Stevenson vanishes

I have no idea how it happens but the house of Robert Louis Stevenson in 17 Heriot Row keeps on hiding. Whenever I am passing down Heriot Row looking for it - I am not able to find it. When I am just walking by, not concentrating on locating it, I always ending up right in front of it - just like I did today.

When I was taking these pictures an eldery American lady asked me if it was THIS Stevenson's house. Yes, I answered, it was his house so she started getting excited about a possibilty of visiting the writer's museum. When I said that she would not be able to as it was a private house (there was even a plaque on the wall stating exactly that) she stumped her foot and exclaimed 'Bummer!' with a very heavy Texan accent.

Stevenson lived in this house as a child and the quote on the lamp in front of the doorstep says about a little boy, carried in arms of his nurse Alison Cunningham known as Cummy, looking out of the window for Leerie the Lamplighter ' for we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door'. From here he would go to school (one of them was Edinburgh Academy where Simon was also attending), not very often however, as he was of very poor health, suffering especially during cold, wet Edinburgh's winters.

Oh dear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW1fXL3s7bk&feature=related Shivers down the spine as J5 are sporting microphone hairstyles but you just want to move your feet on hearing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DYgf_Cl59o - Michael sporting a huge gap where his 5th top tooth should be - he was 9 years old after all!

Night vision

It is getting darker about 11 pm here - we are really quite up North and it is just the sea current that is keeping us really warm!

Another one!

Finally there it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQbmFAE5WI&NR=1

A little bit like Indiana Jones but spookier: Sherlock Holmes by Guy Richie.

The Fab Four

Simply breathtaking:

http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/cinematic.php

It's been a while...

I know, I know, I neglected my poor little blog again...
So that just for your information, while neglecting you here, I shot 3 weddings, 2 ballet performances, qualified for a major photo competition with my portraits, showed them during a little exhibition which is still on this week (I have even sold one print!) and this weekend almost fried my brain with brainstorming for a big illustration commission. I am really tired and all i can think of is sleep!

Have a look here to see how I feel now: like a dying swan but with super strong arms and in a desperate need of a Pavlova dessert!

Usual posting hopefully resumes later on this week.

So last / one before last century

The National Galleries of Scotland have a fascinating archive of old views of Edinburgh on Flickr. Have a look here. This one is my favourite view - soon the trams will be queueing in the middle of the street - I have already seen the rails layed out!



















image by William Donaldson Clark courtesy of NGS. I love how walking people got blurred on the pavement.

Browns

We decided to roadtest the restaurant we have chosen to host our wedding lunch. After all Browns started in Oxford (however now they have their chains all over UK including Edinburgh). As Simon remembers, Browns was the place where students were kindly fed by their anxious, Oxford visiting parents, so no wonder that he has very fond memories of this place .

Menu is suprisingly affordable and tasty. Simon tried his ever favourite dish there - a steak, mushroom and Guinness pie and I had a chicken sandwich (which was much tastier and less plain than it sounds).

We were extremely busy with work this week and coming one is not supposed to be much different so this little treat was well deserved, especially that eating out does not seem to be more expensivehere than eating at home. Which is a nice surprise after years in the foodie capital of Poland - aka Cracow.

Edinburgh Mosque Kitchen

I am very fond of Paris Mosque cafe so when people at the photo department said that we could have our Friday lunch at Edinburgh Mosque all the arabian sticky sweets and a sweet mint tea came to my mind. This was an Edinburgh take on the subject however - lamb curry and Pepsi but tasty nevertheless though a bit too spicy for my tastebuds.

Choice of sweets was limited to 2 varieties only, neither of which I fancied and they had only usual black tea with milk available.

Important thing is to get there before 1 pm as the kitchen closes for the afternoon prayer. Sejin, Nick an Douggie's curry very kindly posed for the images.

Back 'home'

We have returned to Edinburgh from our short but fantastic trip to Poland. We had a couple of days in Lublin with my Mum, who prepared another of her gorgeous balet performances and then we headed for an afternoon in Warsaw. We managed to meet my best friend Kasia (just imagine the speed of our chat as we desperately wanted to exchange ALL the gossip gathered throughout all these months) and even to spend a lazy afternoon at our favourite Warsaw cafe - Miedzy Nami.

It is the only place in Warsaw which actually reminds me of Krakow: a minimal interior with a decor without fuss and they have a delicious breakfasts, home made kisiel and very polite, friendly waiters. We could go through all our emails (a free wi fi, not so common in Edinburgh) while eyeing Polish celebrities who swarm there as the place is very trendy while friendly and very central.

But the best meeting we had at Elektralna Street where we had a friendly chat with a gentlman who told us a lot about the grandest Polish poet - Juliusz Slowacki, who lived nearby 150 years ago and apparently worked for free at the Treasury as he had enough means to live off after his careful stock exchange manipulations. Who would have thought, Julek Slowacki - artist and bussinessman in one?!

Just to keep my balance I am illustrating today's post with an image of a Scottish speciality - deep fried Mars bar - a fate worse than death. Another kisiel pleeeease.

P.S. Yes, we actually did taste the famous deep fried Mars bar. And it was just moderately bad.

Another sunny day

Parcel