Find Me and Follow Me...Traveling Monkbot Makes His Way to Edinburgh

In honor of Traveling Monkbot making it to Scotland...a little Franz Ferdinand.

Edinburgh – The Jewel in Scotland’s Crown
Text and Photos by Mind Doc
Photography Assistant: Rowan

I had heard many times of how beautiful Edinburgh is. It truly is – it is lovely and has an intimate feel to it. It has been described as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and I would have to agree.

However, the first stop was more mundane than sublime. Off of Princes’ Street are these small alleys where there are pubs and small shops. We ducked in for lunch at Oliver’s and enjoyed a hot, inexpensive pub lunch. There is nothing like hot soup
and steak pie on a cold afternoon.



Steak and Guiness Pie with chips and soup. Yum! Note the tomato ketchup and the brown sauce. I have not figured out what it exactly is -- Rowan says that it is a staple to put on chips. It has tamarind in it. Interesting taste...I was going to ask the rather strapping young men hanging around the pub to pose with Monkbot, but I was afraid that Rowan would literally have expired from embarrassment.

Edinburgh is a great city to wander around in. Monkbot seemed to have some spiritual affinity for the place, and it was easy to see why...



This is a picture outside of Waverly Station. It is one of the main train stations in the city. As we came out of the station, we could hear bagpipes playing. This is the piper. Behind him, you can make out the city skyline a bit. The skyline is fairy-tale beautiful. You can just make out Edinburgh Castle to the right. It is perched atop the highest point in the city. Formidable, indeed.



The National Gallery of Scotland was surprising. It is small, but mighty. It is home to Scotland's greatest collection of European paintings and sculpture from the Renaissance to Post-Impressionism periods, and is one of the very finest galleries of its size in the world. It opened to the public in 1859. There were pieces by Van Dyck Gauguin, Velázquez, El Greco, Titian, and Raphael. Botticelli's Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child was literally breathtaking. Rembrandt’s self-portrait was a complete surprise. I think that is what I will remember about the gallery – it is
remarkably unassuming. You just walk around the corner and there is something that makes you stop in your tracks – awestruck.



Edinburgh Castle puts to rest all the ideas of fairy tale castles. It looks like a fortress – you can see why the castle never fell. Apparently, it has surrendered because the defenders ran out of food, but never was taken by force. It is massive. It looks like a stone dragon, perched on a crag. The guard at Edinburgh Castle was initially a bit concerned about letting us perch a monkey on the wall – in fact, she looked at us with a jaundiced eye. She soon got into the spirit of the adventure and suggested a much better view, which you see here.



Here is Monkbot at the cannons. At one o’clock each afternoon a cannon fires (but not one of these) – these are just your standard repel-the-invader cannons.



This is the Scottish National War Memorial. We could not take pictures inside, but I liked the outside as well. When you come around the corner and see it, you are immediately struck with the stern beauty of the architecture. I was almost scared to go inside, because it is very solemn.



So, Monkbot made it through to the UK in one piece, despite the fact that I was questioned by customs each and every time regarding why I had a robotic monkey in my bag. I was airy about it, as if everyone does it. Why WOULDN’T I be carrying a cymbal-crashing, antenna-wearing monkey? It seemed to work. I found this attitude to be very helpful in general and recommend it highly to anyone who takes the next leg of the journey.

Tomorrow...on to Dundee...(which, incidentally, is the name of Shelley's first dog...a beautiful male collie)

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