If you sometimes feel nostalgic for football’s past when teams spent much of the season knee deep in mud then this Serviced City Pads blog may be of great interest to you. These days a bad pitch is a rarity at the highest levels of the game – just look at the beautiful playing surface at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium. The development of playing surfaces has undoubtedly led to a much more aesthetically pleasing style of football and has been good for the game.

However, that’s not to say that that there isn’t a lot of fun to be had from watching two teams battle it out in more adverse playing conditions, and this is exactly what you will find at the Swamp Soccer World Championships which will be taking place in Edinburgh this year from the 25th – 26th June 2011. A swamp soccer match lasts for 24 minutes and has 6 players on each team. You can find out more about the tournament by visiting their official site.

Perhaps you and your friends will be attending the event; you may even be challenging for glory yourself. Dare you take on the mighty Real Mudrid or Swampdoria?

If you are either a spectator or a participant at the Swamp Soccer World Championships you will need somewhere to stay. Here at Serviced City Pads, we have a range of apartments available through our apartment operators, from studio and one bedroom apartments all the way up to three and four bedroom apartments which are ideal for big groups. You can see all the serviced apartments we have available in Edinburgh by visiting its city page on our website. Serviced apartments are an increasingly popular choice as they offer far more space and comfort than a traditional hotel room. They are a perfect place to relax in during your visit to Edinburgh.

To find a serviced apartment in Edinburgh for your visit through Serviced City Pads, contact us either through our website or by calling us on 0844-335-8866 and one of our reservations team will be happy to help you.

Prince Albert originally layed the foundation stone of the National Gallery in 1850, giving a moving speech in whcih he hails the William Henry Playfait designed building as a ‘temple erected to the Fine Arts’. The building will stand next to the Royal Scottish Academy building, also designed by Playfair and headquarters for the Board of Manufacturers since 1822.Serviced City Pads supply short and long term serviced apartment accommodation.
In 1882 The National Gallery’s collection of pictures, as well as public and political appetite for a permanent record of Scots achievement, grows to such an extent that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is founded and is funded by local newspaper propreitor, John Ritchie Findlay and is opened in 1889.

In 1959 The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art is founded and opened to the public in August at Inverleith House in Edinburghs Royal Botanical Garden. All but a few of the National Gallery’s paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings dating from 1900 are moved to a new location. The vast majority of objects in the gallery’s collection today, however, were acquired after the 1960’s. Please contact the Serviced City Pads reservations team on 0844 335 8866.In 1971-2 Five new small galleries at the south end of the National Gallery are created by building an upper floor. The space is in part created to house the great Maitland collection of French late nineteenth – and early twentieth century paintings, including works by Monet and Van Gogh.

In 1978 a further suite of galleries is opened, this time beneath the ground of the south end of the National Gallery, to house the Gallery’s Scottish Collection and also provided room for facilities such as a Print Room, Library and Picture Store.

1999 The Dean Gallery opens, a magnificent building opposite the Gallery of Modern Art, The Gallery is used to house the generous gift by the Edinburgh born sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi of a large collection of his work. he new gallery also showcases the National Galleries superb Dada and Surrealism collection. Edinburgh accommodation with Serviced City Pads.2003 Extensive redevelopment of the Royal Scottish Academy Building, now owned by the National Galleries of Scotland, is completed, turning the venue into one of Europe’s premier exhibition venues. It’s first exhibition in the newly developed space Monet: The Seine and the Sea, attracts visitors of over 170,000.

In 2004 The second phase of works on The Mound is completed through creation of an underground link – overlooking Princess Street Gardens – that connects the National Gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy Building. The new space provides state-of-the-art visitor facilities:education suites, a new restaurant and cafe, a lecture theatre/cinema and IT Gallery.

The National Galleries are showing the most exhaustive selection of paintings by Christian Kobke (1810 – 1848) ever to be shown outside Denmark.Kobke was a pre-eminent painter in his country and one of the foremost talents of Denmark’s Golden Age. The Exhibition features around 40 of Kobke’s most celebrated works, spanning a variety of genres. Giving and overview of Kobke’s acheivement within its cultural context, the exhibition emphasises his exquisite orginality and experimental outlook while focusing on the most innovative aspects of his work.Kobke’s paintings demonstrate his ability to endow ordainary people and places and simple motifs with a universal significance, creating a world in microcosm for the viewer. Serviced City Pads supply serviced apartments via their website.

The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from August 13 until Sept 5. By the invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music (especially classical music), theatre, opera and dance from around the world to perform. Contact Serviced City Pads to book an apartment 0844 335 8866.
The first International Festival (and the first festival of the Fringe, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, although it wasn’t known until much later took place in 1947, in the wake of the Second World War, with the optimistic remit ‘to provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit, and enrich the cultural life of Scotland, Britain and Europe. The founders of the Festival included Rudolph Bing (then the General Manager of Glyndebourne Opera Festival), Henry Harvey Wood Head of the British Council in Scotland, Sidney Newman, Reid Professor of Music at Edinburgh University, and a group of civic leaders from the City of Edinburgh. The festivals have taken place every August since. Serviced City Pads.

Top acts at the 2010 Edinburgh International Festival.

The voices of the new world return to the old in this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.

Montezuma

Described as the little-known operatic gem, Montezuma was written by a German Composer Carl Heinrich Graun in 1755 and chronicled the tragic, one-sided and bloody confrontation between Spanish conquistadors and the Aztec empire led by Montezuma 200 years before. The new production, set on the island that would become the future of Mexico City, with several Mexican singers, captures the Festival’s theme of the old world and new, in a year when Mexico celebrates the 200th anniversary of its warof independence from Spain.

Teatro Cinema

A radical theatre company from Chile which blends cinema and live performance so closely it is hard to distinguish live actors from characters on screen, Teatro Cinema brings two productions to the Kings Theatre. Sin Sangre, Without Blood, tells the story of brutal slaying by three armed men, centred on the woman who witnessed the murder of her father and mother. The man who Fed Butterflies is a new co-production with the EIF, devised around the story of a man exploring the a forgotten ritual of the souls of dead warriors released in the hatching of butterflies. Serviced City Pads supply short stay apartments in Edinburgh.

Bliss

Opera Australia production of Peter Careys novel, centred on a Brisbane advertising executive who wakes from a heart-stopping near-death experience in his own particular brand of hell, comes to Edinburgh fresh from its Australian premiere. Nine years in the making, it has won strong reviews for the prize-winning composer Brett Dean and features star Australian baritone Peter Coleman-Wright.  Please contact Serviced City Pads on 0844 335 8866.Caledonia

Caledonia marks the world premiere of a major new project by the National Theatre of Scotland, chronicling the country’s disastrous colonial foray into Panama. The huge costs of the tragically unept Darien venture, devised by adventurer William Paterson, were blamed for forcing Scotland into a union with England. Critics will be watching carefully to see if the production – written by satirist Alistair Beaton, and directed by Anthony Neilon, whose achievements include Festival hit The Wonderful World of Disassocia – lives up to it’s promise and ambition. Serviced City Pads

Fancy trying something different this year? Bored of the same old city getaways? Well look no further than The Urban Rat Race Adventures taking place in Edinburgh on the 17th & 18th of July this year. The race is not your average run of the mill A to B that you can find at some point during the year in the majority of cities throughout the UK – No this race turns cities into high adrenaline adventure playgrounds for participants of all abilities. You can enter in teams of 2 or 3 and will find yourselves biking, hiking, abseiling, climbing and navigating your way around the roads, streets, structures, waterways of one of the UK’s coolest cities.

Anyone can enter and there is even a 3hour Mean Streets event on the Saturday night if you want to test the water which covers around 10K on foot and designed for some serious fun and games. You have to hunt out different adventure challenges around the city which can range from physical or funny, down to some very much surreal. The event is attended by people from all over the world and has sister events in Bristol, Teeside and even as far as Australia. The Rat Race course is kept a very closely guarded secret until just a few hours before the race and throughout your adventure you should expect the unexpected as they take you into, over, under and through Edinburgh, Rat Race style! One minute you could be running through bustling shopping streets in search of a checkpoint; the next you could be trying your hand at parkour, punching a boxing champ or pole dancing your way to the points. The Rat Race is totally unique in its format, scope of activities and sense of discovery and adventure.

One thing you will need when coming to take part in the Rat Race is accommodation and what would be worse than having to come back to a cramped hotel room after a hard days/nights adventure. It is for this reason why serviced apartments are the right option for you and your fellow racers. Serviced apartments offer over 50% more space than a hotel room and you have a fully furnished living room and dining room as well as a modern fully fitted kitchen so you can kick back and relax or prepare dinner after the long days activities.

At Serviced City Pads there are numerous different apartments throughout Edinburgh in the City Centre and surrounding areas. We have apartments that can accommodate between 2 and 9 people and many at different classes and standards and therefore various prices. For this reason we can offer fantastic accommodation to anyone and everyones needs, budgets and desires. Whether or not you decide to do the 2 day Rat Race or just have a taster at the first night then why not get a serviced apartment and have somewhere to prepare and come back and relax when its all over. Trust me your body will thank you for it. Just imagine lying back on that sofa legs up with a nice Ice cold beer in your hands.

Cosmopolitan Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. From Arthur’s Seat to Edinburgh Castle, there’s a spectacular view on almost every corner. You want to enjoy such a city from a beautiful base, and Serviced City Pads offers that kind of quality in our serviced apartments in Edinburgh.

Serviced apartments cost the same amount as a decent hotel but the quality is far from the same. Edinburgh serviced apartments are top quality with high end furniture and beautiful bathroom suits. Many apartments come with spectacular views over the city, views that you can enjoy without feeling claustrophobic, as you might in a hotel bedroom.

Many tourists and business people are switching to serviced apartments in Edinburgh because they’re flexible with varied leasing terms; weekend lets, weekly lets, you name it and we can provide it. Why would you pay for one room in a hotel when you can get a dining room, kitchen, lounge area, bathroom and bedroom for the same price?

Festivals are a major attraction for Edinburgh, as is the beautiful unrivalled Lothian countryside. A serviced apartment with onsite parking offers you the best chance to enjoy these events in your own time and within a space which allows you to unwind, spread out and relax.

Serviced City Pads offers all kinds of apartments in various locations; one, two and three bedroom complexes enable you to bring a friend or the entire family to stay in one of the world’s finest cities.