Edinburgh - Art!

Did I mention yet that the weather here is shit? Well, let's just say Scotland is...COLD. Holy man, it has been really chilly! Either windy, rainy, or just plain chilly - or, at those special times, all three! We have wished for gloves more than once. Not to be like those silly people who come to Seattle and complain about rain in June...but, well, ok, I guess I am one of them.

Anyhow, today we walked to the city center and visited the National Gallery of Scotland. While it doesn't have tons of famous works, it does feature enough to wet your whistle for the National Gallery in London (can't wait!!! and Jill's never been, so it will be really exciting for her!) and also for The Orsay in Paris. It combined works by Raphael & Rembrandt to Monet & Degas (not adjacent to one another, of course...). Their special exhibit was of particular interest to Jill (who takes drawing classes), but ended up being fascinating to me too. It showed drawings that acted as studies for actual works in the museum = so you could see a sketch or drawing and below it, a recreation of the resulting work. It was so interesting to see the layers of work that went into these complex paintings, and the resulting changes that show up in the final work.

Next up we checked out the Six Cities Design Festival happening across Scotland over the past month. We saw a cool exhibit called "Living in Motion" that spoke to mobile living through the years, and how design advances have created vehicles and objects that have multiple uses or that take up small spaces. They also had a hands-on exhibit called "Claystation" where you were to create a building or something that signified what you would change about Edinburgh. We just opted to make little sculptures - Jill, a foot, to represent all the walking she's doing here - and me, well, I made a little mini-plate of Bangers and Mash (did you know I love food?). Though, Jill felt it looked a little like two pieces of poo -literally - but that plate took a long time! At one point, she said, "Making art is way more fun than looking at art..." and it was a nice change from being tourists and just looking at stuff - not to complain, part of what likely inspired us was having just seen a bunch of noteworthy art - but it is really fun to clear your mind by being creative.

We again...well, napped. I know, I know "don't do that" I know! But, we both set out to not only travel on this trip - but also have a bit of R&R. So, we relaxed and rested...and then headed out to a neighborhoody pub dinner, followed by a drink at the bar below one of the (gay) restaurants we'd been to on Saturday. At this point, we decided there are actually only about 20 lesbians in Edinburgh, and they travel in a pack nightly. :) And, for this past weekend, there were 22...

Steps Walked: 17,500











Arts & Crafts time with Jenn & Jill; Our Marks & Spencer lunch; a bag-piper making a living wage off of tourists; and a punchy little write-up as part of the "Living in Motion" exhibit under an Apple G4 Powerbook!