Things To Do In Edinburgh: February-Edition
The Edinburgh Muse recommends...
I took a walk this morning through Leith Links a pain au chocolate in my hand, the February sun rising a little bit higher than only a couple of weeks ago. February is a month that can go by quickly if you don’t notice the little changes. The frosty grass tips glisten and the trees are still bare but there’s a feeling of hope in the air.
To kick-off the month of love (hello Valentine’s Day) if you’ve always wanted to meet the love of your life looking through an aquarium, why not take the bus to North Queensferry and visit the aquarium this month? And if you’re not yet ready to put yourself out there, I have it on good authority that walking through “the deep sea tunnel” is a perfectly good thing to do just by yourself as well.
As the summer in Edinburgh is full of festivals, people and too many people it can be a bit overwhelming at times. Which is why I am glad that Manipulate Festival, Scotland’s home for animated, puppetry and visual theatre is brightening up the first half of the month. Starting with the opening party at Fruitmarket Gallery this Thursday, I am really looking forward to go and see The House at Traverse Theatre and Last Rites, at Capital Theatre’s The Studio on Saturday. Definitely check out their program, it is packed with gems!
If one of your goals this year is to be more active but you could do with a little mental support, Mardi Bum Active Club is hosting a great event this Saturday morning that not only includes a Pilates class but also a talk about how a change in mindset can boost your workout.
As this year is just starting out, why not cultivate yourself a little bit for instance by starting to listen to the EHFM Culture Show hosted by arts critics Katie Hawthorne and Katie Goh? It’s on every second Tuesday of the month from 12-1PM and absolutely worth a listen. Never heard of EHFM, the Edinburgh-based self-directed radio station? Oh, a whole world is about to open up for you.
If you’re craving some introspection this month then visiting the Talbot Rice Gallery could be a great fit. At 3 PM daily incense are burnt in the gallery space. Katie Paterson's To Burn, Forest, Fire uses scent to explore the first-ever forest on Earth, and the last forest in the age of the climate crisis. The artwork employs the senses to cultivate an intimate, intuitive experience that aims to transport participants through time as a reminder of the increasing levels of extinction caused by humanity These past and future environments have been translated into incense, in collaboration with Japanese perfumers and incense makers Shoyeido.
I hope you got something out of this month’s list.
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The Edinburgh Muse is curated by Sophia Hembeck – a writer and visual artist based in Leith. You can find her bestselling substack The Muse Letter here.