Scottish history and some consumerism

Yesterday the Liar took off to do his festival thing, and I escaped to the far side of Princes street, where the madness of the festival was dialed down.  I went in search of the National Portrait Gallery, which was closed.  I did experience some small success by returning to Wellington Coffee for their incredible view

and coffee with a piece of banana cake.  The rest of the morning was spent in search of size 13 plimsolls, which then became a search for size 12 plimsolls I could 'squeeze into' when it became apparent that nobody would stock 13s.  Almost nobody stocks 12s either.

Thankfully it was a very nice day, and I enjoyed wandering about the city.

After a roast-capsicum sandwich from Larder, I spent about four hours wandering the National History Museum.  The first thing visitors see on level one is a statue of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland.

Everything in the museum is worth seeing, from the mask worn by a reformist priest

to the maiden, a proto-guillotine used to behead some of the people seen in the Stirling update (Archibald Campbell and his father were both executed using this maiden).

The Scottish have a real love of two-handed swords.  In addition to the famous claymore, giant ceremonial swords were popular with Scottish lords as symbols of power and for important events like knighting and execution.  The one on display in the museum put me in mind of a fictional sword I read about. (Don't click that link if you haven't read A Game of Thrones yet)

Also on display was a lot more Robert the Bruce artifacts.

And, for the musos, a bunch of old instruments as used by medieval Scottish pub bands.

There is also a special exhibition running of the Lewis Chessmen.  The Scandinavian game pieces, carved from whale-teeth and walrus-tusk, are fascinating, particularly their detailed and individual faces.  My favourite pieces were the Warders (replaced in today's chess by rooks).

All of the kings looked strangely worried to me.  Possibly a scathing piece of political satire by the piece's designer.

The museum had heaps of these pieces on display in an exhibition which explored Scotland and Norway's complex, intermingled past.

In addition to the chessmen, the exhibition included some of the museum's other viking artifacts.

There were also pieces from some other games on display, like an early version of backgammon.

And naturally, there were lots of guys in tartan in the Jacobite sections.  This fellow was enormous.

I particularly enjoyed all of the sections on viking history.  There was even a horde of viking ring-money on display.

I found a photo of a handsome chap named Major James Fraser of Castle Leather.

who was displayed alongside a pile of Scottish pistols

and basket-hilted broadswords.

I caught another photo of William Chambers, because my first one was not very good.

I caught up with the Liar and we ventured out for a quiet beer.  On the way we were offered two-for-one tickets to see Nathan Cassidy, who is quite funny and let the Liar draw a penis on his face.

While rolling from gig to gig we met Alex, who's here reviewing and interviewing for three weeks magazine, which I had never heard of but she assures me is a big deal.  Over the course of the night her face became a waxy study of forced-smiling fear.

The Liar and I are just about to head out and see one of the other comedians we saw last night, Daniel Smith, in his five-pound show.