German visit to Dunfermline

It's always nice to be out and about between Christmas and New Year. A chance to walk off some of the prandial excess. A few days of winter sunshine brought many people into Dunfermline town centre and the place was buzzing over the festive period. It's easy to neglect treasures on your own doorstep and one way of appreciating your local assets is to show visitors around your town. Which is exactly what we did. Friends of Nicole's father were holidaying in Edinburgh and they came over by train to Dunfermline for the day.

We met Thomas and Marin outside the historic Alhambra Theatre. Their son Joshua was also present, along with his partner Theresa. Four friendly faces and wonderful company. The distinctive red-brick Alhambra is now over a century old. It functioned successfully as a cinema for decades, while also hosting popular entertainers on the enormous stage (the fourth-largest in Scotland), such as Jimmy Shand, Andy Stewart and the Alexander Brothers. Bingo arrived in the mid-60s, saving the building from dereliction. Thankfully this change of use did not require major interior alterations and the auditorium retains much of the original charm. Stage shows returned in 2008 and the Alhambra is now back inn its original guise. A huge asset to the town. We proceeded along Canmore Street to the Carnegie Library. Dating from 1883, it was the world's first public facility of this type to funded by the Dunfermline-born philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The adjoining town/city museum and galleries opened in 2017 and draw many visitors. We explored the collections and enjoyed stunning views of the Abbey from the large upstairs windows. The historic church was closed today but we wandered around the graveyard and inspected the remains of the Royal Palace in the far corner. The Forth Bridges were clearly visible in the distance. Our visitors had been impressed by these structures on the journey to Fife. The original rail crossing is an engineering masterpiece and is now classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The purpose of this post is just to give a flavour of what Dunfermline offers. I have written more extensively about the rich history in other articles. City status was officially conferred in 2022 as part of the Platinum Jubilee. Spending a whole day here is a rewarding experience. We passed into the sprawling Pittencrieff Park - a former private estate purchased by Carnegie in 1902 and gifted to the people the following year. A variety of terrain can be explored. The park is home to historical monuments and an abundance of wildlife (including the famous peacocks). All easily accessible from the city centre. No surprise that "The Glen" (as the park is known locally) regularly wins national awards. We ended our tour by having lunch at the Amorist Bistro Bar, who were able to accommodate a party of six. It was my first visit to the premises and I was perfectly happy with the service and the menu. A relaxing end to a very pleasant day's exploring.

While inside the Carnegie Galleries, I took the opportunity to peruse the current special exhibition. Entitled Utopia, the photography display examines the quest for a perfect life in the towns and cities where we live and work. Our dreams and aspirations are linked to these places, but they are often in a perilous state, struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing world. That's what the blurb said anyway. Unfortunately the material didn't strike a chord with me today. A little too abstract. I prefer more lifelike subject matter. But that's just my personal opinion. I make a point of checking out every travelling exhibition and am happy to have such a thriving scene.