Wednesday 8 April 2015

Tuesday 7 April 2015

Themes

Dynamic earth - multi-media exhibition and display near Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace.  Certainly dynamic and actually informative, plenty of sound and effects for presumed short attention spans too!

Arthur's Seat and walk above Edinburgh. Can be steeper than you think. Super views on a clear day.

Botanical Gardens and walk along Leith.  These are extensive and really beautiful. Pay the £5 to go into the glasshouses with a wonderful variety of exotic fauna.

Music - Organ recital at St Giles, folk music in Sandy's and singer at No. 1 High St.  Plenty of music of different styles on offer of course.




Monday 6 April 2015

Stops in Edinburgh

Halfway House pub Fleshmarket Close off Market St. Very handy for the train and train-themed. Real ales and a cosy feel, may or may not be food available, wasn't when we got there.
Seems to be for locals and tourists.


No 1 HIgh St, of that address on the Royal Mile and despite the address just off the very touristy end of town.  Reliable food, pub-style but seems freshly and locally done.  Haggis tower looks and tastes great.

Sandy's Bar Forrest Road, nr. George IV Bridge and Greyfriars.  Quickly crowded but an authentic feel and certainly the place for live acoustic and Scottish traditional music.  Traditional beers too.

Cafe No. 33 Stockbridge. Take a walk along the Leith and stop here for really good coffee and paninis, sounds hipsterish but isn't, just decent modern food and OK prices.

Clarinda's.  This is a must if you want an olf-fashioned tea-room theme with breakfast, lunch and tea and cake menus with friendly service.  Towards the Holyrood end of the Royal Mile and worth the walk if you're at the other end of town.





Coast

Something about ports in a post-coastal era where a few passing ships and otherwise tourist trade and newer but soon dated shopping mall, and noisy fun-fairs are left, something inevitably left aside, part closed-down and part run-down, grey walls with spots like rust or foxing on the inside of a title-page, tasty bite takeaway by the Chinese predecessor with the for sale sign in the window.  Bars and cigarettes and people off at work in the city heart a bus ride away. The mall's standardised walks and the disco-popped synthesised tannoy outside mainly for the family groups on an afternoon out or the pre-teens, the brief secluded sea enclosed around the corner with the moored ships being the evidence  of port or harbour.




Sunday 5 April 2015

Edinburgh contin.


Castle from Grassmarket.  

Edinburgh


Across towards's Arthur's Seat, above Edinburgh, beatiful day and people enjoying Easter Day in the sunshine.