plan b day

My one full day in Edinburgh didn’t quite work out exactly as I’d planned. Fortunately there is so much to see, it was easy to move on to the next thing. And, in the end, even if you’re just walking around, that’s a pretty fantastic way to while away the time too.

New Town was the order of the day, and first and foremost on the list was the National Portrait Gallery. However, and this was a freakish happening, I thumbed through a pamphlet at the hotel during breakfast and in the NPG listing it mentioned something about it “reopening in November 2011.” That didn’t sound good.

I figured the fine people at the National Galleries of Scotland would know the scoop so I headed there. Just walking in Princes Street Garden and seeing the Sir Walter Scott monument brightened my spirits. For good or ill, no one has done more to define Scottishness than SWS. Personally, I like that about him, bring on the tartans and all that good stuff. But others, including Mark Twain, were not impressed with the romantic notions and medieval myths he promoted. People seem to be divided on the monument as well – an enormous Gothic spire coming out of the ground. I like it, because it has all kinds of symbolic meanings in its carvings. Someday, when I no longer have the stamina of a 65-year-old woman, I hope to climb the 250+ steps to learn more about the artistry and to see those killer 360-degree views of E’burgh. For now my hotel room will suffice.

So, back to the National Galleries. I asked one of the staff – stylishly bedecked in plaid pants, and I am not kidding taking the mick – about the NPG. The bad news was, it is closed for renovation most of this year. The good news was, the All-Star portraits were brought here to the National Galleries to provide a preview of the new approach the NPG will feature when it reopens.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d study to be a museum curator. So I read with great interest how the NPG is launching a “put yourself in the picture” campaign to make the place a reflection of modern-day Scotland. And they are re-arranging their material in ways to address themes like opportunities in science for 19^th century women (relevant considering the advances made in science by Scots at that time). It’s interesting to see how they’re reinventing themselves for the 21^st century.

I love the Old Masters and the Scottish painters were a revelation. But my favorite of the whole experience this morning was “Three Oncologists,” a spectral, jarringly different work from everything else in the room. It will be in the NPG because it’s a portrait of a trio of doctors.

It was time to move on. After a much needed Coke Zero (thank goodness they have it here) I wanted to tour a Georgian townhouse run by the National Trust. I set off for Charlotte Square, strolling down George Street. No billboards, just statues of guys like King George IV and William Pitt. So classic in every way. I happened upon an interesting office with a striking flag: The Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses. Looks like they have a museum, too. Another one for next time.

Sad to say, it turned out the Georgian townhouse is closed in December and January. It never says that explicitly in the ad I read, but upon closer inspection I should have noticed that there were no times given for those months. So there I was, on the far west  end of the New Town, with nothing but a list of buildings where Scottish literary figures once lived / died / drank. And that’s how I spent a very pleasant afternoon. I saw where Robert Louis Stevenson lived – it’s now a bed and breakfast that overlooks Queen Street Gardens.

And I took a picture of an Edinburgh Street that is the name of a street in my hometown neighborhood. Oh, to live on that street again, this time in Edinburgh. Full circle indeed.