Stuff.

Hello lovely blog followers!,
It's been a while since I blogged and I apologize. I have much to update you on. First on Wednesday the 30th of May, I went to Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, St. Giles Cathedral, and the National Portrait Gallery. Sad to say I have no pictures from that but it was amazing! In the castle, I got to see where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her son James, which was pretty neat. Just before the castle, I went to the National Portrait Gallery where I saw a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots. Made. My. Day. Also saw several portraits of Stuart Kings, Princesses, and the philosopher David Hume. For those who may have watched Lost, Desmond Hume was based on the philosopher David Hume, so to see the real person was pretty awesome. St. Giles Cathedral was just a really neat medieval cathedral (on the inside) with an outside that had been restored during the Victorian Era, so it was an interesting contrast. As well, we did nip inside some of the old Parliament buildings which were gorgeous. Okay fast forward to this week on Monday. I went to Glencoe, Loch Lomond, and Stirling Castle. Glencoe and Loch Lomond afforded the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, and I will post pictures. Stirling Castle was really awesome, especially since it has just had a major restoration to show what the Great Hall and Royal Palace would have looked like when James V was King. I will include pictures of this as well. On Wednesday, Jane, myself, Leann Howard, and one of her 3 students who had come from USI, went to Hamilton Low Parks Museum and Mausoleum. The Mausoleum was the highlight, and the chapel in the top is said to have the longest echo in the world I believe. An acoustics institute recorded something like a 30 second long echo at one point. The human ear can make out an 18 second echo there, with 9 seconds of sound and 9 seconds of vibration. Pretty neat. They also have the bronze doors on display that were once hung outside the chapel, and are based on Ghiberti's Baptistry doors in Florence. I did take pictures of the inside of the chapel and the doors so I will post those here. All in all it's been a great couple of weeks, and in the next two weeks I will start cataloging photographs for the search room and continue work on my project. Stay tuned! --Catherine