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Awoke to the sweet strains of Born Free, sung with gusto and a strong Edinburgh accent. The workers are back, just outside our window, taking the scaffolding down or putting more up. At least they have the decency not to start work until after 8.
This is probably a good time to talk about the trail of salt carpet design. It struck me the first time I stepped from the lift on the third floor of our hotel. The big trail of salt, sprinkled along the red carpet of the corridor. And then I realised that it was, actually, the design. A very odd idea for a design of carpet. Salt trail. I was so amazed, I took a photo.
Trail of salt along the carpet
A big shopping day for Mirinda, which means she wanders around and spends nothing while I go and wander around art galleries. We started with breakfast at a small deli type place, which holds the record for the longest time taken to toast a sandwich, on the way to Princes Street and then we parted ways.
I went to the National Art Gallery, which, though small, has some amazing paintings. Of course the two Titians are there. Last year there was a big brouhaha because the guy that owns them wants to sell them and decided to give the country the first option. Then came the credit crunch and the collapse of all things financial. The country decided to buy them. I honestly think the money would have been better spent helping out people who had to lose their houses. I’ve seen better Titians.
There is a wonderful Botticelli though and a fantastic Rembrandt self portrait when he was 51. There is also a St Sebastien, painted by Van Dyck. Interestingly it is before the arrows. St Seb is being tied to a tree by two ruffians and talking to a Roman centurion on a horse. The only reference to arrows is a quiver lying in the foreground at the bottom of the painting. Sebastien is also very pale, almost heavenly. The painting is huge.
St Sebastien by Van Dyck, hanging in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
In another room there is a second St Sebastien but this one is just his head and shoulders with a single arrow piercing his white, milky throat. It is an eerily beautiful painting by Francesco Furini.
Leaving the art gallery I wandered up to Starbucks for some much needed coffee then walked over to the National Portrait Gallery, which is closed until 2011, obviously opening along with the new trams. Which are replacing the trams that were already there before they ripped them all out.
Mirinda rang and we met up for dim sum at the Saigon Saigon. I’ve never had dim sum and this restaurant hasn’t sold it to me very well. Lots of gloopy stuff. Apart from the steamed buns that Nigel’s so fond of and the spring rolls, the rest was pretty glutinous. The weirdest stuff was the rice porridge with duck and very salty egg suspended in it.
After a particularly unsatisfying lunch, we headed down to the cinema to see Duplicity at the complex called Omni. What an odd place. You buy everything at the same place. Tickets, food, ice cream, popcorn, everything. What this means is that everything takes a very long time. Still, we bought our tickets and went to the film in the fantastic gold cinema. An excellent movie, very enjoyable. And I’m not a big Julia Roberts fan. Nice twist at the end.
We then had a stroll around town (walking only along flat streets as Mirinda is sick of the hills) and made our way back to the hotel. On the way we found a very odd sign. It seems, and I’m not sure whether it’s because of the whole tram thing, that when attempting to acquire a taxi in Edinburgh, it is vitally important to adopt the proper stance as clearly indicated by the sign below which is proudly erected along the Leith Way:
This just leaves me baffled
