Innovation At Its Best

The day began as it had ended yesterday:  cold, windy and rainy.  The perfect day for museum touring! So I boarded the bus for Edinburgh with the Scottish Portrait Museum as my goal.

But, at the last minute, I decided to make a little detour and head towards St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral.  It had been on my list of "must sees", and this seemed the perfect time to check it out.   I no sooner walked up the steps and headed towards the side entrance when I noticed a young woman, with a large microphone in her hand, heading towards me.

She was alone, and I was nearly at the entrance, and the next thing I knew, she stuck the microphone in my face, introduced herself as being from Channel 4 news, and began asking me my opinion on the recent resignation of the local Cardinal.  Now, how was that for a surprise?

Luckily, I was up to date on the scandal, and I briefly answered her questions, told her that I was from the United States, and that I was really looking forward to going inside and visiting the church.  I didn't notice any television cameras, so I don't imagine that I'll be famous at the end of the day....or that I'll be on any type of hit list, for that matter.   Well, at least let's hope not!

You might wonder why this cathedral is so special.  Well, it holds the National Shrine to St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland.  Legend has it that the relics of this saint were brought to Scotland in the middle of the first century. They were originally held in the Abbey in the town of St. Andrews, further up the coast of Fife.  The reformation resulted in the destruction of the Abbey, which still stands in ruins.  As a result, St. Mary's Cathedral now houses the National Shrine to this beloved saint.

The icon above the altar features St. Andrew holding a scroll which states "We have found the Messiah" in Latin, Gaelic and English. It was donated in 2004 to the Cathedral.

If you'd like to take a tour of the church from home, you can see inside via this webcam:  http://www.stmaryscathedral.co.uk/panorama/index.html

Lovely, don't you think?

I managed to escape with no sign of the news reporter, and I headed to the Scottish Portrait Museum.
 The ongoing tram construction made it nearly impossible to get a good photo of the beautiful exterior facade, but I managed to capture the entrance.

Most of the museums in Edinburgh have free admission, and this was no exception.  So imagine my surprise when a friendly man in plaid pants and a navy sweater opened the door to welcome me inside!  How often does that happen for free?

Walking through the front door was, in itself, a memorable experience.   A statue of Robert Burns, the famous poet, stands in the bottom floor of the vestibule which stands 3 stories high.

The columns that you see next to the statue, support a wall that is painted with significant men and women in Scottish history.  It is best viewed from the upstairs balcony.

Isn't the detail magnificent?  The mural extends along all four sides of the balcony.

This photo, taken from one of the galleries, shows a guard watching me take the photo.

Not to worry....I had asked if photos were permitted prior to taking this.

Now, you would have thought that all of this gold-gilded beauty would have awed me so much that the galleries of paintings and portraits would have paled in comparison.

But, the very first gallery that I entered was brimming with famous Scottish scientists! How could I help but get excited!

There was John Napier, mathematician; James Clerk Maxwell, a physicist who discovered electromagnetism and who influenced the work of Albert Einstein; Alexander Graham Bell (we all know what he did),  Sir William Ramsey, discoverer of the Noble Gases and their placing in the Periodic Table of Elements;

William Thompson (Baron Kelvin), whose work establishing the value of absolute zero led to the "Kelvin" scale;  Sir Robert Watson, who pioneered radar for the use of aircraft detection during World War II.

And then there were the not so familiar names of John Macintyre, who developed electrical equipment for x-rays to be used in hospitals and Prof Ian Donald who introduced the use of ultrasound in obstetrics.

Sir James Dewar, who researched Liquid gas and invented the Dewar flask.  He was the first to collect Liquid hydrogen in one of his flasks, but he never sought a patent, and as a result a German company manufactured his creation with the trade name of Thermos. (He was definitely ripped off!)

The most recent addition to these famous Scotsman is Professor Peter Higgs. He is a theoretical physicist known for the particle named after him:  the Higgs boson.

Lady Lucina McKay has painted Higgs with particles whirling around in space, supposedly reflecting the clashes of atoms at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.

As recently as July 2012, scientists in Geneva reported strong indications of the presence of this new particle.  My younger brother, Steve, is quite familiar with this phenomenon, as he has been working with this scientific community for years.  

I wonder if we were of Scottish descent if HIS painting would be on this wall?   

Well, enough of this scientific stuff.  Here's something that I know that all of you  blog readers will appreciate.

Did you know that Dolly the sheep was cloned in Scotland?  Some of you probably remember me mentioning this sometime in a past visit.  

But, do you know just how the name "Dolly" was picked for this famous sheep?  I certainly did not.

It appears that she was named after "the buxom country and western singer"........ Dolly Parton. 

Did you know that?   Do you want to know why?  

Sure you do.

Apparently Dolly was derived from a mammary gland cell.  Really.....you've got to love that Scottish sense of humor.

I managed to drag myself away from the innovation room to peruse the other galleries in the building.  I was surprised to find portraits that had been painted in 1537. 

The layout of the portraits was quite unique, as each room displayed a particular family tree, and the portraits of those people on the tree were hung around the room.    Touring this museum was more than just admiring paintings.  It was definitely set up to help the observer  picture Scottish history through time.  Quite ingenious!

I will admit, that although the museum was really quite fascinating, I can only handle so  many portraits and paintings before my head starts to spin.  So, I decided to call it a day, board the train, and make my way back to the B&B. 

When I opened the door to the room, I couldn't help but burst out laughing at what awaited me:

That was probably the best artistic work of the day!