Our first stop was the museum and it was wonderfully busy. In Scotland it is believed that education is a right and not a privilege so all education is free, including university. There are private elementary schools but all universities are free as long as you have the marks to qualify. This ensures that the best minds get educated and not just the most privileged. It also explains why so many wealthy families send their children abroad for an education. They can't get in here.
A plus for us is the fact that museums and galleries are educational so admission is free. I was amazed by the mix of people in the museum on a Saturday. All classes and ages shoulder to shoulder and it was busy.
It is a marvelous museum with easy to understand displays and program activities for children. All absolutely free.
I was surprised by the hand looms. I always thought that they were small looms that weavers would have in their homes but they are quite large and would likely be in a factory like setting. Many of my mother's family (Pollocks) show up in genealogical records as hand loom weavers.
Debbie took the next picture for Alex. I was his age when Jackie was tearing up the circuit.
Next stop was the gallery which was also free. No photos were allowed here. It is a wonderful collection with many paintings by old masters. My favourite was a self portrait painted by Rembrandt. This image is a photo of a post card that is poor colour but it shows the genius. This was painted shortly after he went bancrupt and lost everything. The suffering is evident but so is the pride. Oh to be able to paint like this.
I wish that I could have photographed some of this artwork, it was as they say here, brilliant!
We left the gallery and headed to the bus to the Royal Britannia only to find out that we just missed the last bus. I felt really bad for Debbie because that was the one thing today that she was excited about seeing.
We wandered down the Royal Mile one last time. We wanted to walk back along the base of Arthurs Seat to get some good pictures of it but even that didn't work so well. It was too foggy and wet to see much.
Oh well. Early supper at The Salisbury Arms and early to bed is our plan now.
Tomorrow we head to St Andrews in time to catch the end of the Alfred Dunhill tournament. Good night.
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Wicked shot with Jackie's Car. I've watched a ton of old footage of his driving.
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