Another day, another breakfast. I decided to go for the Vegetarian Full Irish and was happy that I didnt have to wait as long as the day before. The breakfast was really nice and there was a lot of choice on it. There were poached eggs, baked beans, veggie sausages, vegan haggis, vegan black pudding, mushroom, spinach, tomato, potato scone, and soda farl. Im tired just typing it all out. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the vegan haggis, it was utterly delicious and had a tasted of Worcestershire sauce to it, which couldnt have been used as it contains anchovies, so I would love to know what herbs and spices were used. The soda farl was really dense and filling and I enjoyed the potato scone as it was different to ones Ive had in the past as it was more like a pocket I could fill up with the other goodies on my plate. The only thing I wasnt impressed with was the veggie sausages as they were the old school ones with veggies inside them, I had hoped for some fake meat/soy style ones.
we were going to go to was the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which is over in the New Town. The walk there took about 15 minutes. Our walk took us down North Bank Street and The Mound. We passed the Free Church of Scotland, which is housed in a beautiful old building and the Assembly Hall, another great looking building. Down the hill, we skirted the Scottish National Gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy. More places I would like to visit. It was only another couple of streets and we reached the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. When sorting out the trip, wed had to book a timed entry slot due to Covid, however it looked like the restrictions had been lifted as no one asked about our tickets. The staff were very helpful and gave us a brief outline of the museum and what was where.
We started in the Great Hall, which is absolutely stunning. There were some statues on display and the walls are covered with gorgeous detailed artwork. It really felt like stepping back in time. We headed upstairs and I liked that there were small busts of famous Scottish people on the stairs, the likes
of John Smith and James Ramsay Macdonald. I liked reading the short snapshots of their lives. On the first floor, we looked around the Robert Mapplethorpe photography gallery first. There was an exhibition by Thomas Joshua Cooper entitled The Worlds Edge, which I really liked. Cooper travelled the globe taking pictures of the most extreme points and locations around the Atlantic Ocean. The photographs captured the vastness and emptiness of these areas. We made a bit of a mistake and didnt go around the galleries in order. We started with the two closest The Modern Portrait and I think these were my favourites as they showed some great pictures of famous and regular people in Scotland. My favourite was Three Oncologists by Ken Currie. I liked how they looked rather ghostly. Upstairs we wandered around the various galleries. There was a lot to take in and I think numerous shorter visits would be better. When wed had our fill we headed down to the caf for a drink. It was packed. The food did look really good and Im sure that is why it was so busy, however we were still too full from breakfast to think about having anything
to eat. We also had a quick look in the contemporary gallery on the ground floor before making our way out.
The walk from the gallery to the botanical gardens takes about twenty minutes. We walked down through the New Town. I love all the buildings here and would love to live here if money was no object. We saw a few flats getting renovated. We walked down Dublin Street taking in the views of the sea in the distance and then skirted Drummond Place and along Scotland Street. We took a break in King George V Park, as the sun was shining and it was a nice place to relax and people watch for a bit. We headed out of the park past the Water of Leith and along Inverleith Row to reach the Botanical Gardens East Entrance.
