AROUND TOWN | Museums & Attractions
between Delhi and Glasgow at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Flag Handover event. Doon the Watter Until Jun 2015. Discover how families have enjoyed the river for the past 50 years.
■ SCOTLAND STREET SCHOOL MUSEUM 225 Scotland Street, 287 0500, glasgowlife.org.uk/museums Tue–Thu & Sat 10am–5pm; Fri & Sun 11am–5pm; closed Mon. Free. Another wonderful building designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the museum details the history of the country’s education system from the time of Queen Victoria right through to the swinging 60s. The Games We Play An exhibition looking at the culture of game playing across centuries and countries. ■ THE SCOTTISH FOOTBALL MUSEUM Hampden Park, 616 6139, scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk Mon–Sat 10am–5pm; Sun 11am–5pm. Stadium tour £8 (£3.50); museum entry £7 (£3); combined ticket £11 (£5); under 5s free. Located inside Scotland’s national football stadium a couple of miles south of the city centre, this museum displays all kinds of memorabilia and offers tours of the stadium itself.
■ ST MUNGO MUSEUM OF RELIGIOUS ART & LIFE 2 Castle Street, 276 1625, glasgowlife. org.uk/museums Tue–Thu & Sat 10am– 5pm; Fri & Sun 11am–5pm; closed Mon. Free. Situated across the road from the Provand’s Lordship, this museum holds artwork and historical artifacts exploring the role of religion in people’s lives, promoting understanding and respect between faiths. In Honour’s Cause: Glasgow’s World War I Memorials Until Apr 2015. Photographic exhibition documenting the city’s WWI memorials, from plaques to monuments. ■ THE TALL SHIP AT RIVERSIDE 150 Pointhouse Place, 357 3699, thetallship.com Daily 10am–5pm (last entry 4.30pm). Free. Step aboard the Glenlee, one of only five Clyde-built ships still afloat today. Learn about the maritime history of the area through talks, tours and costume days.
EDINBURGH
■ CAMERA OBSCURA & WORLD OF ILLUSIONS Castlehill, 226 3709, camera-obscura. co.uk 9.30am–7pm (8pm on school holidays) until 31 Oct; From a Nov 10am–6pm (8pm on school holidays) £12.95 (£10.95; under 16s £9.50; under 5s free). The ‘camera’ is a giant periscope inside a Victorian rooftop tower on the Royal Mile, giving a spectacular 360°
Holiday time means taxi time!
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46 THE LIST 16 Oct–13 Nov 2014
GORDON BUCHANAN: LOST ADVENTURES Wildlife cameraman and presenter of The Bear Family and Me, Gordon Buchanan will host an evening of anecdotes compiled from his many years among the furry, scaly and downright dangerous creatures that inhabit the rarely visited corners of our planet. Buchanan will be taking a somewhat tamer excursion across Scotland to entertain audiences with his intrepid tales for 20 nights throughout October and November. (Laura Maxwell) ■ Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Mon 27 Oct; Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Tue 4 Nov.
perspective on Edinburgh, plus there’s interactive optical fun galore. The building also contains three galleries and lights up at night. ■ DEEP SEA WORLD Battery Quarry, North Queensferry, 01383 411880, deepseaworld.com Mon– Fri 10am–5pm; Sat & Sun 10am–6pm. £13.50 (£11.50; under 13s £9.50; under 3s free; family £40–£44). Home to everything from seals to piranhas, this marine life centre has a petting area and underwater tunnel so you can get to grips with the deep. Approximately a 20-minute drive from Edinburgh.
■ EDINBURGH CASTLE AND NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Castlehill, 225 9846 (info)/ 668 8081 (bookings), edinburghcastle.gov.uk / nms.ac.uk/war Daily 9.30am–5pm (last entry 4pm). £16 (£12.80; children £9.60; under 5s free). Perhaps Edinburgh’s most visible landmark, the Castle perches on top of a rocky outcrop at the head of the Royal Mile, and includes ceremonial rooms, fortifications, dungeons and Scotland’s Honours or crown jewels. Inside, the National War Museum delves into the past 400 years of the country’s military history. Next of Kin Until Mar 2015. A look at Scotland at war, and how people at home
deal with the absence or loss of loved ones.
■ THE EDINBURGH DUNGEON 31 Market Street, 240 1001 (info) / 0871 423 2250 (bookings), thedungeons. com Until 29 Oct daily 10am–5pm; 30 Oct & 2 Nov 10am–6pm; 31 Oct & 1 Nov 10am–10pm; From Nov 3 Mon– Fri 11am–4pm; Sat & Sun 10am-5pm £10.95–£16.50 (£10.50–15.60; under 16s £9.50–£12.60; family £39–£49.80). A grizzly look into historical Edinburgh, with actor-led tours and rides, just above Waverley Station. With special opening hours around Hallowe’en.
■ EDINBURGH ZOO Corstorphine Road, 334 9171, edinburghzoo.org.uk Until 31 Oct daily 9am–5pm (last entry 4pm); From 1 Nov 9am–4.30pm (last entry 3.30pm). £16.50 (£14; under 16s £12; under 3s free; family £36.45–£62.10). Visitors can see the headline-grabbing giant pandas, the famous Penguin Parade and over 1000 other rare and interesting animals and birds at this site three miles west of the city centre. ■ HOLYROOD PARK Holyrood Park Road, 652 8150, historic- scotland.gov.uk Open at all times; Holyrood Lodge Information Centre daily 9.30am–3pm. Free. The main entrance to this large royal park, east of the city centre, is flanked by the Palace of Holyrood House and the Scottish Parliament Building. Its main feature is Arthur’s Seat, an 823-foot hill which has a number of smaller peaks and ponds surrounding it.
■ MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD 42 High Street, 529 4142, edinburghmuseums.org.uk Mon–Sat 10am–5pm; Sun noon–5pm. Free. Kids can learn about the toys, clothes and lifestyles of children of the past in this Royal Mile museum. Nostalgia for grown-ups guaranteed. ■ MUSEUM ON THE MOUND The Mound, 243 5464, museumonthemound.com Tue–Fri 10am–5pm; Sat & Sun 1–5pm; closed Mon. Free. Hosted inside the Bank of Scotland’s head office, this museum is all about money. Learn how money has evolved over the past 4000 years or try cracking a safe.
■ NATIONAL MINING MUSEUM SCOTLAND Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, 663 7519, scottishminingmuseum.com Daily 10am–4pm. £8.50 (£6.50; children free). Nine miles south of Edinburgh, this museum is one of the best-preserved Victorian collieries in Europe. Learn about the life of a miner by taking a tour around the site. ■ NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Chambers Street, 0300 123 6789, nms. ac.uk Daily 10am–5pm. Free. Renovated in 2011, this national beacon of culture has exhibitions on natural history, science and technology, Scottish history, art and design and world cultures in galleries surrounding a beautiful naturally lit atrium space. Ming: The Golden Empire An overview of the legacy of the Ming Dynasty, which ruled China from 1368 to 1644. See original artefacts from the Nanjing Museum in the only UK showing of this major exhibition. FREE Common Cause: Commonwealth Scots and the Great War Until Sun 12 Oct. To commemorate the outbreak of war in 1914, this exhibition looks at the relationship between Scottish identity and the emerging national identities of the former British Empire.
■ OUR DYNAMIC EARTH Holyrood Road, 550 7800, dynamicearth. co.uk Daily 10am–5.30pm (last entry 4.30pm). £11–£12.50 (£9.25–£10.50; under 16s £7.25–£7.95; under 3s free). Take an interactive journey through the history of the earth. Go to the tundra or the bottom of the ocean, never being more than a stone’s throw from the Scottish Parliament and Arthur’s Seat.
■ PALACE OF HOLYROODHOUSE Royal Mile, 556 5100, royalcollection. org.uk Until 31 Oct daily 9.30am–6pm (last entry 4.30pm); from 1 Nov daily 9.30am–4.30pm ) last entry 3.15pm). £11.30 (£10.30; under 17s £6.80; under 5s free; family £29.40). The official Scottish residence of the Queen, this Baroque palace was once home to Mary, Queen of Scots and now houses the great artworks and tapestries of its regal residents. Poetry for the Palace: Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy Until Sun 2 Nov. Exploration of the relationship between the poet and the monarch, with original manuscripts and images of poets including Dryden, Wordsworth, Tennyson and current Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. ■ REAL MARY KING’S CLOSE 2 Warriston’s Close, High St, 0845 070 6244, realmarykingsclose.com Until 31 Oct daily 10am–9pm; from 1 Nov Mon–Thu & Sun 10am–5pm; Fri & Sat 10am–9pm. £12.95 (£11.45; children £7.45). Beneath the Royal Mile lies a warren of hidden closes where citizens of Edinburgh lived and died in the 16th and 17th centuries. The underground tours are led by guides in the character of real people who lived in the close.
■ ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN EDINBURGH Inverleith Row, 552 7171, rbge.org.uk Until 31 Oct daily 10am–5pm; from 1 Nov 10am–4pm. Free; glasshouse entry £5 (£4; children free). These gardens, founded in the 17th century, cover over 70 acres and are just one mile from the city centre. There are glasshouses and cafés within the grounds, as well as high- profile art exhibitions at Inverleith House.
■ ROYAL OBSERVATORY VISITOR CENTRE Blackford Hill, 668 8404, roe.ac.uk/ vc Entry by arrangement or at Public Astronomy evenings (weekly, Fri 6.30– 7.30pm & 9–10pm). Public Astronomy evenings £4 (£3). See the stars through