impulsereader: (Edinburgh map)
impulsereader ([personal profile] impulsereader) wrote2012-04-17 06:48 pm

If you do, I'm sad to say, It simply isn't so. You will never get away from me.

As [livejournal.com profile] chloris perfectly pointed out, no one but I will know that any of this is out of order. Still, for my own sanity I’ll have a go at continuing. I must still have a look over my Castle entry as there’s something in there causing an error. I’ll plough ahead now though. When last I left you, I’d visited the Farmers’ Market, then had a good book-buying interlude followed by a leisurely, rather posh, and consequently overpriced ‘afternoon tea’ in the Tower Restaurant at the Scottish National Museum, causing me to be kicked out rather unceremoniously at five – closing time – and necessitating an additional museum added to my list of – go back later. Both the Portrait Gallery and the National Museum feature free admission, making this a viable option. Right across from the museum is Greyfriar’s Kirkyard. Perfect. As you will notice soon if you haven’t already, cemeteries are a draw for me, the light was beautiful, and there was no rain threatening to deluge my camera.

There seems to be some sort of Disney story attached to Greyfriar’s, but I have no knowledge of it. Well, okay, it was a real story about a faithful little dog and his master’s grave – then Disney did something with it as well. I was much more interested in the cemetery itself. It’s a nice one. There are lots of historic graves here but I didn’t feel inclined to track them down formally, so I just wandered about and took pretty pictures. See below.

































I think these guys were on the National Library building, but I cannot swear to it.





ETA - hilariously, googledocs preserves all my efforts, and this is what I ran across today as I continue my trip report - this is how I originally started this entry...

So I was subsequently chased out of the Scottish National Museum because they close at 5pm. But before they did so I managed to have ‘Afternoon Tea’ - they’re very specific as they charge you much too much if you add the ‘Afternoon’ to your ‘Tea’ - in their posh dining room. This is where I officially pledged my troth to my newly acquired volume of Milne; I felt it was all worth it.



Happily the Museum is practically adjacent to Greyfriar’s Kirkyard - which has some sappy story which I get the impression is tangentially related to Disney in some way.

Public Service Announcement - Aardman has a new movie out in the UK - be on the lookout, America - this is the film company which brought you ‘Chicken Run’!

There’s some guy who dies and a dog who waits/sits by his grave. Awesome. Fantastic. Today I met a puppy and he licked my fingers. Let’s get down to the fantastic visuals a cemetery provides.

Editor's note - Apparently, I think I am funny.

[identity profile] hergrace.livejournal.com 2012-04-18 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Wonderful photos. It makes me sad that I forgot to drag my mum off to Greyfriars when we were in Edinburgh a couple of summers ago.

[identity profile] impulsereader.livejournal.com 2012-04-18 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you. It's a great cemetery for a walk. The thing I really noticed in Scotland was all the headstones set into the walls. I think I've seen this to some degree before, but nothing to this extent.

[identity profile] palesknbeauty.livejournal.com 2012-04-18 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I love this place. When I was visiting family in Scotland years ago, my brother was a wee guy. We arrived at the site by taxi, got him out, put him in the pram...he was sleeping 6 months old. It was a nice sunny day. As soon as we wakled in the gate, he woke screaming and continued to scream the entire time...the sky went gray, and it poured on us. as soon as we walked out of the gate, the skies cleared and my brother dropped back off to a peaceful sleep.

True and creepy story!

[identity profile] impulsereader.livejournal.com 2012-04-19 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
That's crazy! The rain is typical from my experience, but the baby screaming is definitely eerie.