
More church items
Coigrich, 15th c.; Bronze crozier head, 11th c.
On the relics of St Fillan
The Fetternear Banner, 1520
Scribe stuff
Papal Bulls
"Hand bells of the Saints", 7th-8th c.
Covenating Banners, as used at Battle of Bothwell Brig, 1679
Mask and Wig of Alexander Peden
Yeech
The National Covenant
Carved Sandstone Overmantel, 1651
More furniture, 17th c.
Huntly Funeral Procession, 17th c
Not sure why this is under "Medieval Society"
The rest of the Lewis Chessmen (the other 67 are in the British Museum in London)
Jewellery
St Andrew
Bute Mazer, ~1314
This is a feasting cup
Ceremonial Swords, 15th-16th c
Walrus Ivory chesspiece, mid-13th c.
Powder horns
To end off, I looked at something completely different:
Baaa.... In other news this is why I don't rely on my phone for photography when I travel
Dolly, taken with a proper camera
Hall
You can see which of the other highlights I missed. The Benin Bronze Heads were perhaps the most interesting.
As you can see the National Museum of Scotland was an excellent museum, with good exposition, presentation and display. I was sad that I couldn't see more of it. Maybe if I return to Edinburgh...
Royal Mile, Lawnmarket
St Giles Cathedral
Walter Scott
St Giles
"Angels with Bagpipes"
I cannot imagine Angels would use Bagpipes
Poor woman pimping her historical tour and being ignored
North Bridge
Tartan Factory Outlet. No thanks.
Calton Hill from bridge
General Register House
Road to Calton Hill
Old Calton Cemetery with "Celebrities" like David Hume. Well, that was the only name I recognised.
Calton Hill
Regent Road
Calton Hill information
Nelson Monument
Dugald Stewart Monument, one of the icons of the city
At about this time my camera finally kaputed.
Portuguese Cannon
Dugald Stewart Monument and Edinburgh
The magnificent orange, yellow and red don't really show up well
Here is one of the classic shots:
(Source)
Here's an equivalent (probably PSed):
(Source)
Nelson Monument, ridge behind
Edinburgh view
Nelson Monument, National Monument
Observatory
Neo-Classical and incomplete National Monument (they ran out of money in 1829)
Edinburgh view
Ridge behind Calton Hill
The National Monument wasn't so nice from the back (see the dumpster)
Geology lesson
Of fire and ice
Other side of Edinburgh
Nelson monument
There was a "Hume Walk" on Calton Hill. This was probably just marketing.
Mounting the cannon
Dugald Stewart Monument
Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Who photographs the photographer?
Addicted's Army: http://addicted.blogsport.de/ (but it's in German)
I then went back to the cemetery. It was a bit dark to go tomb hunting and I had no map, so I just wandered around and I will say that I visited the place where David Hume is buried.
Cemetery
Obelisk
Calton Hill from Cemetery
Path to street
Alexander Duncan
Obelisk inscription: Thomas Muir
Obelisk
Scottish T-shirts: "I'm not an alcoholic. I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings"
"It's a kilt. If I wore underwear THEN it would be a skirt"
Stevenlaw's Close
On the way back, I passed an establishment selling one of the most famous Scottish delicacies.
Deep-fried Mars Bar
It was quite good (£1,9): warm and gooey, with a thin and light batter (though it didn't cling that well to the bar and the two were quite distinct). I prefer the version with Ice Cream though.
Oddly the place sold doners (I didn't see many doner places in Scotland, possibly because they have enough unhealthy food already). Even more oddly they were not Turks but Italians. One of the Italians said since Turks sold pizza, he sold kebabs.
Adam Smith
Edinburgh Streets: I hate bagpipes
For dinner I went to a pub.
Consumer Protection laws: "If you think the head on your beer or lager is too large... we will gladly top up your glass. Under UK law a reasonable head may form part of a pint."
I decided to have one of Britain's favourite foods.
Chicken curry with naan
I was quite disappointed with this. I thought it would be authentically British (i.e. sweet, as some people complain to me). Instead this tasted very Indian (i.e. spicy and unsweet). Though they gave me a fork and a knife.
Interestingly they cut chicken breast into odd shapes for the curry - WHO USES CHICKEN BREAST IN CURRY??? And parts of the naan were too dry (they probably microwaved it without water). I should've gone to a curry shop for butter chicken, but then that was harder to find.
They raised £97,01 for charity. If it were me I'd be ashamed to boast of this measly sum.
This was actually the main purpose of going out to a pub for dinner - Cranachan. The curry was just a diversion.
There was very little whiskey in it.
Ghost Tour (nightly!). I passed on this. Yes, I'm getting old.
I toyed with the idea of climbing Calton Hill to watch the sunrise but decided not to, since I'd already seen sunset.