Three Square Meals And A Roof Over Our Heads
We stayed for four days and three nights in the same place for the first time since Bath. Horay!
What a place. We found a charming B&B run by a wonderful woman named Liz. The breakfasts she provided with the room were amazing: fresh orange juice and porridge with fresh strawberries followed by toast, egg, sausage, bacon, scones, and tea. Liz had us rolling in laughter over her stories about Parliament, men named James, and Mormons.
The Museum of Scotland was fantastic. They had everything a museum should have: knowledgeable guides that get caught up in the magic of history, free use of portable chairs for when said guide waxes eloquent, and a well organized progression through fascinating objects. It was hard to pull ourselves away.
The Scottish Parliament, on the other hand, was a strange place – and a large, expensive (400 mil £ / $800 mil and $640 mil over budget), and permanent reminder that architecture should never be chosen by bureaucracies. Apparently in closed door meetings it was determined that Scottish architecture would not be right for the Scottish Parliament and that instead they would give carte blanche to a Spanish architect with no familiarity with Scottish weather. Well, they were flooded out in no time and by the time we visited, they had fixed that problem. However, in this two-year-old building a beam had collapsed in the main chamber so we could not see it. We saw a video of it in a committee room instead. “Just ask a local for their opinion on the Parliament building to strike up a conversation,” our guide book suggested. No kidding. I’d be upset too.
