Art and Games

After a quiet morning, I met Annika at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. It was initially designed as a shrine to the "heroes and heroines" of Scotland, and has evolved into an interesting combination of traditional and modern art. The first thing that struck us was the ceiling, and the frieze around the entire wall on the first floor. The frieze depicts famous people from Scottish history, including poets, political faces, and royalty. Around the outside wall are a series of murals displaying various events in history. Between the neo-gothic architecture and the artworks, the overall effect is quite stunning. It was a few minutes before we got up to any of the exhibitions, as we were so busy taking in the main hall.

There is quite a strong focus on Scottish history, particularly the Jacobite era. Another gallery displays all the "heroes and heroines" of Scotland. It was heartening to see a great number of female portraits, but I do question the definition of a hero or heroine, given the upper class status of many featured in the gallery.

I realised how close I was to

Casa Angelina when I left, and being alone after Annika had gone for some errands, I treated myself to lunch and bought us both some biscuits to share later. Casa Angelina never disappoints, and my giant sandwich included homemade bread, homemade hummus and chilli jam, and mashed avocado, alongside a rather large Asian-style salad. Annika and I indulged in a spiced chocolate, and chocolate rosemary biscuit when I got home. I meant to save my half for the next day, but the whole lot ended up disappearing in front of me - the cold weather helps the appetite substantially. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it.

Grassroots cafe host a vegan group games night, and I headed back into town to meet some new friends and greet some already familiar faces. We ended up playing Starfluxx, which is one of the most confusing games I've ever come across. Rutwij was quite familiar with it, and unsurprisingly, won the game without us even realising.

The cafe supplied us with a game called "Taxi", which is somewhat like Monopoly, but based entirely on Edinburgh. The catch is that it's based on Edinburgh in the 1950s. Surprisingly, I knew the answer to two of the questions, which is two more than I expected to know. Travelling has its benefits.

I left the games night early, as I was going to meet a few of my old workmates at Globe. I'd double checked the time and place, and was pretty miffed that no one showed up, or even replied to my messages asking where they were. I had my whisky, waited half an hour, and left. Not even the bad karaoke which started was enough to entice me to stay, and besides, I was meant to be up early to go camping the next day. I'm sure there's a good reason for what happened, but a message would have been nice!