Impersonating Sean Connery

After I collected my missing bag, we spent our second day in Edinburgh in the National Gallery Art Museum.  On the way there we stopped by the town square by the river.  It was a shame that we had to spend so much time dealing with my baggage, Edinburgh would have been pretty fun to explore further.

There was this cool spire thing, called the Scott Monument.  We spied it on the night that we got there after getting off the bus from the airport, but thought it was a church.  Up close, it was much too small to be a church, and was't closed in as a building on the bottom.  It was just a really, cool, detailed memorial to Sir Walter Scott, a writer.

After hanging out on the bridge for a while, we went into the gallery.  It had some great pieces, including a couple of Degas' ballerina paintings, a haystack in the snow by Monet (Monet! Haystack! Snow!!), one of Cezanne's lovely landscapes, and an odd but pleasing Van Gogh.

I've always thought of Van Gogh as a little overrated, but this piece is fantastic.  It's probably because it doesn't look like any of his other work.  Later on in the museum, there was this weird staircase filled with busts, all looking at you as you walked by.

(photos by e.hunt)