I didn't write anything about yesterday, because the weather was truly terrible, with snow, then light hail, then quite heavy rain, and the wind throughout was very cold. We did some shopping, by car, in the morning and went to the cinema in the afternoon, as both of us wanted to see 'Lincoln'.
Today, there was a big change in the weather, with a clear blue sky and nice sunshine, though the wind was still cold. Because it was sunny, we decided to make the trip out to Roslyn to visit Rosslyn Chapel. It was a bit difficult to get out of Edinburgh, as R. though Google Maps had chosen a crazy route. However, after we had spent quite a long time taking circular detours all round Edinburgh on account of being unable to drive down quite a few streets because of tram roadworks, and waiting in long traffic queues at temporary traffic lights in other places, the crazy route started to look a bit less crazy.
You aren't supposed to take photos in Rosslyn chapel, but I took photos of the photos in the visitor centre, so I do have some, though they weren't all satisfactory.
The chapel was founded in 1446, and took around forty years to build. It needed a large number of workmen and it is thought that the village of Roslin grew up to house them.
I wasn't able to get a good overall picture, particularly since there is still quite a bit of scaffolding; below is a photo I photographed in the Visitor Centre.
The sticking-out bit at the bottom right of this photo is a Victorian addition. It is believed that the original plan was for a large church with a nave and transept, but it was never finished.
The interior is like nothing I have ever seen before. There is carving everywhere. The vaults are made of stone, and they are carved too. The overall effect is quite stunning, but the church does not allow pictures. Below is a fairly hopeless photo of another photo, covered in window reflections I'm afraid, but it gives some idea of the place, totally encrusted in carvings. I've never seen a carved stone roof like that.
As you can see, there are carvings everywhere you look. Some are so far away they can only be appreciated in photos - or in this case, photos of photos. In the one below, from the top of a pillar, the Devil is seen grimacing in temper because the two people on the right have turned away from him.
The knight at the top of the pillar below might be William 'the Seemly' St Clair, the first of the family to settle in Scotland. He escorted Queen Margaret from Hungary to Scotland to marry King Malcolm Canmore in 1070, and the King granted him the land in the area. This is also a photo of a photo.
Queen Margaret could be the lady behind him. It is said that she brought a piece of the True Cross ('Holy Rood') with her. You can see what she appears to be carrying in the carving!
Below is my illegal photo; cheats never prosper, they say, and I only managed part of it. It shows part of the Apprentice Pillar, the most famous carving in the chapel.
The story is that the master mason carved one beautiful pillar, and went travelling to get some inspiration for another. While he was away, the apprentice carved this pillar, and the master mason was so jealous when he got back that he hit him with his hammer and killed him. This probably apocryphal story has echoes of masonic stories.
In the Crypt, I took another illegal photo, but this is one of a gravestone of which I could see no photos. I can't think why there aren't any, it's a wonderfully expressive carving.
We had a talk from one of the tour guides which lasted about 20 minutes, but actually we found the Visitor Centre and the information boards in the chapel were the most helpful. R. got very cold listening to the guide, so we went to the café for hot soup, which came with two nice rolls and butter.
There were some rather odd-sounding sandwiches and we wondered if there were some competition between these places to produce ever more recherché sandwich fillings. When we visited the Dean Gallery earlier in the week, R. had the bacon, sardine and guacamole sandwich ('without the sardine please') and today we were offered haggis, sweet potato and mozzarella.
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