Moving on on our Scottish sojourn

We are now in Edinbourgh, the last stop on our Scottish sojourn. When people ask me if I've been here before, I answer with a qualified yes. I have been, but it was 55 years ago, then, like now, for the Fringe. My answer is qualified because it hardly seems real, my memory of being here. If feels more like a dream or something from another lifetime. Which in a way, I guess it is. The Fringe began as an adjunct to the International Festival. But over time it has evolved into a much larger event, and the original International festival now sits in its shadow. There are thousands of events, some for the entire three plus weeks of the Fringe, some just for a single performance or several. And anyone who wants to perform can, if they can find a venue. I will write much more about the Fringe, but first let me take you back to Glasgow, where we spent the previous five days after our first stop in Pitlcochry. I oringally had the idea to stay in Glasgow, rather than Edinbourgh, because the lodging here is so expensive during the festival. And it's only a 45 minute train ride. As it turns out the accomodations in Glasgow, at least the ones we found, were as expensive as here in Edinbourgh. But I am glad we went there, and now are staying here. Both have been wonderful experiences. Our Glasgow stay was at the Native, which is part of a group of accommodations across Great Britain. I am not sure if they are all in restored buildings but ours was, in what was the old Headquarters of the Anchor Shipping Company. Not much remains of the original interior of the building, save for a beautiful fireplace in one of the first floor rooms, and the original safe in one of the others. And our room, one of the penthouse suites, was actually built upon the top of the original building only eight years ago. We had a corner room with large windows, and a balcony, with a great view of the city. It seems that there are numerous buildings where modern additions have been built atop Victorian era buildings. Our location was very central, something we had looked for when choosing accomodations. We didn't rent a car, so wanted to be near sites of interest and also walking distance from the train stations, in which we succeeded quite well in both Glasgow and here in Edinbourgh. The architecture in Glasgow is quite varied, even in the center of the city. It's a mix of many Victorian buildings, some maintained or renovated, some derelict. Mixed with modern construction of different decades. In many places the contrast of new and old side by side is striking. A man stopped by us as I was taking a picture of an ancient looking steeple and a tall crane. I think he originally thought we might need directions but then shared his own enthusiasm for architecture. He was from Glasgow but no longer lived there, and said he appreciate the architecture much more now. He gave us a few areas and squares to check out. We visited several museums in Glasgow, including two on the campus of the University, One was the Hunterian, named for its founder, Mr. Hunter. The other was Kelvingrove. In the same building as the Huntarian was a recreation of the Glasgow apartment of famed architect and artist Charles Rennie MacIntosh, Glasgow's pride. The space is recreated because the University tore down the original building some years ago to make room for new iveconstruction. So the interior is all the work and furnishings of MacIntosh and his wife, Margaret MacDonald. She was an artist in her own right and they worked together. But she, as seems often the case is given shorter shrift in the annals of art history. An interesting fact, Macintosh and his friend Frasier (I think) married two sisters, Margaret and Frances MacDonald, all of whom were artists and did some work together. I wonder how common it was at the time for women to keep their unmarried names. The most famous work at the Kelvingrove is the Dali portrait of Christ on the cross. It is certainly different from any depiction of Christ you've ever seen, as one might expect of Dali. The view is from above, looking down at Christ. It was controversal at first, seen by some as sacreligious. Don't know if anyone feels that way anymore. I liked it, it felt like Christ was being lifted from above, rather than being martyred. There is an organ recital every afternoon at the Kelvingrove which we stayed for. It was great to watch the organist, as well as video images of his feet and foot pedals, and close up of the multiple keyboards and knobs. I loved the combination of the folks like us sitting and listening, with people coming and going through the museum lobby. A few small kids responded to the music as they walked. Most especially were two young girls, probably sisters, dancing delighting, and followed by whom I assume was their mother, dancing too, although a bit more sedately than the children. Most interesting to me was the Tenement Museum. Although there is a museum with the same name in New York, this is a little different. First of all, tenement doesn't have the negative connotation here in Scotland, but just refers to an apartment building. The New York Museum is one of my favorites, and I think this one in Glasgow is now another. It is a preserved dwelling rather than a recreated one. The woman who lived here for many years, Agnes Forward, lived here first with her mother, after her father and sisters had all died when she was young. After her mother's death she continued to live in the apartment until elderly, when she became sick and spend her last 10 years in a hospital. She had lived there from the late nineteenth century until 1965. She preserved nearly everything, from theatre tickets to tins of mustard. So the home is an apartment frozen in time with much documentation of her life and the times. Tour guides are young volunteers who point out things like the jam jar with literally preserved preserves. Ms. Forward only brought in electricy near the end of her life, in 1960. She could have afforded it, but thought it wasn't necessary. So the house is illluminated with actual gas lights and facsimiles of gas lighting. The house was slated to be torn down, but a woman, whose uncle had been gifted two of Agnes' chairs, saw the apartment when she and her uncle went to retrieve the chairs. She subsequently bought the apartment and lived there for several years herself, protecting its contents, before turning it over to a trust to preserve it as the museum it is today. The home had a full bedroom as well as two closet beds, which were common at the time, built into niches in the wall. Apparently, Forward and her mother slept in the same closet bed and rented out the bedroom to a lodger. I didn't read how Forward supported herself in the years after her mother's death The mother had been a seamstress. But she seemed to live comfortably, attending theatre performances and traveling. My grandmother was also a seamstress after my grandfather died young, and in virtually the same time period. The museum occupies the first two floors of the building. The last two floors were marked private. I first assumed they were offices. Actually, they are privately owned and lived in. I supposed they are a bit more modern than Ms. Forward's preserved apartment. There is a Gaudi designed apartment building in Barcelona that is also a house museum but also retains a private apartment, under slightly different circumstances. There, heirs of the original owners were allowed to live there until no heir was left or wanted to. I wrote about it a couple of years ago. Imagine living in a building that is also a museum. One more museum, that we visited on our last day, was the modern art museum. It was actually just around the corner from our apartment, but I had somehow missed it in my scouting out. I think that was because there was another art museum that was temporarily closed.The museum's elevator was out of order, which they emphasized on their website as well as at the door. I'd been doing quite well with my hiking poles, better than I'd expected, so took on the challenge Glad I did.