WEDNESDAY, MAY 1
The bus to Edinburgh from our piece of heaven, the house on Pentland Gardens, takes just over 30 minutes. We were on our way to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) as we sorted out the bus fare (1.70 pound per person) and paid the surly driver.
WELL-PLANNED DAY
Chloe organized the day…brilliantly. It felt good to be somewhat familiar with Edinburgh. We followed the same street we took the first time we visited this gallery, passing the church and the West End Hotel with its funky restaurant.
Large, several story, residential buildings constructed with heavy blocks of yellowish stone, often stained grey from the many years of exposure to coal, line the streets. They have large windows and rooms and very high ceilings. Edinburgh’s history of wealth and power is visible through the high windows with chandeliers and huge, flower bouquets.
Beside the Gallery is Dean’s cemetery — another testament to power and wealth — the headstones sit tall and high, not unlike the buildings, with an exalted appearance.
SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART
A show of Andy Warhol and Eduardo Paolozzi drew us to the Gallery, curious about the combination. Having seen lots of Warhol, we expected to whiz through. We were happily surprised by early Warhol drawings and hand-drawn designs that I had never seen before. I didn’t know that Warhol had such a delicate hand when he started out. The famous series of Marilyn Monroe prints, that belong to the Tate (Quite extraordinary to find them here); a double print of Jackie Onassis after JFK’s murder in silver and a melancholy pale purple; and a series of stitched photo images that Warhol left to be finished after he died (one of our favorites was four photos of Basquiat, each printed in different tones of black and white) were highlights.
The Paolozzi section did not hold up to Warhol’s portion, but that’s a tall order.
Of note: all the galleries in Scotland have free admission!
WATER OF LEITH WALKWAY
Next up, a walk along the Leith, which we learned was once called “Turning Turds” because sewage was dumped here. Hard to believe when you see it today. The water is clear light green and bubbly, and the air fresh from all the trees and flowers.
Along the Leith is St. Bernard’s Well, an old watering well with the figure of a woman looking very Roman and gentle, under the heavily decorated stone cupola.
STOCKBRIDGE
After leaving the stream, we came to Deans Village and then Stockbridge. Small shops, little restaurants, and vintage clothing stores lined the curving street. Up the hill and hidden in a side street was the Thai restaurant Chloe found for us, Nok’s Kitchen. I had duck with mango sauce and a starter of Masaman curry in a pastry, and Chloe ordered yellow curry with vegetables and vegetable tom yum soup. Mine was sweet and hot, Chloe’s creamy and flavorful.
In order to get to the street that led to our next destination, we climbed two flights of stairs, from street to street — only in Edinburgh, a city well-adjusted to the rugged terrain on which it was built. We passed Queen’s Park, which you can’t enter, went down some stone paved streets, and surprise, surprise, Chloe found a vegan bakery, Naked Bakery.
SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Passing through New Town, we made our way to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to see a show of three photographers, all Americans, Francesca Woodman, Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe. The entrance through the Grand Hall, a square room with gold-leafed murals that rise up to the second floor balcony, contains busts of great Scots, including, of course, at the center, Robert Burns. We were impressed to find that a woman artist sculpted one bust in the Gallery (1800s), and the stairwell and halls near the entrance were not solely dominated by images of men, as was our experience in the portrait gallery in London.
FRANCESCA WOODMAN
The photo gallery, or Artist Room, is on the second floor. The unexpected delight here was most definitely Francesca Woodman. A student of RISD, she began photographing in her early teens, and took her own life in her 20s. Though she had few years to work, her work is exquisite, complex, mysterious, and technically adroit…amazing really. She photographed herself, usually alone, but sometimes with her boyfriend. Most of the photos are square and small, about 6 to 8 inches. All were tastefully framed in pale wood and with large cream borders.
The works by Arbus were so well-known from reproductions that nothing much captured us. The Mapplethorpe images were self-portraits and also not remarkable.
A light drizzle met us on the street as we waited for the bus back to Duffy.
