A little pleasure in the palace

I took my new camera for its first outing yesterday. Sig Other and I visited the Palace of Holyrood and the Queen’s Gallery. I was amazed that although I last went round Holyrood Palace at age 5, I could still remember some of it. Perhaps this was because of the drama my father made over the bloodstained floorboards where Rizzio was left after being stabbed by Darnley. Like most children, I was easily distracted by a bloodthirsty tale!

A visit to Queen Mary 1’s palace is accompanied by a gizmo guide to take you round the apartments and giving a little of the history of the building over the centuries. I found this irritating in the extreme as the narrative constantly left out what I wanted to know and focussed on the Windsor’s and their annual visit. Especially vacuous was the introduction by first son of Windsor’s. I was much more interested in the furniture and tapestries.

Sig Other is the ultimate history buff and enjoyed it all, while I struggled with incipient republicanism and by the end of the tour, I recalled why I hadn’t returned since age 5. It is nice that we can go look round this building and that it is maintained (at whose expense) for visitors, but I’ll return when the present tenants have been moved on.

The Abbey outside the palace is a gothic splendour and it was there that I took pleasure in trying out my new camera.

A pause for coffee and cake in the café, then we went to look at the Queen’s Gallery. Another gizmo guide, this time with headphones. Since I cannot say anything flattering about the descriptions of the paintings provided by the gizmo, I will say nothing.

I had wanted to see the Zoffany’s in this exhibition, but I was a little disappointed by them. I don’t think he could paint carpet, but he kept trying, and although the figures were lovely, his gaudily patterned carpets induced faint nausea.

The Landseer’s were a revelation! I left them until last, as I didn’t expect to take much notice of them. This was a great pity because the gallery was about to close and I didn't have enough time to really view them properly having found them so much better than I’d imagined.

And I'm delighted with my camera, although I still need to find out how to use it - more expereiments on the way!