Updates

4.30.10
Woke up early to get some more last minute work done on my projects- crit is at 1:30. I was actually able to get a lot of progress on my first project so I was happy with it. We made Mexican for lunch- guest crit Larry Frank is here so we all played host for him. After lunch I had my critique- it went really well. They liked the changes I had made to my swimming pool and made some good suggestions about how to make my two projects better.

Last few days at Kiplin before Scotland were really relaxed- I had already finished writing my papers for the British urbanism class so I was pretty much hanging out until we left. We went into Richmond one day to go swimming and watch Cemetery Junction- SO GOOD. I love coming of age stories…especially if the guys have British accents. Really excited to see Scotland- beautiful scenery here we come!

5.2.10
This morning we packed up and left for Scotland for a week. First stop was a castle with a view- pretty impressive. Then we went to Lindisfarne! The weather was cold and windy and slightly rainy- very poetic. I loved the house/castle remodel. The amount of detail Lutyens puts into his houses is amazing, so many little personal touches. It makes you want to be an architect. After walking around the town we drove to Muirfield golf course to see the Lutyens hotel- Greywalls. The hotel was quite swanky- you could tell by the 700 pound bottles of whiskey displayed in one of the rooms- but quite nice. The gardens out back were beautiful. After we drove to Glasgow- our hostel is in a great area. It reminds us all of Bath because of the topography and our hostel is in a curved housing piece reminiscent of the crescent and the circus in Bath. By the time we were at the hostel and out to eat it was really late and we decided on Chinese buffet- instant gratification. I may have eaten my body weight in food but it was excellent. As Chris said- you need to binge eat every once in a while. It felt great.

5.3.10
Woke up early to go running- there is a park right next to our hostel. Such a hard run through the park with all the hills!! I needed it though; you need a nice hill workout every now and then. The group went to a Mackintosh church in the morning but it was closed so we went to another of his buildings that is now a museum to him called the Lighthouse. They had so much free stuff (!!) we all stocked up and complained later about how heavy our backpacks were- worth it. Next we went to lunch at the Willow Tea Room- another building by Mackintosh- great meal. His interiors are great- especially his stair and entry sequences. They are a piece of furniture in themselves. Some of his decorations are a little too girly and precious for me, but you have to admire his design approach and how he leaves nothing undersigned- a lot like Lutyens in that way. After lunch we went to the Glasgow School of Art- one if Mackintosh’s most famous buildings- and had a tour of the place. We walked around the city a bit more and DuPuy picked us up to drive around and see some newer architecture across the river. Very interesting stuff around there, think space age. We all made a beeline for the closest McDonald's after we were done for the day because we were under the impression that the Monopoly game was still going on and that, naturally, we would be able to win something. Let down- its over. Dave and the girls went to a really great French restaurant after- I got French Onion soup and it made me reminisce about Lyon last summer.

5.4.10
Slept through the alarm- no running this morning. Whoops. We drove to New Lanark in the morning. It was an industrial New Town built around the same time as Lowell, Mass. Not going to lie- it was boring. I think one industrial new town was enough for the trip (Saltaire). We ate lunch there and then left for Hill House- another Mackintosh building except this one was a private house. The house was amazing. I am in love with his stairs!! Plus- I have decided that I am going to replicate his window seat in my house, I snuck a picture and sketched it for a while so I am confident I can do it :P

We drove to see Loch Lombard after so, as DuPuy says, our parents wont kill us because we went to Scotland and didn’t see a Loch., and made our way back to Glasgow. We went our for Spanish Tapas- delish. Then Sara, Zach and I went to a bar and sampled some whiskey- we’re in Scotland after all.