4 days in Edinburgh before head off to Krakow. Edinburgh turned on cold and rain and we turned on the heaters for the first 2 days. Our main heating - radiators - are controlled from upstairs and that is thermostat driven. Made we wonder if you ever turn off the central heating in Edinburgh. Probably not. Weather suited us as did not mind staying inside to catch up on washing, work for me and SA staring at spreadsheets which thank goodness he does not mind doing. I get a gold star for dedication by venturing out in an anorak Friday morning to visit the pool. At times you have to be dedicated to get some exercise.
And then our luck turned and the sun returned. We re-walked the Restalrig track - an old train path near home and excitedly discovered an even better coffee place near us called Printworks. Assume was old printing place. Coffee even better than at the Bad Tempered Baker. Will have to slink past them from now on. Bit like changing hairdressers.
Actually on one of the rainy days we ventured into town as noticed summer sales had started and SA had his eye on a jacket. Did eventually get one for him of course not on sale but not before we first detoured to bag shop for me. Not sure how that happened. Anyway after dripping wet we decided a pint (and half pint) was in order so we visited The Standing Order which was conveniently near the jacket shop. I discovered a new favourite cider - something called Thistle Cross Cider which has a hint of strawberry. Eschewed the one with whisky as that was 7% alcohol and not sure about cider and whisky. We agreed that the pubs are much better than at home - at the very least they have more interesting names and generally a more interesting history. I like the ""Kings Wark"" down at Leith only because ""wark"" is such a strange word. I think it is Scots for ""building"" and it is located where James 1 built the original Kings Wark in 1438 - set of buildings to get trade going down at the Leith port. ""The Last Drop"" is also good - being where convicted criminals had their last wee dram of whisky before being executed down at the Grassmarket. Cheery thought. ""The Worlds End"" is situated where the main gateway into the city once stood and where a toll had to be paid. It commemorates the fact that many citizens were unable to pay the toll to re-enter, so they never left the city.
Also made the most of the sun by walking into town on Sunday and re-visiting the Portrait Gallery. Seeing things before all those tourists arrive! Discovered Sir Henry Raeburn this time. Had heard of him and then remembered the Skating Minister in the National Gallery that he may have done. His portraits remind me of some Spanish artists as there is a brooding darkness about them. Surprised myself with my perspicacity as then read somewhere that he has been likened to Velazquez - scary. Anyway he was Scottish born and bred, probably largely self-taught and rarely ventured out of Scotland. Also lucky to be painting when some pretty impressive people were around like Sir Walter Scott so lots of interesting subjects to paint. There was also a mixed media exhibition consisting of a Jamaican man singing the words of a Robbie Burns poem - The Slaves Lament and the music was a mixture of reggae and traditional classical music. The whole thing was filmed and was just playing on an endless loop. Pretty impressive. Not sure why Robbie Burns was writing about slavery - sounds like he was an interesting man. We also went back through the portraits of the usual array of kings, queens and assorted hanger-ons. Completely confused again as to who was king when, who bumped off who and when and why. Give up. They were all Marys, James' and Charles' until they became Hanoverian and George's were in favour. That's my version.
Lastly there was an exhibition on the male image. Basically portraits of men from Van Dyck to Lucian Freud and how the male image has changed/varied over time. Interesting although did not really say anything too new as I think the fact men used to wear wigs, frills and high heels in the 16th century and that this would be considered less usual today is pretty well established. I did like one portrait in particular. It was painted just 4 years before Pride and Prejudice was published apparently and the young man in the painting was said to perfectly reflect the look of the men who J Austen wrote about. In particular the young man has come to be associated with Mr Darcy - the image has appeared on numerous editions of the book. It is something called ""Portrait of a Man"" by Francois - Xavier Fabre who does not however sound very English to me. Did look very like the Mr Darcy's that have appeared in screen/TV adaptations so I suppose there is something there.
Back home to pack for Poland. Took me about 5 minutes as got it pretty down pat now. Crazy early flight though - 6:40am. At least being Summer the sun will be well and truly up.
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