National Gallery of Scotland

Jack and I got a bit of culture today. Actually first we indulged in a spot of retail therapy. Keeping in mind that any purchases must be small or disposable due to luggage space (or a lack thereof). We went to Waterstones (Why oh why do I love those bookstores so much?) and purchased some books. This was due a) to Edinburgh Library refusing to let me join (harumph!) and
b) I'd just finished reading an Elizabeth Jolley novel that I found rather annoying. I bought some new books and Jack fell asleep (it's been a tiring week) so I sat and read till he woke up. It was raining outside but then this is Scotland so there's usually some sort of precipitation happening. I have this urge to buy one of the 44 Scotland Street books but can't really justify this as I have them all at home. I've even thought about going to the dark side and buying an Ian Rankin, but have so far resisted. I'll add the new books to the reading list but I will say that I started reading the Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett and it is very good. I can just imagine HRH Cabbage borrowing books from a mobile library. And it really captures the joy of reading great books.
After Jack woke up we headed across the road to the National Gallery. A great collection, lots of lifts for prams (unlike the national gallery in London) and the guards are very nice, though they have to wear these tartan trousers that look scratchy.
The picture above (the skating reverend) is there as well as some very lovely impressionist and post impressionist works. Also a section on Scottish art that was fascinating. I think that next I'll have to see the National Portrait gallery.
By this stage Jack was getting restive so we headed to the little park next to the gallery. Such a deceptively innocent patch of green - who knew what Jack could get up to. He repeatedly climbed these really steep grassy slopes then tried to slide down but was surprised when this didn't work. He tried to hijack a soccer game (picked up the ball) and once more he found some muddy puddles. Sigh. He got really dirty and wet and it's surprising how quickly he can achieve this. There are also these huge gulls here. They sound like a cat being strangled (which is very disturbing when you are not expecting it) and they like to hang around and stare at you. As you can see Jack isn't sure about the gulls and likes to remain on the lookout.