Aye right, pal

I spent a few days in Scotland last week, visiting family and friends in Motherwell. On Monday I took the train over to Edinburgh, a place I've never been before. I arrived in at Waverley Station not really knowing where to go or what to look for, so I just spent the day wandering about the city.

On a cold, windy November morning there didn't seem to be anybody else about than well-heeled, middle-aged his & hers North-Face-jacket-and-warm-hat wearing European visitors. I felt a right tourist walking around, but was also struck by how quiet the place seemed.


Sky over the Castle


Castle from the Cowgate


Holyrood House gates


At the top of the Grassmarket, I went into the National Library. Currently on show here are the archives of publisher John Murray who established his publishing house in 1768. He was responsible for putting out the work of Lord Byron, Jane Austen and Charles Darwin amongst other seminal writers of the 19th Century. The exhibition was pretty good: the collections of letters, momentos and other personal belongings from each of the writers were on display in a room decorated like Murray's original office, with touch screens giving the stories behind every article. Next door to this exhibit was a preview of the National Burns Collection which will be shown across Scotland in 2009, the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth.

I also had a look in at the City Arts Centre. In the new year they are exhibiting a collection of Bob Dylan's paintings and drawings, called The Blank Drawn Series.

AOB: Other things I discovered during this day, the arts/cultural magazines The Skinny and Variant. I am a big fan of Irvine Welsh but didn't get to visit sunny Leith; maybe next time, ken.