Tag Archives: mcewan hall

Dinosaurs at the McEwan Hall

When you see a full size dinosaur crossing the road you know the Festival Fringe is full swing.

The dinosaur in question was part of Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo, currently showing at the McEwan Hall at 11am each day until August 26th.

Erth’s dinosaurs are manually operated by supremely skilled puppeteers, but interact with the audience and those on stage in a way that makes them come to life.

Like the amazing puppetry in the War Horse and The Lion King it is amazing how even though you can see the people controlling them, you quickly look to the puppets faces and movements as if they are real.

It gets me every time, and it is a joy. The show was filled with educational facts too and the host was great fun, especially with those who he brought up on stage to see the creatures up close.

And a nice touch was that after the show everyone got to pet the smaller dinos outside and grab a photo too.

Great fun, my two loved it. Especially the flying. For more info and to book a ticket see the link below.

Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo via Underbelly

Dome sketching from an Edinburgh roof terrace garden

mcewan-hall-from-nms-roof2It is one of my favourite views in Edinburgh, with a 360 degree vista of the city skyline.

If you are visiting the National Museums of Edinburgh on Chambers Street be sure to take the lift and or steps to their roof top terrace for an unparalleled 360 degree view of Scotlands wonderful capital city.

I was visiting to take some photographs of Edinburgh Castle for a new artwork, but whilst there I captured this of the McEwan Hall dome popping up over the terrace wall.

The McEwan Hall is the graduating hall of the University of Edinburgh, and is where I graduated some years ago. The building was presented to the University in 1897 by William McEwan, brewer and politician.

Next time you are on Chambers Street take a look from the top and see if you can name all the steeples and domes of Edinburgh.

National Museums Scotland website

University of Edinburgh website