Edinburgh with Evee

18 January 2012 00:51

As Evee said, the first thing we did when we got to Edinburgh was to pay a visit to the old cemetery across from Calton Hill in Waterloo Place. I wanted to take a photo of the names on the Martyrs’ Monument as I only took a photo of William Skirving’s name the last time I was there. You can see my previous post here.

Martyrs' Monument, Edinburgh

We huffed and puffed up to Calton Hill which isn’t far and is well worth doing because on a clear day the views across to Fife and of the city of Edinburgh are great. In this one you can see one of the islands in the Firth of Forth. I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s the one which is shaped like a battleship and the Germans apparently tried to sink it on numerous bombing raids during World War II

Edinburgh skyline

This is the unfinished monument nicknamed Edinburgh’s Disgrace, there was actually a lot going on behind this edifice, you can just see a white van on the right hand side peeking out but there was also a digger and several men hacking away at the ground behind the base of the pillars – who knows what was going on?!

Edinburgh's Disgrace

There are a lot of buildings scattered around Calton Hill and the right hand one is obviously the observatory but I can’t remember what the wee sort of mausoleum type building is commemorating.

The Observatory on Calton Hill

This one is the Nelson Monument which was built to commemorate Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. You get a lovely view from the top of it and it’s worth trudging up the 100 and odd steps to get there. John, the custodian goes up them every day about 12.50 so that he has time to wind the huge copper ball up in time for it to be dropped at 1 o’clock. In the days when very few people had a watch it was useful for the folks on ships out in the Forth, not that there are many ships today, just a few oil/gas tankers usually.

THe monument used to be inhabited by its custodian but isn’t nowadays, shame because it would make a lovely wee home, I quite fancied the idea of living there but I’m keen on lighthouses too, don’t ask me why because I’m not crazy about the sea, unless there is plenty of greenery in the view too.

Nelson's Monument

So that’s a wee bit more of our trip round Edinburgh. Evee did a much more in depth one which you can see here if you’re interested. Her photos are much artier than my snaps!

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Jack Vettriano – love or hate?

27 August 2011 23:57

Jack Vettriano is another ‘local lad’ and I don’t know of anyone who has no opinion of his art, people either seem to love his work or hate it. In fact I know of a couple of women who had been best friends for about 30 years (I’m not either of them) but they nearly came to blows when they were having a ‘chat’ about his art. Apparently The Singing Butler is the most popular print ever. Did I hear you say How common? Well it must say something for an awful lot of people but it doesn’t do anything for me.

Jack Vettriano Pictures, Images and Photos

The art world has more or less shunned Vettriano and there’s probably a lot of snobbishness involved in that but the Kirkcaldy Art Gallery and Museum always has a few things of his on diplay. I have to say that the prints in the shops are actually a lot better looking than the originals which can have quite blotchy areas of paint.

One of my brothers loves this one though so I did find myself buying it for him a few Christmases ago. It’s called The Billy Boys and I suppose that for people who hanker after the 1950s then they’re just the sort of thing that they want on their walls.

I know that they’re a bit of a nostalgic trip back in time for women who wore those big sticky out polka dot dresses in the 1950s too. The suspender belt things just make me shudder but men of a certain type obviously enjoy them, Jack Nicholson has an original – I always suspected he was a bit ‘dodgy’!

This one is called Bluebird at Bonneville and it’s the only one which I think is quite good and I think that that is because of the fashions portrayed in it. Everybody just looks so elegant and I thought that Vettriano must be improving so I was quite disappointed when I saw the original photo and realised that he had just copied it.

blue bird at bonneville ; jack vettriano Pictures, Images and Photos

I find his images really soulless, they have a photographic quality which I don’t like in paintings. I feel the same about Hopper’s work too. So what about you, do you love his art work or hate it?

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Categories: Local interest, Museums

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A Charles Jencks Landform

17 May 2011 23:28

Gallery Water Feature

The above photograph is of the land at the front of the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and I think it’s really stylish. You can see more photos of Landform here.

It’s the view which you get if you are standing at the front of the building. We visit the gallery quite often and I have to say that some of the modern art on display is just not to my taste but you can’t like everything. I’m sure we’ve all looked at some modern exhibits in the past and said to ourselves – I can do better than that!

Anyway the view above is right in front of the gallery building so if you turn around this is what you see.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art frontage close

Charles Jencks is an American landscape architect, born in Baltimore to a Scottish mother and you can read more about him here.

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Edinburgh, The Water of Leith and Botanic Gardens

4 April 2011 00:21

We had to drive my brother to Edinburgh airport on Saturday morning so we thought we might as well go and have another walk along by the Water of Leith and into Stockbridge.

So we parked the car at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and had a look round as usual before walking down to the footpath. As you can see they have a neon sign on the gallery building, to cheer us up I suppose.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art frontage close

Stockbridge is always dangerous for me because I can’t resist the book shops there, but more of that another day. Apart from being windy, which is the usual situation in Edinburgh, it was a nice blue sky day so we decided to continue the walk along the river in the direction of Edinburgh Botanic Gardens.

Reflections

We hadn’t walked that far before because we usually drive there and I thought it might be a bit too long a walk but we managed it. By that time we were carrying our book purchases too, well I have to admit it MY book purchases because my husband didn’t buy any, so it was all fairly knackering.

We just had to sit down when we got to the botanics, they’ve finished the refurbishment at last, they seemed to have been at it forever, but it’s all spiffing now and must have cost a fortune when you consider the price of stone nowadays.

New Entrance building Edinburgh Botanic Gardens

It was VERY busy, but to be honest there wasn’t an awful lot to be seen plant-wise, which was a surprise to me because I think of the botanics as being fairly sheltered but my garden plants seem to be further on than theirs. Most of the trees are still fairly bare but we’ll be going back again to check it out again soon because I wanted to buy a small magnolia from the garden centre but the thought of carrying it the very long way back to the car put me right off because we were exhausted by that time.

I think it was about a 10 mile round walk, which is the longest one we’ve done this year. Anyway I took some reasonable photos, there’s nearly always at least one heron in the river, yesterday there were two, and also a few anglers. I haven’t a clue what they can catch in there, maybe brown trout. I bet the birds would have the most success though.

Heron 1

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Categories: Gardening, Museums

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Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum again

3 November 2010 23:24

The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley – as good old Robert Burns said, and so after really looking forward to the autumn holidays we ended up not being able to go away, just as well we hadn’t actually booked anything. When a good builder knocks on your door and says he can fit you in earlier than planned you just have to grab him rather than wait until the spring. So the west, Oban and the Isle of Mull will have to wait. We only managed one day in Glasgow instead and chose to go to the Kelvingrove, my home from home.

They are very relaxed about people taking photographs unlike some places and I thought you might like to see some Charles Rennie Mackintosh designs and other Scottish art nouveau designers.

This is from the original Miss Cranston’s Tearoom. I love the designs but I’m sure that Miss Cranston must have asked him to design chairs which were uncomfortable to sit in for any length of time, fair enough I suppose, she obviously wanted people to move on so she could make more money.

These gesso panels by Mackintosh’s wife, Margaret Macdonald, are lovely – ethereal women are a recurring theme.

I think the stained glass is my favourite, it’s such a pity that the chair is positioned so badly here.

This type of stained glass is typical of what you commonly find in a ‘middle class’ Edwardian tenement building in Glasgow. This one is small and quite plain compared with some. The front doors and vestibule doors usually have stained glass or painted glass panels in them. I think this one came from the bottom of a window. The panel would have been fitted over the bottom of the glass from the inside. You can still buy panels like these quite cheaply from reclamation yards. I’ve got a few painted glass ones which I intend to make into light boxes – some day!

If you’re into CRM and The Glasgow Style you’ll want to visit Kelvingrove.

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More Edinburgh

28 October 2010 00:13

From Rose Street we strolled down to Princes Street which was fairly mobbed but I managed to get a few photographs from there.

This is just the usual view of the castle. I suppose when you’ve seen something from an early age then it’s inevitable that you get blase about it. I was on an airport bus years ago coming back from Germany and there were tourists on the bus whose jaws actually dropped when they saw the castle in the middle of the city.

I like these buildings, I’m not even sure what they are but they always remind me of a German fairy tale. You can see them better when the trees have lost their leaves.

This one is of a part of the National Gallery of Scotland.

Then we walked back to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, taking the route through the city instead of the scenic way. The park land in front of the gallery has been landscaped by the American architect Charles Jencks and looks really lovely.

The autumn trees looked really beautiful reflected in the water.

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A Day Out in Edinburgh

26 October 2010 22:58

Yesterday was one of those lovely crisp, blue sky autumn days so we took ourselves off to Edinburgh, parking the car at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. After a quick look at the exhibits we took the path by the Water of Leith which leads to Stockbridge again. It’s becoming a favourite walk with us and quite a few others, you can hardly believe that you are in the middle of a city. There are plenty of ducks but it’s the heron that always amazes me. I suppose it must get fish there but it’s amazing how patient it is.

This photograph is just a wee bit further on, you can see one of the massive supports of Dene Bridge to the right.

A bit further on again and you reach St Bernard’s Well which is mentioned in Frankenstein. It was a very popular place to ‘take the waters’ in Victorian times. I wonder how many survived it!

The usual stroll around the Stockbridge bookshops ended with me buying only two books. Both of them hardbacks, Hatter’s Castle by A.J. Cronin (to replace the paperback which I’m sure is in the house somewhere but I can’t find it) and another Rosamunde Pilcher one, Coming Home, which is pristine and cost me all of 99p. I know I’m not meant to be buying any more books and I had intended only buying Viragos or vintage crime but the people of Stockbridge are holding on to those ones themselves.

It’s only about a 10 or 15 minute walk from there to Rose Street and we thought we would go there and have a late lunch at The Black Rose which is a typical Scottish pub, bare floorboards but no sawdust nowadays! We took a bit of a chance as we hadn’t been there before but the food was fine. We didn’t sit outside though because we aren’t quite that mad. Joan in Pennsylvania, but now ‘pining’ for New England had a memorable holiday in Edinburgh some years ago, staying in a flat in Rose Street and I’m wondering if it has changed much since she was last here but I don’t think it’s easy to make out much from my photographs. It’s quite difficult to photograph Rose Street as it’s so narrow. Well, that’s my excuse!

Rose Street used to always be called ‘notorious’ in years past. Not only because it is full of drinking dens but there used to be a famous brothel there. So it was a popular destination for stag nights. Classy!

It has been pedestrianised and ‘tarted up’ – no pun intended, honest. And now there are small, high class jewellery shops and such as well as betting shops and bars.

Looking east.

Looking west.

There are a few mosaic stone roses laid into the paving on Rose Street. Here’s one.

There is an Art Deco type building halfway along Rose Street, the red sandstone one.

It seems to have been a John Menzies once. Maybe it was their headquarters.

There are a few more photographs of Edinburgh to come tomorrow.

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Hunterian Museum, Glasgow

4 October 2010 23:47

This is a bit of a linky-fest for places of interest around the west-end of Glasgow. More parts of Glasgow will be featured at a later date.

It’ll be the school autumn holidays soon, so I was having a look to see what we could do in Glasgow during them. We usually like to visit The Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. It’s always interesting even although it’s very small, and it’s free!

It’s just a short walk from Kelvingrove Museum, which is my favourite museum and art gallery – in fact it’s a home from home for me.

At the moment they are celebrating Black History Month at the Hunterian but there are exhibitions in other parts of the country too, if you can’t manage to get there.

The Hunterian Museum is tucked away at Glasgow University but the Hunterian Art Gallery is easier to find and is just a few minutes’ walk from the museum. There are always interesting art works on display but my favourite bit is the Charles Rennie Mackintosh part, where they have reconstructed an interior.

After that we’ll have a stroll along Byres Road ending up at the Botanic Gardens, which Michelle really enjoyed on her recent trip to Glasgow. A Son of the Rock has some nice photographs of the glasshouses there, which you can see here.

Sadly the Glasgow Museum of Transport closed recently and is moving to the new riverside setting. I’m sure that it’ll be great when it’s finished but I will really miss the old place, which was very handy, being just across the road from Kelvingrove.

So, that will be the most important parts of the west-end of Glasgow visited, unless you’re into shops. Byres Road leads you from Kelvingrove all the way to the Botanics and there are plenty of independent shops of interest.

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Dunfermline Abbey

10 June 2010 08:51

During the Easter holidays we had a good look around Dunfermline which is so close to where we live that it had been completely ignored by us for years, as you do. This is a full view of the Abbey with a closer view below.

This is the Palace archway.

There is a plaque on the Abbey’s boundary wall commemorating King Charles I.

There is actually a lot to see at Dunfermline, certainly more than I thought. The history of the Abbey can be traced back as far as 1070 when King Malcolm III married Queen Margaret in a church there and there is still quite a lot left to see if you go. If you are interested you can read all about it here.

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Categories: Museums, Scottish History, Towns

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The Birnam Oak, Dunkeld Perthshire

16 April 2010 11:05

I really like the small town of Dunkeld, there isn’t an awful lot there but all the shops are individual and quirky and the place just has a lovely atmosphere.

There is a scenic old bridge which unfortunately is undergoing some work at the moment so half of it is covered with scaffolding, so no photograph at the moment. However if you cross the bridge from the town and take the Birnam Walk, which is just down the steps at the left hand side of the bridge, and turn to the right at the bottom of them, after about ten minutes you will reach the Birnam Oak.

As you can see, the tree is so old it has been given crutches. It is thought that this is the only remaining tree of the original ancient Birnam Wood which is mentioned in Macbeth.

The bottom three metres is hollow. You can see the gap.

Apparently a company of English players did act at the nearby city of Perth and it is thought that William Shakespeare may have been one of them. It seems plausible to me as something must have given him the idea of writing about Birnam Wood travelling to Dunsinane.

If anything, this sycamore tree looks even older but it is thought to be only about 300 years old. It is wonderfully gnarled, like something out of a scary fairy tale.

Dunkeld is also famous for its links with Beatrix Potter as her family had a holiday home nearby. She got a lot of her ideas from the area and also did some very good paintings of the local flora and fauna which can be seen at the Arts and Conference Centre in nearby Birnam.

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