SCOTLAND - SOLSTICE

Brian 'Bunny' Batista
Jun 22
2 min read

The rest of June is looking good classes resume their regular schedule this Monday June 23rd. Drop in sessions will continue at their normal times until Canada Day. We will be closed for the holiday.

Keep an eye out as a whole new opportunities for our summer season including during Stampede and Youth Summer camps are coming soon...

Scotland stuff: shortbread, castles, cathedrals, art galleries and more:

I swear I didn't bring home the torrential downpours from Scotland. The weather was great the whole time I was gone.

The bus ride in from the airport brought me by old buildings and castles giving me my first sights of what Scotland has to offer. I did not waste any time getting straight to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery as well as the National Gallery of Scotland I got tons of great reference images and enjoyed studying up close pieces by Henry Raeburn, Sargent and Rembrandt, Raphael, El Greco and so many more.

I took a train over to Glasgow for a day to squeeze in more art galleries and saw many works by the famous colourists the Glasgow Boys (and girls) at the Kelvingrove museum. I also visited the Huntering art gallery and museums of zoology, & sciences plus the Surgery museum in Edinburgh. It was somewhat macabre learning about about the Scottish contributions to dentistry, medicine and technology and almost how archaic the technologies were in their infancy. We take fro granted the roots of these things, life must have been so hard compared to how easy we have it today.

The streets are deep with history and often a bagpipe busker. I walked the royal mile a number of times and visited churches going deep into my pondering. My feet were aching from over 77,000 steps up and down stone laid streets. I walked through a the oldest Christian graveyard in Scotland on the final day before going back to pack to return. I walked past their military “tattoo” seating into the Edinburgh castle and visited the many the war museums. Visits to galleries make me happy, but they also give me an existential crisis. Seeing so many varied and beautiful things can be daunting.

I enjoyed hearing the thick Scottish accents with their “love “ and peppered with words we would consider curses. At times, it had me questioning if it was even english as I struggled to understand a majority of the words that weren't obvious. This trip was invigorating for me, whirlwind, return quickly. Thanks for affording me this spontaneous adventure. Below are pics for your enjoyment.