Goodbye London

The end of an era. 

I spent my last night out with my main girls - best last night ever. 

No words can really adequately describe how incredible year this was - I'll never regret a second of it. 

I will say - I took it to be a sign that I'm making the right decision starting the next chapter of my life in NYC when I got upgraded to first freakin class on my flight home - IcelandAir, that was the best flight over the pond EVER! 

leaving London in style! 



The end of an era. Onto the next! 

Thesis stop #2

For thesis-trip stop #2, it was out into the countryside of Scotland again to go to another one of the family's residences, Drumlanrig Castle.

This time the walk from the nearest bus stop was on 1 1/2 miles...eventually, I came upon the driveway.

Quite a long driveway...

finally here! TADAAAA! 

The Duke's family owns all of the land that the eye can see from the castle...and a few thousand acres more. In fact, he is the largest private land-owner in Europe.

I got a nice long tour around the castle with a tour guide (again, no pictures inside) and the guide (Ralph!) was so impressed with how much I already knew about the family and the paintings (woohoo!) so hopefully I'm doing something right! 

Even though there was only one painting here that is going to be part of my thesis, visiting the castle really gave me a better sense of the family's history and a better appreciation for how the small part that I'm studying fits into the larger whole. Definitely a day well spent and I couldn't be more thankful to have made the trip.

Below are a few pics  I shot of the gardens surrounding the outside...

and here's me!

goodbye, Drumlanrig...

Hopefully I will see you again. Someday.

Not much to report for the next day in Edinburgh...I woke up early and ran to the top of Arthur's seat again, then made a trip to the National Gallery of Modern Art (great cafe - most amazing lunch in the garden there) and then to the National Gallery again before catching the train. At the National Gallery, I made a point to see the Leonardo painting that this family actually owns - it is being lent to the museum right now because it was actually stolen in 2003 and not recovered until 2007 - the security is much better in the museum so that is where it is going to live for a while. 

 (below = works from both museums...Duchamp on the left, Leonardo on the right)

 and here was the scene in Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon - what a lovely day to end the trip! 

Thesis stop #1 - Bowhill

After my first night in Edinburgh, I woke up the next morning and did a run (hike?) up to the top of the volcanic hills out here - called "Arthur's Seat" - no pictures because I didn't want to run with the iphone, but suffice it to say I'm pretty proud of myself for that little jaunt. Quite challenging, especially if you get ambitious and decide to "climb down" the vertical drop outside the fence line (I saw a little kid do it so thought 'how hard could it be?!'...I have a few scratches and bruises from the crab-walk I did down that mountain that proves otherwise. Not so easy.)

Anyway, moving on - I took the bus from Edinburgh to a tiny town called Selkirk for the first leg of my journey. This is Selkirk...

From here, I could either take a taxi or walk 3 miles down the road to the house. It was SUCH a nice day out and, let's be honest, Scotland only has a handful of really nice days in an entire year...so I walked! Past some beautiful countryside I might add. 

This was pretty cool - a battlefield in 1645...I stopped to read the sign (what kind of history student would I be if I didn't?!) 

and on we go....how beautiful is this?!

I took a tiny detour to see this guy - a castle owned by the family I'm studying wayyy back in the day - in the 1500s when England and Scotland were fighting over the border between the two countries, this was a stronghold of the Scots. The English actually burnt it down eventually though, and it has remained in this state basically since then. 

then back towards my ACTUAL destination...

Welcome to Bowhill! 

This estate was actually only designed to be a hunting lodge for the weekends. It was not really intended to house a huge art/tapestry/furniture collection, but when the family lost a few properties in London and Edinburgh the 19th century (when they introduced crippling inheritance taxes on aristocratic families like this one), all of the art in those houses was transferred here, to Bowhill. Of course some of it went to Boughton and some to the castle Drumlanrig (more on that next post), but a large majority of the things that I am studying ended up here.

No pictures inside but it was just as beautiful and grand as the best country houses - 18th century French furniture from Versailles, 17th century Dutch masters, Reynolds/Gainsborough/Kneller/etc portraits, Mortlake tapestries...the works. Interestingly, Sir Walter Scott actually stayed here (many say he was in love with the Duke's wife) and his poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel is dedicated to her.

Walking around the grounds, I'd be inspired to write some poetry too! It was such a beautiful area. After taking my time in the house to study the paintings I am going to write about, I took a walk around the grounds.

and stumbled upon what I thought was some kind of medieval prison...

but is actually just the ice box. hah. 

So much walking this morning (at least 5 miles!) so decided it was appropriate to take a taxi back to Selkirk. Back to Edinburgh I went. 

I jumped off the bus a bit early before it got back to the station to check out the University of Edinburgh - its no Princeton, but still a pretty sweet spot. 

then dinner and off to bed - early day again tomorrow! 

Edinburgh

I made a last-minute decision to make a trip to Scotland for thesis research. I held back initially because these country houses/castles I'm writing about are not easy to get to, plus last-minute trains are quite expensive. In the end though, I decided (slash realized) that coming up here to see the pieces I'm writing about and talk to curators would, quite simply, make my thesis exponentially better. 

I could not have been more right, but more on that later. First, here are some pics from my little walk around Edinburgh last night. I am staying here as a home base and taking buses to my various destinations - took the train in the afternoon and got here in time for a quick trip to the National Gallery, walk around the castle, and to see the sun set on the city. 

Haven't been here since our family made the trip quite a few years ago (was it more than 10 years ago?!) and I did remember the hotel we stayed in when I walked past it! 

First stop - the Scottish National Gallery. I knew I wouldn't be here during normal opening hours during this quick trip, but saw that luckily the museum was open late on Thursdays! woohoo! Here were a few favs...we start with Titian. 

Moving on to Madame de Pompadour by Boucher

and then to an American artist! Frederic Church - I have actually never heard of him (just like they don't acknowledge the fact that the 4th of July is a holiday, they don't teach you about many American artists over here...)

and then some Impressionists...Cezanne 

Van Gogh

Monet (you don't see enough Monet at night)

I've always thought that if I had to have my portrait painted by one artist in history, it would be this guy - John Singer Sargent. He always gives his women some kind of glamourous confidence.

last but not least, I love Degas sculptures of dancers...there are a few at the Courtauld in London and I am always surprised to see them scattered around different musuems 

OH! and how could I forget?! The Kiss, by Rodin, is here! 

I took a walk outside after this and paid my respects to Sir Walter Scott...

before doing a small climb...up here. How gorgeous is that view. 

I had a little picnic to myself

with this ahead of me. 

other people had the same idea up here...a few national monuments sit on this hill as well overlooking the whole of Edinburgh (area=Regent Gardens). 

and HERE is a picture of the very large hill, which is actually a long-dormant volcano, that I ran up this morning! Literally one of the coolest runs I've done in a while...its no Greek Isles circa summer 2011, but it'll do.

 More tomorrow on my travels to the countryside in search of art tomorrow. Art, art, and more art. And maybe a castle or two if we're lucky.