Category Archives: Europe

Berlin – A Case of Creeping Sameness

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Berlin – Great, In Spite of Itself

I don’t know how many of you remember Ian Shoales. He would do commentary and social observations in the 80’s and was my favorite segment on NPR’s All Things Considered. In one show he talked about the real intent and purpose of McDonalds. He suggested that their success and proliferation throughout America, and ultimately the world, is really about sameness and predictability. By offering the exact same Big Mac with Cheese in Columbus, Ohio as in Seattle, Washington you relieve the consumer/traveler of the anxiety of making a bad choice and you fill them with warmth and comfort. It doesn’t matter that it’s not the best burger, the important thing is the sameness. You combine this with, at least in the 80’s, the virtually identical pimple faced and polite teenager at the drive-thru window and all your fears and reservations are dispelled. 

Our Hotel

Now fast forward to 2018 and the Global Village. We find that every major city we visit is striving for exactly the same thing. Wendi and I walked down the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin 26 years ago and stopped in beer halls, ate bratwurst and schnitzel while listening to Oom-pah bands blasting out German tunes to the delight of everyone. Now after spending three very hot days here we find it is more international then national. We went in search of the aforementioned schnitzel, bratwurst and beer halls but were confronted with pizza, pasta, falafel, curry, tacos and HipHop, anything that makes the visitor feel more at home and less here. With the exception of street signs almost everything German has been pushed aside and replaced with samples of cuisine and culture from other places. Even the new architecture would be at home in any major city in the world as more traditional buildings peek through the giant skyscrapers. 

That’s Wendi’s hat.

Who know? Perhaps I’ve got it all wrong and that for decades Germans have been saying, “Hey, I gotta get me some of that fast food.”

Art’s The Thing

Man doesn’t live by sausage and beer alone. Does he? Anyway, art is really the thing that rings our bell and the art here is great, especially the German art. 

We managed to make our way to four museums that were all terrific.

CO/Berlin

First up was the CO/Berlin, a contemporary photo museum that is showing an amazingly curated show of Polaroid images , most by the great German film director Wim Wender. He took the photos while traveling during the 70s and uses them to help illustrate the social significance this technology has had and how digital imagery is a direct offshoot of it. The Grandfather of the Selfie.

The Camera

Stock Image

Edwin Land attended Harvard University but did not finish his studies or receive a degree. His wife told his biographer that she would prod him for answers to homework problems, write up the work and turn it in so that he could receive credit for the course.

 

At work he would conceive of an idea, experiment and brainstorm, taking no breaks, until it was solved. Food was brought to him and he had to be reminded to eat. He was rumored to have worn the same clothes for eighteen consecutive days while working on a diffcult problem. As the company grew, Land had teams of assistants working in shifts at his side. As one group grew tired, the next was brought in to continue. 

Polaroid originally manufactured sixty units of the First Land Camera. Fifty-seven went on sale at the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston for the 1948 Christmas holiday. Polaroid marketers imagined they would have time enough to manufacture a second run before the first batch ran out but all fifty-seven cameras were sold on the very first day.

I was lucky enough to hear Edwin Land speak during an Icons of Photography series at MIT in Cambridge in the early 70s and he was quick to point out that he thought the initial attraction of the instant camera was so people could make “personal” pictures at home without having to take the film to a lab for development and “scrutiny”.

The Alte Nationalgalerie

Next up was the Alte Nationalgalerie, situated on Museum Island, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage site. This national gallery has an amazing permanent collection that includes a few of all the greats.

Wanderlust

The current exhibition, “Wanderlust”, follows art from 1800 through the early 1900s which illustrated Europeans new found love of the self-determined journey on foot that came to represent a new, intensified encounter with nature in particular and life in general. These wanderings represented a significant development of world knowledge for artists and writers who were trekking through the Alps and all over France, Germany, Norway, Great Britain, Denmark and Russia. Every painting in the show depicts a wanderer in the wilderness.

Loving to travel like we do, this show had a particular connection for us.

This famous painting “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich was the center piece and inspiration for the show. It has come to represent a metaphor for life, as we stand and look out across the great unknown.

“Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” – Caspar David Friedrich 1818

At a time when women were all trussed up, this was considered one of the first Feminist paintings, showing a woman wandering alone and dressed for freedom of motion.

“Bergstelgerin” – Jens Ferdinand Willumsen 1912

Gassies was inspired to paint this during his travels through England and Scotland. In this large painting he accentuates the winds ferocity with clearly visible brush strokes.

“Scottish Landscape” – Jean-Bruno Gassies 1826

Nolde paints a solitary traveler on a path that leads to an unclear destination, suggesting hardship and danger, somewhat popular themes during the Romantic period.

“Winter” – Emil Noide 1907

Most of the paintings in the show were on loan from other museums so most photography was verboten, but I did want to show a few pictures from the permanent collection that I thought were fun.

There was no nameplate on this so I have no idea who painted it. I can only hope that the model didn’t have to sit too long and got the sausages in the end.

Any of us who have spent time with children can relate to this.

“Small But Subborn” – Wilhelm Busch 1875

Before there was Disney there was Victor Müller.

“Snow White” – Victor Müller 1862

I’m thinking that Arnold Bocklin worried a bit about the passage of time.

Self-Portrait With Death Playing The Fiddle – Arnold Bocklin 1872

I love the Dutch. Leave to them to take what we think of as a solo pursuit, the women alone at her spinning wheel, and putting the whole village to work, even the kids.

“Flax Barn In Laren” – Max Liebermann 1887

For our dear friend Sabine.

“Sabine Lepsius” – Self-Portrait 1885

The Neues Museum

Right next door was the Neues Museum.  We’re here for  the “Margiana. A Bronze Age Kingdom in Turkmenistan”  show and their collection of Egyptian artifacts.

I’m going to forego the broken pottery and jump right to the show stopper, the mysterious “Berlin Golden Hat”. This is the only fully preserved specimen of the four known conical Golden Hats from the late European Bronze Age, 1,000 to 800 BC. It is generally assumed that the hats were worn by priests of the Sun Cult that appears to have been widespread in Central Europe at the time.  A detailed study of the Berlin example showed that the symbols represent a lunisolar calendar and would have aided the wearer/priest in predicting the dates and periods of both lunar and solar events.

The Berlin Golden Hat

The Museum für Fotografie

We finished our quick visit with an afternoon at the Museum für Fotografie. This museum is a joint collaboration between the Kunstbibliothek and the Helmut Newton Foundation and exhibits a huge array of contemporary photography that challenges our notions about what constitutes fine art photography and fashion photography.

Museum für Fotografie

These 9′ Amazon Women greet you in the main foyer. It’s funny to think that in the early 80s Helmut Newton shocked the fashion and photography world when he first exhibited them. Now they seem almost quaint, just good clean naked fun.

In the Aftermath of WWII

There’s no denying that, in regards to the horror of WWII, Berlin was the heart of the beast. Germany has recognized that to be a world leader they would have to expose Nazism for what it was and help educate the world about the events that help create the huge tragedy it represents. All of this is done with the hope that in knowledge is the power to stop this from ever happening again.

The Topography of Terror

The Topography of Terror

The Topography of Terror is a documentation center that is visited by 1.5 million people a year and is one of the most frequently visited places of remembrance in Berlin. This is a fascinating site that gives a step by step historical account of exactly how the Nazi party came to seize power and convince an entire population to believe their lies and propaganda.

The Topography of Terror

The Topography of Terror

Let’s not forget the Commies

Check Point Charlie

Check Point Charlie

Check Point Charlie

The Wall

The Wall

The 17 June Memorial

This huge mural was created by the artist Wolfgang Rüppel and commemorates a worker upraising on June, 17, 1953. It’s original working title was, “The importance of peace for the cultural development of humanity and the necessity of struggle to achieve this goal.” Leave it to the Commies to overcomplicate things.

The 17 June Memorial

The Holocaust Memorial

The Holocaust Memorial

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, or Holocaust Memorial, is a memorial to all the Jewish victims of WWII. It was designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. According to Eisenman’s project text, the stones are meant to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. Many visitors and Berliners have also interpreted the contrast between the grey flat stones and the blue sky as a recognition of the “dismal times” of the Holocaust. Needless to say there has been much controversy surrounding the site since it was first constructed in 2003. Regardless, over 1,000 people visit each day and it is truly sobering.

The Holocaust Memorial

The Holocaust Memorial

On A Cheerier Note

We did manage to find schnitzel at the Duke restaurant in the Ellington Hotel. The food, beer and service were all great.

So what was I on about?

Tales of Tallinn

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The Journey 

Helsinki Harbor

We sailed out of Helsinki Harbor on a beautiful sunny day for the 2 1/2 hour ferry ride to Estonia. The ship winds through the islands that dot the coast of Finland and then 80 km across the Baltic Sea.

Helsinki Harbor

Tallinn is Estonia’s capital and cultural hub. It retains its walled, cobblestoned old town, a 15th-century defensive tower, Gothic Town Hall, historic main square and numerous 13th-century churches. The only downside was that we were a little late in our discovery and found the place packed with tourists from all over the world. We tried to not let the crowds diminish our appreciation and spent a few days wandering Vanalinn, the old town, and marveling at the architecture.

The City Gates

Niguliste church & Tallinn Town Hall

Tallinn Town Hall

Tallinn Town Hall

Niguliste Church,Tallinn Town Hall & Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Church of the Holy Spirit

Tallinn Town Hall & Niguliste Church

Doors Of Many Colors

I love the uniqueness of the doors. Everyone wants the front portal into their building to be a personal statement, like entrance art. I’m certain people have done entire books about them.

And a few passageways.

And a couple windows.

All Along The Watchtower

Large portions of the wall and many of it’s gates are still intact today. This has contributed to Tallinn’s old town being named a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Construction of the first wall surrounding Tallinn, known as the Margaret Wall, was begun in 1265 by Ruler Margaret Sambiria. In the beginning it was less than 16 ft tall and about 5 ft thick at the base but over the years it was enlarged considerably. By the fourteenth century all the citizens of Tallinn were required to serve guard duty, They had to wear armor and be prepared to fight off invaders.

Margaret Sambiria

Margie was a tough old bird with a reputation as a competent and enlightened ruler with a strong-willed and energetic personality. Her nicknames were ’Burst-horse’* and ‘Black Greta’.

 

 

When her husband, King Christopher of Denmark, demanded autonomy from the church it launched a full blown feud. The King insisted that the church pay taxes like any other land owner. Archbishop Jacob Erlandsen, the wealthiest man in the kingdom, refused and forbid any peasants who lived or worked on church properties to serve in Christopher’s Army. Erlandsen excommunicated the king and refused to recognize Christopher’s young son, Eric, as the rightful heir. That was the last straw, the King had the troublesome archbishop arrested and paraded him through the country wearing secular clothing and a fool’s cap with a fox tail . He was then chained and cast into prison.

But payback was swift and on May 29, 1259, in revenge for his mistreatment of Archbishop Erlandsen and oppression of the church, the King drank poisoned communion wine from the hands of one abbot Arnfast .

His son and heir, Eric V of Denmark, was still a child so Margaret was made regent until he reached maturity. Planning ahead, in 1263 Margaret successfully wrote to Pope Urban IV asking him to allow women to inherit the Danish throne. In 1266, her son, King Eric, granted her the rulership of Danish Estonia for life.

* Apparently there are documented cases of some horses racing so hard and fast that their hearts would literally burst.

Modern Tallinn

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that Tallinn is just an old place because it certainly isn’t. It’s a modern prospering and fast growing city with a vibrant downtown. The Rotermann district, in particular, is very cool with small shops and eateries of every description. Don’t hesitate to come, just try to make in the autumn after all the cruise ships and big busses have gone home.

See you in Berlin.

A Quick Scandinavian Drive-By

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We did a quick swing through Oslo and Helsinki. Unfortunately my camera froze up when I was leaving Scotland and I’ve been lost without it, like a ship without a rudder, like Lewis and Clarke without Sacajawea, Ying without Yang. It’s my guiding light, the thing that helps me keep the world in focus, no pun intended. Until I replaced it in Finland, I had to rely on my phone. Can you imagine, my phone! I’m a professional photographer not a telephone operator. Consequently, all I was able to put together was a sort of Mulligan Stew of images, but I have a new camera now so further crisis should be averted.

Oslo

Oslo Opera House

Founded in 1040, Oslo is the capital and most populous city of Norway. With just under 700,000 people, it is the fastest growing major city in Europe. The city is also the hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. In 2012 fDi magazine ranked Oslo number one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future study. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s Worldwide Cost of Living study in 2013, it tied with Melbourne, Australia as the fourth most expensive city in the world.

The Nobel Peace Center

Oslo Harbor

Frogner Park

Frogner Park

Frogner Park contains bridges, fountains and the well-known Vigeland or sculpture installation created by Gustav Vigeland between 1924 and 1943.

The Monolith – Frogner Park

Frogner Park

Frogner Park

Frogner Park

Frogner Park

The Norsk Folkemuseum

Oslo is dotted with an assortment of Museums from Fine Art to Vikings. We decided to spent some time at the Norsk Folkemuseum, one of the world’s oldest and largest open-air museums, with 155 traditional houses from all parts of Norway and a stave church from the year 1200.

Norsk Folkemuseum

Norsk Folkemuseum

Norsk Folkemuseum

While there I discovered a bit about the Norwegian weather. It seems that with the exception of a short window of normalcy in the spring and fall, Norway has essentially two seasons, light and dark. It seems to me that a long season of 18 to 22 hour daylight sandwiched with another long stretch of 18 to 22 hour nighttime would create a certain level of anxiety.

And like the small flame at the top of a gas well, people need a way to burn off the excess adrenaline created by long periods of sleeplessness juxtaposed with equally lengthy periods of nonstop activity. I suppose they could chain smoke cigarettes or drink obsessively, but the Norwegians are far more practical then that.

 

They have decided to keep themselves busy with knitting. That’s right knitting. It is apparently a national obsession. Everyone knits, young, old, male, female, everyone!

 

 

I joke but don’t think for a minute that this was just fun and games or an idle pastime to while away the long hours. For many this was a means of survival and a source of national pride and identity.

The Exhibition Selbuvotter

Stock Image © Norsk Folkemuseum

Called two-threading knitting, it all began in the winter of 1857 when Marit Emstad knitted her first pair of Rose Mittens and wore them to church in her village of Selbu. These exquisitely handcrafted little hand warmers caught everyone’s attention and the method quickly spread from farm to farm and village to village. Families started to develop and name their own patterns and designs. Knitting became an increasingly important part of village life. 

Initially in black patterns on a white background, red, blues and violets also became common for weddings, christenings and other celebrations.

In 1905 the age old production of millstones came to a halt and the mountain villagers need a new source of income. The merchant Frederik Birch turned his extensive marketing and sales network from millstones to knitwear. By the 1930s the Selbu Husflidsentral, Mitten Central, was formed to maintain strict quality control and by 1957 the export of these goods was bringing in over one million NOK a year.

The exhibit shows over 500 pairs all knitted between 2013 and 2016 to aid in the production of the Sebuvotter Book published in 2016.

 

 

Helsinki

Located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, Helsinki has an urban population of about 1 1/4 million. The capital is by far Finland’s most populace city as well as it’s political, cultural, financial and educational center. It has one of the highest urban standards of of living in the world and was ranked the world’s most livable city by the British magazine Monocle in 2011. The 2016 the Economist Intelligence Unit’s livability survey ranked it ninth out of 140 cities. As you would expect it has great museums, terrific parks and very expensive restaurants.

Helsinki Cathedral

Uspenski Cathedral – Finnish Orthodox Church.

Sanoma Building

Soviet Era Construction

Soviet Era Construction

Men of Rock – Central Station

Men of Rock – Central Station

 

Disaster, Mayhem and Mini-Monsters

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As usual there just isn’t enough time to get to everything so here’s a few sad and peculiar tales that got lost in the shuffle.

‘Black Friday’

St. Abbs

In October of 1881 the fishermen of the North Sea could not have predicted that a European windstorm, the strongest of all extratropical cyclones, was moving their way. Because of the unsettled weather the fishermen of Eyemouth had been unable to put to sea all that week. By Friday the 14th everyone’s stores were exhausted and bait was going stale. The morning broke clear and calm yet the barometer was still abnormally low.  The younger men knew that if they didn’t put out to sea there would be no food for their families until, at least, Monday evening.  The older fisherman cautioned against it, but the impatient younger men, with hungry families and loans to repay, ignored the more experienced advice and, one by one, raised their sails and moved out of the harbor. They sailed nine miles out to the fishing grounds unaware that the storm had already broken along the coast further south. Suddenly a horrible stillness fell over everything, the sky darkened and the storm clouds began to roll in. Most of the fishermen, having no time, cut their lines and turned into the wind, while others made a run for Eyemouth.

Eyemouth Harbor

On the shore, whole families gathered and watched through the driving spray and lashing rain as their fathers, brothers and husbands crashed into the rocks along the coast. By the end of the mornings 189 fishermen had died, 129 from Eyemouth. Every family was effected as 250 children were left fatherless.

Sculptor Jill Watson

This small and very heartfelt bronze memorial, created by sculptor Jill Watson, stands on the bluff above the harbor where the women and children gathered and watched their loved ones perish on the rocks just off shore during the Eyemouth Fishing Disaster of 1881.

Sculptor Jill Watson

Lives Of The Rich & Famous

In our age of celebrity we tend to think of the rich and famous as having charmed lives free of stress, worry and anxiety. Lives in which everything they could ever want is right at their fingertips. Lives filled with adoration and privilege. They appear to look good, feel good and fill their trouble free days with unimaginable joy. I think this notion is completely illusionary and with the exception of an incredibly lucky few, has no basis in reality. If it’s not true now, then it definitely wasn’t true in the 16th &17th centuries. Here’s just a few examples. 

Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll

Archibald was a man of immense power who shifted his political allegiances between the Protestants and Catholics as the prevailing winds blew. Even his father referred to him as a man of craft and falsehood. Eventually he found himself on the wrong side and in 1660 Charles II had him arrested and executed. His famous squint and gloomy countenance earned him the nickname of “Archibald the Grim”.

Lady Arabella Stuart

This potential heir to both the Scottish and English crown was amazingly wealthy. Her evil mother kept her in a semi-imprisonment for most of her life. When Arabella finally gained a little freedom she eloped without her cousin, the King’s, consent. He was so furious he imprisoned her in the Tower of London were she starved herself to death.

James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton

Morton was always a troublemaker. He infamously introduced the guillotine to Scotland. After trying to de- stabilize the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots he was convicted of taking part in the murder of her beloved Lord Darnley 13 years earlier. He was publicly executed with the very same guillotine he had brought to the country.

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

An heir to both the English and Scottish thrones, Henry was married to his cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary crowned him King of Scots. Although adored by Mary, he quickly proved himself to be spoilt, arrogant, unstable and completely incompetent. He was murdered just one year later at the age of twenty one.

James Graham, 1st Marques of Montrose

Montrose was another man of privilege that just couldn’t make up his mind. First he was a Royalist, then a Clan Chief, then a Covenanter and then a Royalist again. Always in trouble, Jimmy hid out in the Highlands, then England, then France and eventually returned to Scotland only to be captured and brought to the High Street in Edinburgh where he was hung, cut down while still alive, had his entrails cut out and set ablaze, and finally was drawn and quartered.

Strange Things

Peculiar creatures are not restricted to the windows of Haarlem. They have, apparently made their way to Scotland.

Buddies
Napoleon

 Just another guy that wanted to rule the world.

Duke & Baron – The Kelpie Clydesdales

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Clydesdales

Most Americans are familiar with these magnificent horses from the incredibly sentimental ads that Budweiser uses to make us cry every Christmas and Super Bowl.

The friendly nature of these giant creatures is no accident. In the 1820s Scotsmen cross bred powerful Flemish stallions with local mares to create a workhorse that is powerful, even tempered and docile enough to work in close proximity with men. They were quickly put to use pulling boats and barges along the canals and rivers of Scotland.

 

It’s no wonder the shape-shifting Kelpies that live below the surface of these waterways chose the Clydesdale as the form they would take when they came ashore. These mythical creatures wait patiently on the banks for unsuspecting passersby who are drawn to their kind eyes and magnificent countenance. Innocent people would reach out and touch them, only to be trapped and pulled below to a watery grave.

Kelpies

Andy Scott With Duke & Baron      © Jim Stewart

By the end of the 20th century the canals and waterways around the once vibrant industrial Falkirk region were silted up, filled with refuge and unused.

At the beginning of the restoration project, named the Helix, sculptor Andy Scott was brought in to help. He imagined that Clydesdales would be the perfect image to bridge the divide between the  areas industrial past and it’s mythological folklore. He chose the Clydesdales Duke and Baron as his models.

Duke is “Kelpie Head Down”

Baron is called “Kelpie Head Up”.

The Kelpies in Helix Park

Looking Up Inside Duke at Falkirk, Scotland

These amazing sculptures have completely revitalized the Falkirk area. The first year alone drawing a million tourists.

A House With A View

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The Castle Tour – Episode 6

This is what the Kennedy Clan calls home. Not bad.

Motto: “Consider the End”

Culzean Castle

The Kennedy Clan dates back to at least the 1200s when Cunedda, the Grim-headed, was sent to southwest Scotland to defend the region from sea raids.

They have absolutely no connection to the American Kennedys.

Culzean Castle

Culzean Castle

Culzean Castle was constructed by order of the 10th Earl of Cassilis. The castle was designed by architect Robert Adam and was built in stages between 1777 and 1792. The building and large drum tower were built to take full advantage of it’s location overlooking the sea.

Culzean Castle

The Power Plant

For the interiors, symmetry was the order of the day. Only one of these doors is functional. The left hand one is just there to balance the other and goes nowhere. There are maids bells on each side of the fireplace. The right one works, the left one is a dummy. This concept is seen in every room of the house.

The Lion & The Mouse

I love this 17th century painting by Paul de Vos. It depicts the final scene in the classic fable by Aesop. In the oldest versions, a lion is woken from sleep by a tiny mouse. The mouse begs for the lion’s forgiveness explaining that such lowly prey couldn’t possibly bring the lion any honor. When the roaring lion is trapped by hunters, the mouse remembers its clemency and gnaws through the ropes to free the giant beast. The moral being that mercy brings its own reward and there is no being so small it cannot help a greater. This fable has been reinterpreted by many different cultures the world over, some coming to much different moral conclusions. 

Paul de Vos

Sir Thomas Kennedy

Thomas Kennedy

Accorded to the guide, Sir Thomas Kennedy was considered a real piece of work. Rumor has it that in an attempt to forcibly procure land from a neighbor, he and his henchman strapped the poor man to a spit and slowly roasted him until he agreed to sell. The man recovered and the sale was revoked, but the chief men of Ayr agreed to slay Sir Thomas Kennedy the first opportunity they got. On May 11 1602 he was murdered just outside the town of Ayr.

 

Artistic License

Everything in these mansions is designed to impress, even commissioned paintings. These two fine paintings by Alexander Nasmyth are no exception. The first shows the island of Ailsa Craig in the misty distance just off shore. The island is considerably further south and impossible to see from the house. The second painting shows Culzean Castle from the sea, sitting on a bluff that is at least three times as high as the real thing. Impressive, yes, accurate, hardly.

Culzean Castle From The North With Ailsa Craig By Alexander Nasmyth

Culzean Castle From The Sea By Alexander Nasmyt

For A Job Well Done

Dwight Eisenhower

The Kennedy family retained ownership until 1945 when they gave the castle and its grounds to the National Trust for Scotland with one stipulation. The apartment at the top of the castle was to be given to General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower in recognition of his role as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War.

 

Ike first visited the castle in 1946 and stayed there four times, including once while President of the United States.

A Message For Our Times

“ If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They’ll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government.”

Dwight Eisenhower.

 

Bang The Drum

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The Castle Tour – Episode 5

Motto: “Flourishing both in sunshine and in shade”

William de Irwyn was Robert the Bruce’s armour bearer and secretary. Close allies of the Bruce, the Irvines fought alongside him on many campaigns against the English. After one battle the Bruce fled with a few aides. Exhausted and riding hard, he took rest under a holly tree while William Irvine kept watch. This story was the origin of the Irvines of Drum Castles coat of arms with three sprigs of holly. William also fought alongside the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314 and for his continued loyal service the King granted him Castle Drum and all it’s grounds in 1325. The Irvines backed the losing side in both the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite uprisings, but despite this they bounced back and were able to develop Castle Drum further during the 1800s. It remained the seat of the chief of Clan Irvine for over 650 years until 1975 when the property was given to the Scottish Trust. 

Castle Drum

The original 13th-century tower of Drum Castle is believed to be one of the three oldest, and notably unaltered, tower houses in Scotland.

It is said that the house is riddled with secret rooms. One was recently discovered behind the bookcase on the right.

The Archangel Gabriel by Hugh Irvine. Some say it was a self portrait.

The five lions on the mantle are each different. One for each child to hang a Christmas stocking.

These aren’t weird torture devices. They’re cheese presses.

The View From The Tower

Mary Irvine, Daughter of Alexander Irvine, the 16th Laird of Drum by Henry Raeburn

Mary Irvine

Mary Irvine managed the entire estate during the Jacobite uprisings and is considered to have been one of the best at it.

The Laird of Drum escaped capture after the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and returned to Castle Drum where Mary hide him in a secret room for over three years, during which time English forces searched the property repeatedly.

By the early 1700’s virtually all the great oak trees that graced the estate had been chopped down for ship building and military needs. Mary replanted them all resulting in the oak forest we see today. She insisted, “they are not just trees, they are our future.”

Henry Quentin Forbes Irvine (1908–1975), 24th Laird of Drum

Henry Quentin Irvine, fought with the King’s African Rifles. Some ten years before his death, this popular 24th laird entered into an agreement with The National Trust for Scotland so that Drum and its 411 acres could be bequeathed to the trust and held for the benefit of the nation.

Covenanting Rebellion

Drum was attacked and sacked three times during the Covenanting Rebellion, probably one the most significant events in the history of the British Isles, with ramifications that still reverberate today. 

On February 28, 1638 a large group gathered on the grounds of Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh to adopt a document that stood against “superstitious and papistical rites” and was an oath to maintain the reformed religion, i.e. Protestants vs. Catholics. This act would, over time, help bring about the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the English Civil War, the Scottish Civil War and the Irish Confederate Wars.

The Signing of the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirkyard, by William Allan

The Artist’s Town

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Kirkcudbright

We happened upon Kirkcudbright while touring southwest Scotland and liked it so much we stayed a couple days. The town has always had a long association with the Glasgow art movement. Many artists, including the Glasgow Boys and the famed Scottish Colorists, based themselves here and established the Kirkcudbright Artists’ Colony. The presence of accredited artists helped Kirkcudbright become known as “the Artist’s Town”.

We lodged at the Selkirk Arms Hotel and couldn’t recommend it more highly if you like good food, great beer and terrific people.

The hotel is named after Thomas Douglas, the 5th Earl of Selkirk, one of Kirkcudbright’s most famous sons. He devoted much of his life to helping landless Scots immigrate to Canada and from around 1790 to 1812 founded colonies on Prince Edwards Island, Ontario and Manitoba. The site of his original settlement on the Red River is now part of Winnipeg, Manitoba’s capital.

Kirkcudbright became a royal burgh in 1453. The Tolbooth/City Hall was built between 1625 and 1629 and served as tollbooth, council offices,  courts and the criminal and debtors’ prison. It’s most famous prisoner was the American Naval hero, John Paul Jones. The building, after a £3 million renovation, is now the city’s largest art museum/gallery.

Jessie Marion King

Jessie Marion King was one of the artists known as the Glasgow Girls. She lived and worked in this house with her husband E. A. Taylor. She was a hugely independent woman and chose to keep her maiden name, something very unusual in Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century.

A prolific artist, she always moved against the grain and was inspired to create unique designs in her paintings, illustrations, books, fabrics, pottery and jewelry.

Jessie Marion King

With it’s many pastel colored homes and narrow passageways, the town is almost the definition of quaint.

While The Queen’s Away

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The Castle Tour – Episode 4

Balmoral Castle

Balmoral, Autumn, 1896 by Joseph Donovan Adam

Balmoral Castle sits just outside the little town of Ballater, the home of the Deeside train station where the royal family, until the 1960s, would arrive by train for their holiday time. The train station sustained serious fire damage and has just completed a £3million restoration project. The museum and shops it houses are scheduled to reopen by late summer. Ballater is a nice little town that is  very dog friendly and has lots of small shops and a few good pubs.

Deeside Train Station

Deeside Train Station

Deeside Train Station

Ballater Library

The Balmoral Bar

Dogs are welcomed in all the pubs.

A place to tie your dog if you’d rather.

Golf has always been big in Ballater.

I love this glass.

Balmoral, the Queen’s over 50,000 acre country estate and holiday get-away, is surrounded by some amazing countryside of hills, mountains meadows, moors, valleys and rivers.

The River Dee

The River Dee

The Castle Itself

It really is an estate, in that, it does not meet the criteria previously stated in regards to castles. It’s more a huge house designed to look like a castle. Beyond a tower there are really none of the classic castle defense schemes in place. There are large windows on the ground floor, there are no narrow passageways to dissuade the advance of angry rebels, no uneven stairways to impede armor clad knights, no peep holes, lug holes or murder holes. It is a gentle welcoming place. The SWAT teams could probably just walk in the front door. Even though it is, a sort of, make believe castle, it is beautiful and packed with history. These attractions become somehow obligatory, like the Prime Directive, you’ve come this far you just have to go. To not go would be akin to traveling to Egypt and turning your back on the pyramids. The universe just won’t allow it. If nothing else, you get to breath the same air that the Queen breathes.

And talk about well organized, OMG. Absolutely nothing is left to chance, either in the running of the estate or in the welcoming of visitors. The surrounding forest and countryside is maintained like a huge carefully crafted garden. The forests are constantly culled of older dying trees to make way for new growth. Any spread of disease or infestation is closely monitored and eradicated. The wildlife population is strictly maintained at optimum levels. The appearance of any unwelcome species or predators that may disrupt this perfect balance is, like an invading army, quickly and aggressively dealt with. Wendi was thrilled to discover that the native red squirrels are protected and that the disease carrying grey squirrels have been pushed out.

The Queen’s Mailbox

The movement of visitors through the estate is just as efficient. Parking is off-site, after purchasing tickets at the gate you are offered the choice of a pleasant 15 minute walk through the woods to the visitor center/ cafe/ gift shop/ toilets/ movie presentation/ picture gallery/ historic vehicle garage /stables or you can ride in the small transit vehicle that leaves every 7 minutes, exactly. Once there, you can pick up a free audio guide, in virtually any language, and then you are on your own. You are free to wander well groomed grounds, gorgeous gardens and wondrous woodland paths.

As for the house, well, there will be no traipsing around the halls, bedrooms or kitchens of the inner sanctum, with or without shoes. Access is restricted to the ballroom where a very nice display of historic paintings and photos depict the royal family’s relationship with Balmoral, examples of beautiful Cairngorm crystals unearthed on the estate, some of the jewelry made with it and lots of pictures of the dogs. Unfortunately, absolutely no photos are to be taken in the ballroom, with or without the flash. This is a policy I have never quite understood. What do they imagine people might do with them? Perhaps it’s just a control thing.

The “battlemented” porte cochères, or “carriage porch”, is covered to protect guests from the frequent rain and snow.

The tower and “pepper pot turrets” are characteristic features of the Scottish Baronial style.

Pepper pot turrets

Side Notes:

Queen Victoria purchased the estate in 1852 after the previous owner choked to death on a fishbone.

The highly successful TV series the Crown, as well as, the films The Queen and Mrs. Brown figure events that happened at Balmoral, but none of them included footage actually shoot here.

The Red Squirrel

The Red Squirrel: A future in the forest // A Photo Book                                                                                      @Neil McIntyre

This photo is from a self-published book project by photographer Neil Mcintyre, the proceeds of which will help ensure a future for these amazing creatures in the UK. If you’d like to check out the book and project go to their Kickstarter page:  The Red Squirrel – A Photo Book

A Bonnie Wee Place

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We visited Edinburgh 20 years ago and a lot has changed since then. There seems to be construction projects everywhere and yet it’s core appears relatively in tact with the exception of a hoard of new tourists from every corner of the globe.. During our first visit, traveling in Europe was still pretty much the purview of Americans, Canadians, Australians and other Europeans with just a smattering of folks from more distant locales. Now, in the new global economy, everyone has hit the road. Asians, Africans, Middle Easterners and South Americans all fill the streets to catch a glimpse of Europe’s cultural past. Crowded as it may be, this is still a wonderful city with much to see and do.

Dr. Thomas Chalmers Looks Towards Edinburgh Castle – New Town

Sir Walter Scott Monument – New Town

George IV Statue – New Town

The cultural center of the city is divided into two distinct areas, the Old Town which sits upon Castle Rock and the New Town in the valley directly below. Prior to the mid 1700s, Edinburgh was probably not a place anybody from the 21st century would want to visit. It consisted of a long market street, now the Royal Mile, stretching along the spine of the rock up to the castle at the top.

The Royal Mile – Old Town

Old Town

The Royal Mile – Old Town

The Royal Mile – Old Town

Old Town

The Scotsman – North Bridge – Old Town

The narrow side alleys or closes ran perpendicular to the main street and snaked through the tall tenement buildings to the valley below. The buildings facing the market street were filled cheek to jowl with rich and poor alike. With absolutely no sanitation, sewage ran freely down the closes and culminated in a stagnant pond, i.e. cesspool, at the bottom of the hill. The city was a nasty and often dangerous place, filled with disease and rats. The slums were considered the worst in Europe and it is said that you could smell them from 12 miles away.

Advocates Close – Old Town

Old Town

Roxburgh’s Close – Old Town

Gladstone House – Old Town – Scottish National Trust

Riddle’s Close – Old Town

Riddle’s Close – Old Town

Riddle’s Court – Old Town

Wardroom’s Court – Old Town

This all changed in 1776 when a young architect named Jame Craig was selected to design a New Town in the area to the Northland below the old city. Over the next two decades the new grid layout filled with Georgian townhouses for the rich and fashionable and gave Edinburgh a whole new start, allowing it to be dubbed “the Athens of the North”.

The Albert Memorial in Charlotte Square – New Town

Georgian Townhouses

Georgian Townhouse

The Georgian House – Scottish National Trust

The Georgian House – Scottish National Trust

Over the past few years Wendi and I have been fortunate enough to see some great art in some of Europe’s most outstanding museums. Edinburgh, like all great European capitals, has it’s share. We have been to the Scottish National Gallery and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this week and they are both amazing buildings filled with stunning works of art.

Scottish National Gallery

The view from Scottish National Gallery

Scottish National Gallery

Robert Burns at the National Portrait Gallery

Although I am consistently moved and inspired by so much of the art, the things that I have find most compelling and captivating are the amazing stories of the creators and the subjects they have chosen to depict.

Aye, so you think you love your wee doggie do you.

“Callum” – John Emms – 1895

Meet Callum, an adorable little Dandie Dismount terrier who was owned by James Cowan Smith. The Honorable Mr. Smith commissioned English artist John Emms to paint his beloved dog in 1895. In 1919 the Smith estate bequeathed £55,000 to the Gallery. This was an astronomical sum at the time, a legacy that allowed the purchase of John Constable’s Dedham Vale, Singer Sargent’s Lady Agnew and Goya’s El Medico. There was only one condition, the Gallery had to agree to permanently display Emm’s portrait of Callum. A promise it has keep for almost 100 years.

“Lady Agnew of Lochnaw” – John Singer Sargent – 1892

The American painter John Singer Sargent spent the vast majority of his life living and working in Europe and became hugely successful in his lifetime. After securing a commission through negotiations which he carried out personally, Sargent would visit the client’s home to see where the painting was to hang and would often review a client’s wardrobe to pick suitable attire. He often worked in his studio, which was well-stocked with furniture and background materials he chose for proper effect. He had no assistants and handled all the tasks, such as preparing his canvases, varnishing the painting, arranging for photography, shipping, and documentation himself.  He commanded about $5,000 per portrait, or about $130,000 in current dollars. Some American clients traveled to London, at their own expense, to have Sargent paint their portrait. It all sounds good but the road was not without it’s bumps. When his most controversial work, Portrait of Madame X, now considered one of his best, was unveiled in Paris at the 1884 Salon, it aroused such a negative reaction that it is thought to have prompted Sargent’s move to London. Strange, given that  the English critics were particularly harsh to him, calling his technique  “Frenchified”  with “no taste in expression, air, or modeling.” But all scandal disappeared in 1893 when this painting, the Lady Agnew, was exhibited at the Royal Academy. It’s critical success allowed Sargent to average as many as fourteen portrait commissions per year during the 1890s. If my math serves me right that’s a couple million a year. Not bad for a boy with almost no formal education other then a constant diet of museums and an odd assortment of art tudors.

“Winter Day, Finzean” – Joseph Farquharson – 1901

Besides being the Laird of Finzean in Aberdeenshire, Joseph Farquharson was a successful professional painter. He built a movable hut on wheels with allowed him to set up throughout his beautiful wooded estate and capture, en plein-air, the snowy landscapes that made him famous. Unlike this painting, much of his work contained the sheep that populated the estate, which prompted the nickname, “Frozen Mutton Farquharson”.

“The Comforts of Industry” – George Morland – 1780s

“The Miseries of Idleness” – George Morland – 1780s

Clearly English painter George Moreland knows his subject matter.  By way of comparison, these two companion pieces illustrate the benefits of an orderly and industrious life as opposed to the shortcomings of a drunken and slovenly life. Ironically Moreland died bankrupted of alcoholism at the relatively young age of 41.

“Portrait of Sarah Malcolm” – William Hogarth – 1733

I guess you’d have to call this painting a spec job because I’m certain that Sarah didn’t commission it. She is shown here in her cell at Newgate Prison just two days before her execution for the murder of her mistress Lydia Buncombe and two fellow servants. Celebrated writer and collector Horace Walpole purchased the painting from the artist. 

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think”  – Horace Walpole

“The Three Legends of St. Nicholas” – Gerard David – 1500-20

We investigated the life and legends surrounding St. Nicholas while in Holland last December for the Sinterclaus celebration. This is the first artwork we’ve seen depicting the original Santa Claus’ legend and miracles. In the left panel the future Saint stands in a wash basin thanking God for his birth, certainly an early achiever. In the center panel he saves three impoverished girls from a life of prostitution by financing their dowries, something that he is reputed to have done throughout his life. By the third panel it all goes a little dodgy. He is said to have brought the three young boys back to life after they had been murdered and salted down for meat during a famine. Sure, that could happen.

“Landscape with Huntsmen and Dead Game (Allegory of the Sense of Smell)” – Jan Weenix – 1697

This one of a series of five large paintings depicting the five senses. It was purchased in the 1920s by American Press Magnate, William Randolph Hearst, who sold it to RKO Pictures. They, in turn, sold it to Paramount Studios who used it as a backdrop in a Bob Hope movie in 1946.

“A School for Boys and Girls“ – Jan Steen – 1670

This painting is not just some light-hearted view of a classroom out of control. It is meant to demonstrate the evils of inattentiveness in a school without discipline. There are many clues hidden in the picture but the most telling is a child offering a pair of glasses to an owl next to a lantern with illustrates an old Dutch proverb, “What use are glasses or light if the owl does not want to see?”

“A School for Boys and Girls“ – Detail

“The Murder of David Rizzio” – Sir William Allan – 1833

By 1566 members of Mary, Queen of Scots court felt that the young Queen was far too influenced by her private secretary, the Italian musician David Rizzio, and murdered him, as she watched, in an apartment at Hollyroodhouse in Edinburgh. During 1817 Sir Walter Scott asked Allan to illustrate major themes from Scottish history and the two visited the apartment which was already a major tourist attraction.

“The Murder of David Rizzio” – Detail

“The Murder of David Rizzio” – Detail

Got to get gaun, we be having a bevvy the nite.