We enjoyed a nice family trip to the museum this weekend, followed by a dinner in a pub which used to be an old cinema.
We visited the National Museum of Scotland, which is in the centre of Edinburgh, in a beautiful building built in the Victorian era (1900s).
We started off by taking the tram into the centre of town. We are only 2 stops from the town centre but its a long walk. The bus would have been easier,. but my daughter really doesnt like going on a bus, but she is fine with a tram ?? Confused - yep, me too !
Our tram strop is Murrayfield, which over looks the Scottish National Rugby Station (called Murrayfield).
After getting of the tram, we met up with my wife, who had just finished work, and then headed towards the museum. I couldn't help snapping this beautiful church just across the road form the museum - I love the gothic styling above the door - although it hasnt come out great in this pic.
The Scottish National Museum is free to enter. It has quite an eclectic collection which basically covers everything including Scottish history, fossils, animals, art, costumes, planes, space flight, etc - you name it, it has it.
I really liked the shadows these bicycles were throwing against the wall.
And down on the ground floor the have an amazing skull of a large whale which you can see in the centre of the pic above(thats the cafe above the skull on the first floor).
The museum also has a really nice roof terrace which allows you to get great views all around the city. Thats the view towards Edinburgh Castle (above), which is sitting on the high point on the left.
I also quite liked the buddha statue above which was looking pretty chilled !
After an hour or so at the museum, we made our way down through the grass market.
The grass market is quite a popular area of town full of pubs and places to eat. It gets really busy with tourists and students and is always a lot of fun - plus its quite pretty with all of its old buildings.
From the grass market we made our way in the direction of home going right under the castle.
We then stopped in the Caley Picture House on Lothian Road which is now a pub, but used to be a beautiful old cinema. I dont think its been a cinema from decades. I can remember it being a nightclub called Century 2000 in the 90s when I was a student !
We had a nice wee bite to eat in the pub, with a couple of drinks and then headed home. It was quite nice to go out as a family and visit the museum and then go for dinner. We all really enjoyed it !
I hope you all had a great weekend too - all the best from Scotland !
