Edinburgh Royal Botanical Garden

The Royal Edinburgh Botanical Garden probably will not come up when you search for "best botanical gardens." A lot of things that are not botanical--that is, scientific--gardens probably will. So be it. If you're interested in real botanical gardens, grown from discovery and science, and continuing that adventure, Edinburgh's Royal Botanical Garden is a good bet. We've seen some of the world's great botanical gardens, and hope to see a few more, but Edinburgh's was especially interesting and satisfying, particularly at its way-up-there latitude. I won't attempt any sort of narrative, just some favorite plants and pix. It was just a couple blocks from our flat, and we visited twice, first for the forest and park lands, then for the ten glass houses. Another must-see if you're in Edinburgh.

Our little one bedroom apartment, there in the middle, ground floor; nice enough

The Water Leith; just beyond our building

Entering the botanical garden

Big place

Water feature in the park lands

Vicki walking right by a grove of my favorite specimen, the
Monkey Puzzle tree

Nearly everything you ever wanted to know about the Monkey
Puzzle tree

Female

Wait, no...female; OK so I am not Mapplethorpe

Also, good thing I am not a Monkey Puzzle tree

Entry to the many glass houses...tropical, sub-tropical, semi-tropical, montane,
what have you...

Offices in Dallas used to be covered in bromeliads...

In the carnivore house...

Snack time

Huge border and giant laser-trimmed hedge

Incredible place

Scottish National Gallery

We were impressed with the Scottish National Gallery in 2013, and were sure to visit it again during our 2019 stay in Edinburgh. As is often the case, I took pretty much the same pix of the same paintings, same angles, same framing, lighting, etc., as in 2013. This happens often, and I'm never sure whether to laugh at myself, marvel at my consistency over the years, or perhaps seek professional counseling. Anyhow, from this 2019 visit to the Scottish National Gallery, I will post only some of the master-works that I omitted from the 2013 account...still omitting a Rembrandt, a Canaletto, some Poussins, et al. It's a marvelous museum.

Intriguing...Madonna and Child, by the "Master of the
Embroidered Foliage," later 15th, oil on panel, the foreground
detail reminiscent of van Eyck; even more interesting, the
Madonna is not in her usual color-coded blue...

Filippino Lippi, Nativity with Two Angels, very late 15th; really nice angel wing
treatment

Never miss a Cranach; Allegory of Melancholy, 1528

Also never miss an Avercamp; characteristic Netherlands winter scene, early 17th

I can't believe I missed a Velasquez! An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618; an
early work but the genius is already showing

Guido Reni, Infant Moses with Pharaoh's Crown, 1640, possibly unfinished

Poussin, Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, 1629

There's a whole room of Poussin's large Seven Sacraments series; I tried doing a
panoramic shot, but it wouldn't go; so here's Penitence; notice they're dining
on triclinia, like Romans; I guess I did post this last time; sorry!

Rembrandt Self-Portrait #1,836

Franz Hals' Portrait of Pieter Verdonck, 1666

Pieter Saenredum, Interior of St. Bavo's Cathedral, Haarlem,
1648

What's cute is the painter's signature, done as if it were graffiti on the base of the
column, lower left

Sargeant's Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, 1893; as good as
Impressionist portraiture gets, methinks

Never miss a Watteau...Robber of the Sparrow's Nest, 1712

Allan Ramsay's Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Rousseau stayed with
Hume during one of the former's exiles; the portrait was later
given to Hume; intellectual giants of the age; one wonders what
they talked about

Obligatory Canaletto

van Gogh, Orchard in Blossom, Arles, 1888

Paul Gauguin, Martinique Landscape, 1887

Monet, Poplars on the River Epte, 1891

Edinburgh Lebowski's

On an earlier Scottish trip, daughter Rachel and her husband Will had discovered Lebowskis in Glasgow, and a little research showed a second such now open in the west end in Edinburgh. Of course it was high on my list of must-sees. As clever as a theme-restaurant can be, and this one is clever, one should never have very high hopes for the actual food and drink...

We were there at noon on Sunday; and told we could order
only from the brunch menu, the choices from which were not
very impressive; the food even less 

Regular menu

Drink menu: much cuteness, if mostly on the vodka/Kahlua
theme; they missed a real opportunity with The Stranger;
but then maybe you can't get Sioux City Sarsaparilla in
Edinburgh...

Much Lebowski decor

My drink, The Dude, made with cream, supposedly, and supposedly without
the chocolate powder and beans (very un-Dude)...when I complained, the waiter
insisted, in his best attempted English, this is how they make it, despite what the
menu said; OK, I said, I'll see you on TripAdvisor

Continuous showing of the movie...one wonders what sorts of rights are paid...