Plan of the Day: Find our way to the National Gallery and explore along the way.

Parish Church of St Cuthbert

Our first stop was the Parish Church of Saint Cuthbert located at the west end of Princes Street Park. This imposing bulk of a parish was built in 1892-94. The cupolas and older steeple peep out at you along Princes Street, or from the train into Waverley Station, yet the church feels removed from the bustle of the West End.

The highlight of the parish is the haunting graveyard.

Princess Street Gardens

We move on through the Princess Street Gardens enjoying the fountain and the many different views of Edinburgh Castle.

The National Gallery

The gallery was wonderful. We enjoyed a cappuccino at the cafe and strolled. Here are some of our favorites.

The bronze is by Dutch artist Adriaen de Vries (about 1555/56 - 1626); Cain and Abel 1612. This extraordinarily dynamic sculpture depicts the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain (Genesis 4). The brothers are locked in combat, with Cain about to deliver the final blow and Abel struggling at his feet. Originally trained in the Netherlands, De Vries was one of Western Europe's most celebrated sculptors. From 1601 he held the prestigious position of sculptor to Emperor Rudolf Il in Prague, who almost certainly commissioned this work.

The Flemish artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640) painted the oil on canvas, The Feast of Herod about 1635-38. Herodias, through her daughter Salome, forced her husband Herod Antipas to order the death of St John the Baptist, as described in the Gospels. Herodias spears John's tongue with a fork as revenge for speaking out against her marriage. By 1640, this picture belonged to the Flemish merchant Gaspar Roomer in Naples, Italy where it caused a sensation and influenced a generation of Neapolitan painters.

Claude Monet’s (1840-1926) oil on canvas Poplars on the Epte, 1891. These poplars grew on the banks of the River Epte, a tributary of the river Seine in Normandy. The site was very near the little town of Giverny where Monet settled in 1890. This belongs to a series of paintings of the poplars made by Monet between the late spring and late autumn of 1891. He probably painted them from a boat moored mid-river.

Claude Monet, The Church at Vétheuil, 1878, oil on canvas. This 13th-century church dominates the village of Vétheuil on the River Seine in northern France. In 1878, Monet rented a house in the village, hoping the change of location would help his wife Camille recover from a serious illness. He painted this work shortly after they arrived. Seeking to capture the effects of light reflected on the stone façade, Monel experimented with areas of pure colour, applied directly from the paint tube. In the 1890s, he explored this subject further in a celebrated series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), oil on canvas, Gertrude Vernon, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1864-1932), 1892-3,. When she sat for this portrait Gertrude Agnew was recovering from an illness. Nevertheless, Sargent, who even chose the dress, depicted her as confident and alluring, set against the aesthetic backdrop of a Chinese silk hanging. Well received at the Royal Academy in 1893, the painting was described by one critic as both 'a decorative pattern' and 'a piece of well-engineered impressionistic painting. It relaunched Sargent's career following a scandal created by his risqué Portrait of Mme Xat the Paris Salon of 1884.

Vincent van Gogh’s (1853-1890) oil on canvas, Orchard with Apricot Trees in Blossom, Arles, 1888. This is one of a series of paintings of orchards that Van Gogh painted at Arles, in Provence. In the background the local gasworks is just visible on the right. We know from a letter to his brother Theo that the artist intended this particular work as the outer wing of a 'triptych' of blossoming trees. Recent research has shown that he probably designed the picture with the aid of a rudimentary perspective frame.

We continued our walk around Edinburgh. We found the writer’s Museum to find it was closed. Continuing our walk we found a pub for lunch and then wondered back to the hotel.