The Edinburgh Festival trumps the National Museum today

I woke up fairly tired this morning, thanks to my unfortunate decision to have a cup of coffee and giant chocolate cookie yesterday evening while blogging.  It meant that I was too jittery to fall asleep until well past 2:00 a.m. Oh well, I had planned on a quieter day today in any case…

After my delicious and hearty breakfast at my B&B, I headed off on foot towards the National Museum of Scotland, about a kilometer or so away, zigzagging along  lovely residential streets of large, warmly-coloured, stone houses fronted by stone walls, and much greenery.

 

I aimed for “The Meadows” which turned out to be a huge area of playing fields (with multiple kids’ Saturday soccer games in progress), playgrounds, tennis courts, and a small community garden and orchard.  There were also Festival event tents set up, and many families and groups were arriving intent on enjoying the start of the weekend and the lovely warm weather.

 

I soon reached the National Museum, but after admiring the Grand Gallery (featuring a beautiful dioptic lighthouse lens at one end) I very quickly realised that both my feet and my brain were not going to function very well today.

 

I skimmed through the Animal World, Living Lands, and Patterns of Life galleries,  and then found myself (surprisingly) slowing down in the Fashion and Design gallery – the textiles and garments (some very simple and some quite ornate) were stunning, both at a glance and then with closer study of the lines, shapes, textures, and details. I was very taken by them.

 

Next, I went to the Kingdom of the Scots gallery.  I was greatly looking forward to seeing the Lewis Chessmen, a set of 12th century chess pieces, beautifully carved from walrus ivory and likely of Nordic origin.  The pieces were found in a sand dune at Uig Beach, on the Isle of Lewis and Harris.  I visited there with Brent, Sophie and Daniel several years ago, and I have very fond memories of that wonderful trip and that wild and beautiful place.

 

Also on display was a beautiful wooden sculpture of St. Andrew, and I learned that St. Andrew’s saltire (x-shaped cross) is on the Scottish flag.  The cult of St. Andrew came to Scotland’s eastern shores from Europe and differed from the early Celtic church which came from Ireland.  By the early 14th century, St. Andrew was recognized as the “patron and protector” of Scotland.

Other beautiful objects which caught my interest were:

After some focussed time in the Kingdom of the Scots gallery, I felt the need for some fresh air and so left the museum to visit the nearby Greyfriars Kirk.  Completed around 1620, Greyfriars Kirk is one of the oldest surviving buildings within the Old Town of Edinburgh, and it was the first post-Reformation church built in Scotland.  Unfortunately, the church was closed due to a choral rehearsal, but here are a few photos from the atmospheric grounds of the church and its graveyard.

 

Returning to the National Museum, I stopped to enjoy a Festival event, which was basically a large group of Festival goers who had been convinced to put on some headphones, follow a leader, and sing and dance their way down the street to tunes like “YMCA” and the “Everybody”  (“Backstreet’s Back, Oh ya!”).  The participants were having so much fun, singing, dancing, and laughing, and the crowd, and I, enjoyed it as well.

I re-entered the Museum, determined to find my second wind and do some serious learning, but my brain still wasn’t able to focus so of course food was the answer to my problem.  I got a Mediterranean veggie wrap from one of the museum cafes and took it outside to eat on the shady front steps of the museum.

In front of the steps, performing for a crowd, was a busker who was perched on a skateboard on top of a high, shaky pedestal composed of various items.  He was a Canadian performer named Piper and he had perfected all of the funny lines and excellent comic timing that the best street stunt performers have.  He stood up on the skate board, juggled three machetes, then somehow got himself down so he was riding on the skateboard.  He then proceeded to continuously spin a large case on his knuckle while changing positions multiple times!   He had a very impressive act and I felt very grateful to have had the opportunity to see it.

After his show, I went back into the museum where I again tried to engage in the exhibits.  Finally giving up, I decided to purchase a ticket for a 3:00 p.m. performance in the Museum’s auditorium, a one-women comedy show called “The National Trust Fan Club”.  Then, I returned to the Grand Gallery to sit and enjoy a free musical performance – two young women with angelic voices singing atmospheric and moving Scottish songs, some in English and some in Gaelic.  They were wonderful!

Next I attended the play which was also excellent – well written and performed and very funny – and also well-themed for my visit to the U.K. and for my interests and stage in life.   I was the lucky winner of a prize (a tray of two scones, with jam and cream) for correctly identifying that the “official” answers – as determined by some “unofficial committee somewhere” – to the widely-disputed questions of: (1) scone (long o sound), versus scone (short o sound), (2) plain scone versus fruit, and (3) jam first versus cream first.  The answers were: scone with a short o, fruit, and jam first.  It was my first cream tea on this visit to the U.K., and very fun to win it as a prize and consume it during the show.

After the play, I briefly considered trying one more time to view items in the museum, but soon decided to just head back outside and wander about.  The late afternoon air was warm, and everyone in the city seemed happy to be out and about for the Festival.

 

I stopped one more time to listen to a dynamic duo of musicians, one on electric guitar and cymbal, and the other playing a washtub base.  Their name was Diablo Yo and their music was original and fun, with a rockabilly vibe.  After their set, I popped into a nearby Sainsbury’s to buy a microwaveable dinner of Aloo Saag (potato and spinach curry), as well as a small can of pre-mixed gin and tonic.  Dinner and a drink for under 4 pounds!

Heading homeward to my B&B, I zigzagged my way back the way I had come in the morning, a tiny bit disappointed that I had not been able to do justice to the treasures of the Museum as planned, but mostly happy that I had caught the Festival bug and had taken the time to enjoy some of the entertainments on offer.

I took several photos of flowers in a lovely garden on the way home, as my last photos of the day.

 

And that’s it then.  The Festival trumped the Museum, and a nice curry and gin and tonic were the perfect way to end my day!