Edinburgh - the sights

Duddingston Kirk

Knowing that I would mainly be working during the trip to Edinburgh, I didn't make too many plans of things I wanted to see.  I had some spots I hoped to hit, but I didn't want to leave disappointed because my 'to do' list didn't happen.  Thankfully, I got to see more than I bargained for, which was great!  This will probably be a long post, so be prepared!

Right after we arrived in Edinburgh, after all the travel nonsense, I was SO ready for a nap, but I decided to walk around our neighborhood for a bit first.  Duddingston Village is just the most beautiful spot - it's like walking through a Jane Austen novel.  Duddingston Kirk, the old church just down the street, was beautiful, though the gates were locked, so I couldn't get a peek inside.  I thought about heading to Dr. Neil's Garden, a 'secret' garden in the neighborhood, but I decided the tiniest bit of shut-eye was important before our first dinner at the Sheep Heid Inn.

Arthur's Seat in the background

Next morning, I decided to go to St. Giles' Cathedral, before our first work event.  Before I took an Uber, though, I wandered around inside the gates at Duddingston Kirk and took a few more photos.  The views were just amazing - it sits in the shadow of Arthur's Seat, a dormant volcano in the area.  Some people think it was named after King Arthur; I just loved getting all sorts of photos around it.  I wish my bum foot would've allowed me to do one of the hikes around the area.  Oh well.  Unfortunately, Duddingston Kirk itself still wasn't open and I never did get a look inside, but I enjoyed wandering around. My Uber picked me up in front of the church and we took off for the ten or so minute trip into town.  I was let off sort of nearby St. Giles', but not super-close, because a lot of the streets around the cathedral were closed off due to the Fringe.  There was a lot of activity with actors and producers busking for the shows; there was a stage just outside the cathedral with audience participation skits going on; and there was also a craft fair happening.  It was a busy place.  Oh, and you may remember from my previous post that I stopped into a nearby cafe and had a delightful Edinburgh Mist.

inside the Thistle Chapel

Once inside, St. Giles' Cathedral was gorgeous, with lots of light and stained glass.  The cathedral was founded in 1124, and now it's a hub for the Presbyterian church, apparently, so there are far fewer saints and cubbies for lighting candles.  But that's ok.  There's a gorgeous smaller chapel inside called the Thistle Chapel and an amazing pipe organ as well.  I was the tiniest bit disappointed I didn't get to hear any music while I was there, but I think I was there too early to catch any.  The space has a lot of signage around, tell about the history of each area, which was quite nice.  There were a lot of people there, speaking many different languages, but it was still quiet and respectful for the people who were quietly worshiping in the pews.  I spent a very nice hour or so inside St. Giles' and wish I had brought more disposable cash to get souvenirs in the attractive gift shop.  Ah well.

walking along cobbled streets

I had originally planned on taking a cab or Uber over to an independent bookstore before heading to my work event, but I just wandered around, trying to find a spot where the roads weren't closed!  I got a little discombobulated and lost, then I just gave up and started watching all of the Fringe activity.  I finally just had to walk to my work event and would go to the bookstore another time.  It was a pleasant walk over to the Appleton Tower for our event and I got to see some lovely architecture along the way.  All of the cobbled streets and stone architecture are really gorgeous.  The work event went well - we met some very nice people and I think we got some good information out into the world.

You've already read about our meal that night, so now we'll fast forward to Tuesday.  We had a work event first thing, which had a smaller attendance than we might've hoped, but it went well and I think the participants were pleased.  This event was in an old church, which was lovely, but oh my gosh, climbing up four flights of stairs to get there nearly did me in.  I didn't stroke out, which is a good thing.  After the work event, my beautiful office chum and I braved the Edinburgh bus system and rode over to the bookstore I had tried to get to the day before - Typewronger Books.  I wanted to leave copies of our publication with them and see if they wanted to be our Edinburgh provider.

Typewronger Books is really lovely - it's tiny and quaint.  It had started to rain as we walked in and the gent at the desk asked if we would like some tea.  Now that's customer service!   There's a very eclectic selection of books (I bought quite a few) and an equally eclectic selection of old typewriters!  The whole store has a terrific cozy vibe and I would've loved to have spent more time there.  After our previously posted trip to Pomegranate and a pharmacy, my beautiful office chum and I got onto another Edinburgh bus and went to a cocktail party/work event near the Royal Mile.  The bus left us a little farther from the event than we anticipated and gosh we had to walk up a pretty big hill to get there (I did a lot of climbing up big hills the entire time I was in Edinburgh, so I guess I could've handled hiking around Arthur's Seat, but I digress).  We arrived in good time, though.  Unfortunately, it was so blazing hot at the cocktail party, I couldn't stay for long.  We chatted with some people, had a quick glass of seltzer, and made our way back the Airbnb.

Wednesday was going to be my 'play tourist' day, since we didn't have any work events scheduled (though the two Fringe shows I saw were work-adjacent).  I decided I wanted to see the Georgian House, after seeing a sweet Georgian House Museum when I was in Dublin a few years ago.  I wanted to see as much as possible before my shows, so off I went to Charlotte Square and the Georgian House right as soon as it opened.  It's a lovely restored home in the New Town area of Edinburgh.  It has beautiful collections of paintings, costumes and period furnishings - the house was designed by acclaimed architect Robert Adam for its first owner John Lamont in 1796.  When you purchase your entry ticket, you're directed up to the third floor to watch a brief film about the period, the original owners, and the neighborhood in general.  It's an interesting film, though I was the only one who stayed for the whole thing.  I guess the other people wanted to get their day started even more quickly than I did.  After you watch the film, then you look at rooms on each of the remaining floors.  On the third floor were 'activity rooms' for kids and people who wished to cosplay throughout the house.  I decided to skip that.

On the floor below was the beautiful parlour and drawing room.  In each room is a volunteer there to answer questions or to fill in information about the rooms and articles in them.  All of the volunteers were delightful - not only interested in sharing information but also interested in the people visiting.  I had lovely chats with each and every volunteer.  Oh, and each room featured gorgeous paintings by Scottish artists, including Sir Henry Raeburn, Allan Ramsay and Alexander Nasmyth.  I also wandered through the master bedroom, the dining room, and then the kitchen and servants' quarters in the basement.  I really loved touring the Georgian House and highly recommend it.  Another grand thing about the location on Charlotte Square is that it was near the International Book Festival, which had an amazing tented village right in the square.  I popped in for some tea and some book shopping.  I bought several books in the garden book shop and wish I could've stayed much longer, but I needed to find a bus and get across town for my first performance of the Fringe.

I was pretty proud of myself that I figured out how to take the bus over to the venue - OH, and I should mention that this bus ride was my only sighting of the Edinburgh Castle.  I had it in my head that you can see the castle from anywhere, but that's not true.  I felt like Meg Ryan in French Kiss where she keeps missing seeing the Eiffel Tower.  I was happy to finally see the Castle, at least from a bus.  I made it over to Niddry Street to catch my show; what a quaint cobblestone street!  It was also a steep hike, but I tried to concentrate on the quaintness and not the steepness. My first show was Noir Hamlet, written by a work acquaintance.  The show was a fast-paced comedy spoof of Shakespeare's classic and noir films, resetting the play in L.A. in the 1940s.  Hamlet is now a detective, and his first case is solving the crime of his father's death.  I laughed a lot, though maybe the performance style was a little too broad for me.  But the show was a ton of fun, the parallels to the original Hamlet were very clever, and the audience seemed to eat it up.  After the show, I met a new friend for coffee, then we walked through the mist to the Underbelly Cowgate (a theater complex under a stone bridge underpass) to see an old friend's play, Four Woke Baes.  The play is about four men, out camping for one of the friend's bachelor party, and what happens when a single woman arrives at their campsite.  I will admit to being worried at first that I would be annoyed by seeing yet another play about the male gaze, but this play upended me.  I was so moved by its honesty and deep exploration into self and regret.  The dialogue was fantastic, very honest and often funny at the same time as it was hitting close to home; the acting was also great; and I found deep humanity and pathos in what was unfolding on stage.  So I was glad to be surprised, and pretty weepy, after the play was over.  It prompted me to have my first whiskey of the trip.  And then we had dinner at the Mexican restaurant I reference in my food post - I'm ever so glad I saw the play and had such delightfully deep conversations with everyone afterwards.       

Mary, Queen of Scots bedchamber (from the palace website)

Our Thursday morning work event was unexpectedly canceled, so I decided to head to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen of England's residence when she's in Edinburgh.  I got there right as it was opening, yet it was still packed.  I had to stand in line for quite a while to buy my ticket and get in (the line gets snarled as everyone picks up their audio headsets on the way into the courtyard), but it was a lovely day and I greatly enjoyed touring the palace.  I was annoyed I couldn't take photos inside, but oh well.  I took tons of photos outside in the courtyard, abbey, and gardens.  I loved climbing the narrow stone staircase to get up into Mary, Queen of Scots bedchamber, and seeing some of her jewels in the adjoining room.  The Great Gallery was also very cool, with portraits of all of the monarchs of Scotland - including Macbeth!  I did get creeped out, though, by all of the people just listening to their headsets and looking at the attached video screens, instead of looking up and around the various rooms.  It was so quiet, because everyone was intent on their audio tour; I don't know, they seemed like pod people, or something.  I didn't use my headset and enjoyed myself immensely.  A special bonus was that the Duchess of Sussex's (formerly Meghan Markle, of course) wedding dress was on display!  What a stunning dress - all that lace was incredibly detailed and gorgeous!  What a treat to get to see it.  The Holyrood Abbey outside was also breathtaking, even in its incompleteness, and the gardens were lovely.  I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to see the palace. 

part of the climb to the wrong bus stop

I should've obeyed my first instinct and just taken an Uber to Edinburgh Castle, but I thought, no, I'm a pro at this bus thing, I'll take a bus.  Yikes.  Best laid plans, and all that.  My GPS kept getting me lost and I walked around for about an hour, trying to find a good bus stop.  I climbed an enormous staircase, thinking the bus stop was at the top, then I had to go hither and yon.  Once I finally found a good stop, I was exhausted and my bum foot really ached.  Side note: I have to say, I'm relieved that I didn't re-hurt my foot with all the walking I did; I took quite a bit of time every morning to do all the stretches my physical therapist recommended and it really helped.  I was tempted to also try my new anti-inflammatory cream, but I was afraid of side effects.  I figured it was better to wait and try it when I got back home.  Anyway, after all the walking and the bus ride, I had to skip seeing the castle altogether and I went directly to my final Fringe show, Dael Orlandersmith's Until the Flood, which I have seen several times already (here's one of my reviews: Rattlestick production).  It's an amazingly moving show, and maybe it's even more powerful in this abbreviated version (I think all Fringe shows have to be under 75 minutes).  I was quite breathless throughout and I'm so glad I saw it again.  It's actually devastating to think that the death of Michael Brown was just the first in a horrifyingly long line of senseless deaths of people of color.  The insanity must stop.  Maybe artists like Dael are the ones who can stop it.

my creation!

After the show, my beautiful office chum and I had to hustle to get to our next event - let me set this up for you.  I had read an article about a weird sounding show and I was doing a search on the Fringe's website to read more about it.  For some reason, I also saw a listing for another event that made me stop and yell "WE HAVE TO GO!"  It was a model-making workshop with Aardman Studios, home of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run!!  I mean, come on!!  How often does a chance like this come around?!  Thankfully, my beautiful office chum was as excited to go as I was.  So off we went to a hands-on clay modelling workshop, with Aardman’s Lead Senior Model Maker, Jim Parkyn.  We were thrilled to learn how to make Shaun the Sheep!  Parkyn was very funny and warm (he gave us some fun insights on how the shows/movies are filmed), and it was a delightful hour.  I was a little bummed that they didn't give us a box or something to keep our creations in - there was no way I could carry that around with me for the rest of the trip.  The clay made my hands filthy, especially the black clay.  I was grateful they provided some wet wipes to try to get most of the grime off, but I was sad to leave my adorable Shaun behind.  I know he didn't look exactly right, but I loved him anyway.  I left him in the children's tent, so hopefully a kid could play with it or take it home.  

speeches next to art

After the workshop was our trek to the yarn store and delightful art gallery/cafe I referenced in a previous post.  Then we went to our last work event, a cocktail party held in the National Museum of Scotland.  I wish there would've been time to explore that museum - the room where the cocktail party was held was incredible!  I took some photos, though not many.  I was thrilled to hear speeches from a Scottish member of Parliament and from the author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris.  Both of their speeches were terrifically inspirational and the cocktail party was a wonderful end to a wonderful trip.

I'll put some other photos from my Edinburgh wanderings below - enjoy!  I hope I get to go back someday; I'd love to more fully experience the Fringe and see other important locations (like Edinburgh Castle!) next time.  Five days just isn't enough...

a gift from the bookstore!

finally - Edinburgh Castle!

Jim Parkyn, from Aardman Studios

chromolume #8?