Edinburgh, Scotland: National Gallery, Scott Monument

I once met a Scottish man in a bar while I was in London. He told me several times how magical Scotland is and how someday I should visit. He was very, very drunk, but as the saying goes, "the drunk man's words are the sober man's thoughts" and ten years later I found myself in this magical place.

The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn. As if that was not charming enough the hotels we stayed were doubly so.  The dichotomy of the 300 year old building with brand new fixtures became standard around the city. Every where we went there was new technology mixed with ancient structures. It was incredible. There was WiFi everywhere around town which was nice because international data was not an option on this trip.

The first place I noticed when I we entered the city center was The Scott Monument. Love at first sight for me. It has these dark corners and points. Curvy arches and amazing statuettes create a Gothic atmosphere all around and it's very imposing on the other structures. I find it interesting that there was a giant glass H & M across the street but it took nothing away from it's beauty.  The buses, taxis, and cars, drive right past it reminding me that this is a very alive city.

A little history is always good. The monument was built in 1840 and completed in 1844. It is dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish writer. The reason it's so dark in spots is because of the industrial revolution and coal was used as energy. It stained a lot of buildings in the area.  It was 287 steps all the way to the top and the fee was 4 Pounds (about 7 USD). They only take cash and the man at the door was difficult for me to understand, but had a good humor about it.  One interesting part of the architecture is the statues are all attached by wire on to the building to prevent them from falling or pieces of them falling off on to the ground. I appreciated the safety portion of this and it didn't really impact the way the structures look from the ground.  There is no elevator or lift and the stairwell is very narrow so beware if you are claustrophobic. It gets worse after you take the second and third set of stairs. There are three levels like a platform, after the first initial set of stairs

Some of the greatest parts of the lovely city of Edinburgh were actually free or very affordable to see. The Scottish National Gallery was one of these interesting places.  This is the home to many great European works of art. Many of them had crazy stories which went with them. There was one about a woman who had a man's head cut off because he objected to the marriage of her daughter. The actual painting is her showing the head to her husband with a fork in the tongue of the severed head. A woman was explaining this scene to her children and it got awkward, there are several paintings like these, but this does not mean children should not go in, the images aren't really scary and if you just read the placard next to them it is easier to understand them.

Also free is the cemeteries which are excited to walk around because they are so old. This one is the tomb of the Scottish philosopher David Hume. There are many other but I think homeless people might occasionally sleep in there, I found some blankets and stuff. It added to the creepiness of the cemetery.

There are many other things to see in Edinburgh, like the castle and the parks. There is too much info to put into one blog, so there will be another on the city, possibly two. (It was a very large city).