Holiday trappings

It was a gorgeous, unbelievably mild day yesterday in Edinburgh. So what do we do when the weather is nice? GO OUTSIDE!! And not only outside, but to the Christmas Market, which I've been thus far avoiding due to crowds. I met up with a couple of friends and we strolled through Edinburgh's Christmas market for a short while, although pretty much just long enough to try mulled beer (that's a new one!) and ooh and ahh at the carousel. (I know I've cheated and reused an image from the other day, but I like that you can get a good idea of the layout of the market.)

Across from The Dome (pictured below with their snow machine on the roof! and by far the best Christmas decorations in New Town) we found a small church with banners strung up outside for the fourth annual Edinburgh Christmas Tree Festival! It's up through 28 December at the church of St. Andrew's and St. George's West. And inside there were a few dozen Christmas trees decorated for various charities, businesses and families. It was really sweet with a sort of hometown appeal, and I loved looking at everyone's creative take on tree decorating. All proceeds went to charity, and it was just kind of cool thing to see all the handmade ornaments, photographs, and frilly bits 'n bobs.




We stopped for lunch at a pub on a pedestrian shopping street in New Town called Rose Street. I had an Aberdeen angus burger (yum) but there is a peculiarly British thing with cheese on burgers where it's just shredded and not melted (not yum) but the chips were good and they had deep fried breaded mushrooms with garlic mayo so that was the real treat. And mulled wine, of course!



Today I'm mailing out a special package for my dad, whose birthday is the day after Christmas. I'm so excited to get home with all of the gifts I've accumulated for everyone, and do a belated Christmas celebration with my family once we reunite just after the new year. And today I'm also preparing for my departure to London! Tomorrow morning! I can't wait to get to England, and I'm really stoked for the train ride.

There will be plenty more where that came from!

Happy weekend!
Kate x

Springtime in December

The weather has been so strange this week. It is so mild today that it feels very much like spring, and the weather, in true Edinburgh style, could be considered much the same. But I think the weather, changeable as it is, is a year-round thing here ;) Today there's a little sun behind heavy clouds that sometimes drip a little bit, but it's 55F!

I've been trying to narrow down a dissertation topic (the paper that I'm responsible for writing over the summer, a third of my assessed work for my degree), and after taking a brief hike to the art school library this morning (and passing a pretty high-falutin' fashion shoot on the way) to return a book and check out another, I popped over to Starbucks for a coffee and some good old-fashioned reading time. View from my seat, above... Starbucks is not necessarily my favorite place to get coffee, but for studying purposes I'm much more likely to find a table in their relatively large seating area, even when it's busy. And the odds of getting a table by the window are also usually pretty good, because they're almost all window seats.

I've been narrowing down my field of interest to Celtic art, or more correctly in scholarly circles (oooh), Insular art. A couple of faculty members at Edinburgh specialize in medieval illuminated manuscripts, but I'm thinking potentially more along the lines of Irish and Northern British metalwork, or perhaps a focus on the stone carvings and symbols of the Picts. No matter what, we're talking about some pretty old art here... well over 1000 years old. And it's so exciting! I think that officially makes me a nerd?

There are so many periods and movements and eras of art history that I'm interested in, but it seems to always come back to the old stuff. For some reason, the older and more mysterious, and the less information available, the more I want to study it. I'm only three months into this program and I can already tell that it's going to be of great value to have a well-rounded look at many periods of art, and all the better to narrow down what I really want to research. There's a difference between things I like, and those I actually want to devote hundreds of hours to studying!

I'd better get back to it. ;)

Cheers!
Kate x

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

... but it doesn't feel like it!

Well, okay. I take that back. But physically speaking, in the weather-and-temperature sense... very much not like any Christmas I've ever had. It's been around 50F and sunny here for the last three days, even though we were graced with a bit of icy chill last weekend. It's the middle of December and people are out in light jackets and biking in t-shirts! Consider me thoroughly schooled on the unpredictability of Scottish weather, not to mention Edinburgh's own peculiar little weather bubble. But I'm not complaining -- not at all. It has been marvelous.

Today I went out antiquing with a friend, as my mom and nana used to call it, when we would occasionally hop from antique store to antique store. I always thought of 'antiquing' as something only really grown-up people do. In Wisconsin there are more often than not antique malls, filled with booths of various dealers' wares. The shops in Edinburgh are independent and more often than not... piled from floor to ceiling and in some cases hardly big enough to fit more than one person in. Literally. But aside from the antique shops I stopped into a couple of used bookstores I hadn't been in before, and then some artsy gift shops and an art book and zine shop (art zines!! gahh)... we made a stop at the surprisingly wonderful Earthy Foods & Goods which on first sight looked like an old mechanics garage / garden center and turned out instead to be an extremely cool cafe and food shop! And they employ some of the friendliest people I've encountered in the city so far (and that is saying a LOT).

It was down to the Grassmarket for a stop into the pretty rad Avalanche Records store, which is, very sadly, looking about to close its doors next month. I hate to see these places go. I can't imagine a lease on the Grassmarket is the cheapest thing, but man... It's so sad that this is the fate of brick and mortar record stores these days. 

But back on the upside, we found some mulled wine (yes, for real -- I know in Wisconsin this seems like an affectation, but I've had more mulled wine in the last few weeks than I have ever had in my entire life... which is to say never, and it's totally acceptable) !!!

And now I'm back in my flat, since the sun sets at 3:30pm or thereabouts, and I'm happily enjoying a tea with biscuits. This is the life.

  

Christmas is almost heeeere!

Cheers,

Kate x

A winter walk: Edinburgh Castle

PICTURES!!!

Haha. It's been a little while, but I've finally managed to get through the photos of Edinburgh Castle that I took during the weekend of St. Andrew's Day when Historic Scotland opened a number of its major destinations free for the day. Still had to secure one of a limited number of tickets, but it was totally worth it to not have to pay the (to my mind) ridiculous cost to get in. Not to mention they always charge you more for coffee and things once you're in!

Anyway. Let's rewind and not be so cynical. It was a gorgeous visit. You get an idea of what the light is like here right now... the photo above was taken around 10am and the sun is very low in the sky. The truth is, the sun stays really low in the sky all day, and sets around 3:30. It makes for some pretty contrasty photos, which is my only real complaint about it on this day in particular! Otherwise it was gorgeous and clear so therefore faaaabulous for view-from-the-castle shots!! I think I took far more of those than I did of the castle itself.

Edinburgh Castle is a working military garrison, but it also houses a couple of small museums and memorials as well as the Great Hall, the royal chambers and St. Margaret's Chapel, which is the oldest building in the castle, built in the 12th century. Of course it abounds with cafes and souvenir shops as well, but you can hardly avoid those.

Anyway. It was so nice to finally visit the place, because since it's literally only a block away, I had no real excuse for not getting there until now, other than the cost... But I'll be honest, of course I would have paid to go see it anyway. Ya just gotta, y'know?



In other news, the term is officially over. I've still got an essay to work on over the break (and would be smart to work on another additionally, but I'm not feeling too smart right now apparently), but it's so very nice to not have to go to class or meetings or seminars right now. I'm headed to London in just a little less than a week, and shortly after that... it's homeward bound to Wisconsin for about a week and a  half! Looking forward to seeing some loved ones and hugging my cat and going to a coffee shop where the baristas and half the customers know my name. OH and of course my very pregnant sister, whose little bun I'm hoping will arrive while I'm home. Here's to little niece or nephew arriving a few days early!

So much to look forward to!

Anyway. I've been sucked helplessly into the thrall of season three of Game of Thrones, which I'm only finally catching up on. Drinking a ton of tea, enjoying some free time, hanging out in coffee shops, and actually hoping a little bit of snow will come eventually. I mean, did I just say that? I see all the Christmas decorations, but it was 52 degrees here today. What do you make of that, Wisconsin?

Edinburgh Christmas from the castle:



And a really wonderful video that's been making the rounds here in town, of Edinburgh Christmas and the Star Flyer that I seriously have to get on soon:


Floating over Edinburgh from Mo Thomson on Vimeo.

Cheers!
Kate x

Gallery-hop in Glasgow

So you're postgraduate student and your first big essay of the term is due tomorrow. What do you do? Well, you could re-re-re-revise your essay, or you could take a train to Glasgow and go gallery hopping! It's school-related after all, you know!

That was my story yesterday (and yes, that means my essay was due today, and it's been checked, double- triple- septuple-checked and submitted)... A small group of art history third-years (third year undergrads, but basically seniors) were being taken to Glasgow and the professor, who will be teaching one of my classes next term, invited any interest postgrads to attend as well. I just couldn't pass that up. I hadn't been to Glasgow, let alone any of the museums and galleries, and to have a tour guide who used to curate shows in them, well... you just don't get better than that.

It was a four-hour whirlwind trip through the Gallery of Modern Art where a fine collection of Ian Hamilton Finlay prints were on display.

Then it was back on the train promptly to head to Tramway, where we spent most of our time taking in Lucy Skaer's installations in her show, Exit, Voice and Loyalty. It was then back to Glasgow Central and we detoured around Charles Rennie Mackintosh's nouveau masterpiece of a building that is the Glasgow School of Art, taking a peek in the gallery's current exhibition, Interwoven Connections: The Stoddard Templeton Design Studio and Design Library, 1843-2005 but spent most of our time admiring Mackintosh's incredible eye for detail.

Then we hopped over to the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) where we took in Man of the Year, a joint show of Glasgow artists Henry Coombes and Carles Congost. I admit it was the first time I found not one, but two art films quite entrancing. They were meant to complement one another and were highly produced, even musical films... really interesting. This, coming from a girl who has always been extremely wary of video art, partly because it always seems so forced... perhaps it's just that 'forced' quality, whatever that means, that I have to come to terms with.

Anyway. All photos were taken with my phone. I admit I'm getting spoiled... it's just so much easier to pull my phone out of my pocket than lug around the camera... and the camera's not even that big! Like I said... spoiled.

It was such a brief trip to Glasgow, but I was able to get a feel for its downtown area and look forward to being able to get back there and check out more shows in the future. And by 'shows' I mean anything entertaining... we did happen to pass by a theatre where Hanson was playing! (Anyone else in their late twenties remember them? I felt suddenly extremely old when there were early-twenty-somethings who had no concept of "Mmmbop." DOES THAT HAPPEN?? Perhaps that is a topic for another time. Haha!) But aside from that clear trip down memory lane, Glasgow is largely the destination of choice in Scotland for edgier music and contemporary art. So it's a place I'm sure to get back to eventually.

Lucy Skaer and Tramway...



Walking around Glasgow...

  

...and Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Art:




Cheers!
Kate x

P.S. Hello from GoMA! (I had to put myself in the picture. It told me to, although perhaps they had the pencils-and-paper in mind, but I was in a hurry!)

St. Andrews Day Weekend: Hello, Holyrood!

Yesterday (30 November) was St. Andrew's Day... St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland for anyone not thinking about this as much as I am. ;) All weekend there were events in celebration of the feast of St. Andrew, including open doors to many historic buildings, music events and family outings. Holyrood Palace (or the Palace of Holyroodhouse if we're getting all official) was among the featured places and on Saturday I popped down to the opposite end of the Royal Mile to take advantage of free admission. Something to keep in mind if you're ever around on St. Andrews Day... it's a massive savings.

It was a cold but sunny day. Photography wasn't allowed inside the palace for conservation reasons, but it was fancy. That pretty much goes without saying. Actually, my favorite part was outside anyway, so of course I took copious photos: the ruins of Holyrood Abbey. Mostly standing roofless is the church and behind it are conserved outlines of the abbey sunk in the grass. I'm sure the garden is a sight in the summertime but it was feeling pretty wintry yesterday!

The color of the stone was a beautiful mix of beige, tan and rose-colored rubble. Just love it. Some of the decoration is totally top-notch. The church was in use until the 17th century and was a ruin by the 18th century, but the abbey was first established by David I in 1128.

1128!! That's old. Alas, it's not there anymore, and would be ever so much more impressive if it was. ;) Haha.







One thing I've learned during my time interning for the National Trust (who incidentally has nothing to do with this property, but just saying) is that masons commonly marked their work to identify themselves, sometimes marking specific chisel mark patterns in order to keep track of their work over a period of time. Apparently to get paid for what they did, it could be kept track of this way. In some places I've found this very obviously and in other places not, but I just love finding a mason's mark in a stone. I just assume they're original if they don't look fresh and enjoy the moment when a stone wall can become a personal work with a statement, one that says, "I made this."

Also, I want to know how to get this job:



Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! Post coming soon about the other visit I finally made this weekend... ;D

Cheers!
Kate x