Edinburgh Doors Open

While Alette was away at a storytelling workshop this weekend I had the opportunity to explore a little more of Edinburgh, thanks to Edinburgh Doors Open.

St. Cecilia's Hall was of interest to me due to its large collection of keyboards and stringed instruments. It certainly was impressive, and I learned a little too. For example, I learned (possibly re-learned) that a harpsichord differs from a piano in that it plucks a string rather than striking it, even though both instruments look quite similar from the outside.

I also visited the Scottish Parliament, which is located directly across from Holyrood Park (of which we've previously blogged). It actually wasn't participating in Doors Open ('Parliament House' in the Doors Open Guide actually refers to another area of town - apparently the home of the pre-1707 Scottish Parliament) but I thought it was worth a visit. I was able to learn a lot about the inner workings of Parliament and its relation to the UK parliament. It's actually somewhat similar to the distribution of powers to provinces in Canada - interested readers can find out more here. Though perhaps one of the more interesting items I observed on the tour was a video from the opening of the parliament as I think that Sir Sean Connery might have garnered more camera time than the Queen.