Edinburgh: National Scottish Portrait Gallery and random buildings

When we arranged to meet at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Clare suggested we meet by the statue of Robbie Burns in the Main Hall.  This was both an amusing and iconic meeting place that would be perfect in a movie.  It reflects just how fun and erudite Clare and her husband Martin are.  It was great to walk through the gallery with them.  This is one of the amazing buildings in Edinburgh and further down the post, I share some more pictures of wonderful buildings.

I love this dreamy romantic bust of Walter Scott (1771-1832).  He has had so much influence on our culture and names.  Anyone from Melbourne will recognise the names of novels Waverley and Ivanhoe which were used to name suburbs, or his home Abbotsford, another name of a Melbourne suburb.

This bust is of another iconic Scottish novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94), author of classics such as Treasure Island and the Strange Cast of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. 

Upstairs is a great view of the pageant frieze with paintings of famous Scottish people throughout history. The walls on the first floor of the hall have been painted with scenes from Scottish history.  It is worth visiting the gallery to see this magnificent hall.

We spent our time in the Modern Portrait Gallery and were ready for a cuppa after this and did not got to the 3rd floor for older portraits from eras such as Victorian Age, the Reformation, and the Jacobite Rising.  The modern portraits had many familiar faces and names: Billy Connolly, Tilda Swinton, King Charles III, Kirsty Wark and Sean Connery.  I have heard of Horse McDonald (above), a singer songwriter born 1958 who has been writing and performing for over 30 years.

I liked this Self Portrait in a Velvet Jacket painted in 1971-3 by John Byrne (1940-2023).  I had not heard of him but as an artist, playwright, screen writer and designer he sound talented.  Martin reminisced about sitting beside him at a gig some years ago.  Clare and Martin recognised many more people than I did.

Professor Sir James Black (1924-2010) had one of the more serious portraits.  He was a scientist who discovered the group of drugs known as beta blockers.  The modern portraits included a lot of creatives.  Not many people wore suits or uniforms.  Perhaps that is because nowadays, suits and uniforms are more about suppressing personality than expressing it.

However at times, uniforms can make people's professions immediately recognisable.  In this painting "Three Oncologists" from 2002, we see them in their scrubs as though interrupted during surgery.  Professor RJ Steele, Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri and Professor Sir David P Lane are from the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.  I've watched enough medical dramas to know they are probably saying "get that artist out of my operating theatre!"  Seriously, the light seems to represent how science and medicine illuminate and confront the dark mystery of cancer.

Dame Muriel Spark (1918 to 2006) is a writer, best known for writing The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  She looks quite elegant in this 1984 painting.

This self portrait of Jennifer Rowe had one of my favourite titles: "Quotidian Detritus".  It has a lot of day to day items from her life as an artist.  The title and her expression suggest to me that she has quite a good sense of humour!

This is another view of the Main Hall.  So beautiful!

A bust of Alexandra McCall Smith.  I have read quite a few of his 44 Scotland Street series which is easy to read and creates a great community of Edinburgh characters.

Then we headed to the large light filled cafe and had a cuppa and cake in the company of Ian Rankin's portrait.  I had a lovely fennel, apple and pecan cake (it was too late for any scones to be available),  Claire had a delicious polenta and rhubarb friand and Martin had a wonderfully dense chocolate brownie.  It was great to catch up with them and sad to say goodbye as who knows if and when we will see each other again.

On the way out I took a photo of the Portrait Gallery.  It is a magnificent Neo-Gothic building opened in 1889.  The red sandstone Queen Street facade has many statues of notable Scots.  Either side of the doorway are warrior heroes, William Wallace (left) and Robert the Bruce (right), as though they stand guard over this amazing building.

This is a photo taken of the Georgian terrace houses of the New Town.  On the road is a tram.  When we were last in Edinburgh the roads were a mess of construction of the one tramline in the city.  I would have loved a trip on the tram but unfortunately did not get the chance.

The main National Gallery of Scotland opened in this building in 1859.  It is in the middle of Princes Street Gardens that divide the Old Town from the New Town.  Once upon a time this area was marsh and then the polluted Nor Loch where smuggling, suicides and executions by drowning took place.  It was drained for the construction of North Bridge and now the Princes Street Gardens is a pleasant place to view the Castle that you can see beyond the gallery.  I have fond memories of Edinburgh's German Markets at Christmas being held in front of the gallery.

This building was the Edinburgh City Council Chambers where I worked for a couple of years.  These days I think most of the staff have been moved out of the 1753 building.  Now it seems to be mostly used for weddings, a cafe, tours of Mary Kings Close beneath it and the occasional movie.   and other events.  It is occasionally a movie star.  I recognised it in the fight scenes in Avengers: Infinity Wars.

I also spent quite a bit of time in St Giles Cathedral across from the City Chambers when I lived in Edinburgh.  I was a volunteer guide there and enjoyed talking to people about the stained glass windows, the Robert Louis Stevenson memorial and the bagpiping angel in the tiny but impressive Thistle Chapel.

As I was often heading from my home to the High Street or over the mound to Princes Street, I walked up the steep Victoria Street almost daily.  It is one of the beautiful streets of Edinburgh I always loved the view, even if not the slippery icy footpaths of winter.

Victoria Street is also the street where I got married in the Registry Office.  Last time we came to Edinburgh the India Buildings where the Registry Office had been were a nightclub.  Now they are a Virgin Hotel.  We have photos of me and E coming out of the Registry Office as a newly married couple through the door to the right of the red hotel entrance.  It still had the "India Buildings" sign by the door.

One one trip to Princes Street I returned up these stairs that went from Market Street up to St Giles Street near the George IV Bridge.  There are 120 steps.  That feels like quite an achievement to accomplish.

On another occasion I insisted on walking back to our apartment via these steps in Waristons Close from Cockburn Street to the High Street.  It is hard to believe we were up and down steps like these regularly when I lived in Edinburgh.  In fact, I used to go down Cockburn Street at lunchtime and back up these steps to the City Chambers when I worked there.

 

 

I love the view of the Old Town from Princes Street.  Actually this view is from Waverly Bridge.  I used to be able to look up at these buildings (sometimes known as Medieval skyscrapers) and point out the window of the office where I worked at the City Chambers.  It had a great view.

The Walter Scott Memorial in the Princes Street Gardens, also known as the Gothic Spaceship, is quite magnificent and prominent.  It is so large that often people don't look closely at the details.  Towards the end of our time in Edinburgh I pointed out the white statue of Walter Scott inside the memorial to Sylvia and she was surprised as she had not seen it previously.

There are many views of the Castle from Princes Street.  Here it is seen through the railings on the South side of Princes Street.

Also in the dip between the Old Town and the New Town are some lovely old churches.  This is St Cuthbert's Kirkyard.  The current church was built in 1892-4 but the graveyard is older as there was a church here for many decades before this, possible as early as the 7th Century.  It has a few famous Scots buried there, such as Sir John Napier and Henry Raeburn.

The Kings Bridge over Kings Stables Road was built in 1829-32 and is quite spectacular at the base of the Castle Rock.

Also spectacular are the views of the Grassmarket.  From this point where the Grassmarket turns into Candlemaker Row is a great view of the castle above the Grassmarket.  Expect to find many selfies and phone cameras at this point!

Up Candlemaker Row is the Oz Bar.  I didn't go there often when we lived in Edinburgh.  There was one memorable day when my brother Andy was visiting.  He is a keen ALF fan and wanted to see the Melbourne grand final in Edinburgh.  So we headed to the Oz Bar which serves Australian food and drink to watch it but it was one of those matches that was over well before the final siren.  I remember Andy and a few other Aussie guys losing interest and kicking an AFL football outside on the Candlemaker Row.

The Oz Bar has been spruced up with a lick of paint since I last saw it.  I am all for keeping it fresh but was not sure why this evil koala in a VB t-shirt was painted on the wall with a crocodile.  I couldn't help but wonder if it was painted by someone with a fear of the fabled drop bear or perhaps they painted it with the growl of the koala in mind.

The Oz Bar is located beneath the iconic Elephant House cafe which is is now closed.  I remember when you could go in there and admire all the elephant memorabilia, read Harry Potter graffiti in the bathroom and have great views from your table across to the Edinburgh Castle.  I took this photo of the view from around the Oz Bar on Candlemaker Row opposite the imposing walls of the Greyfriars graveyard.  I never got to go inside the graveyard or to the top of Candlemaker Row to see Greyfriars Bobby, but I am glad I stopped to appreciate the great view of the Castle from the street.