(A) Look who we came across in Edinburgh this morning!
The lad in the passenger seat is Sterling, whom I’ve known since Kindergarten. He decided to have a look around Scotland, and it happens to coincide with our time here. How fun!
Once we’d met up with him, we visited the Drumlanrig Castle. It’s just a few miles from where we’re staying, and it’s on some beautiful land — rolling hills, rivers, and a sycamore tree that’s 300 years old (pictured below). According to Wikipedia and our tour guide (in both of whom I put the utmost trust), the Duke who owns the place now is the second-largest landowner in Europe. The way they state that fact, you’d think that the Duke is an enormous man. Turns out, it’s just that he owns a lot of land — 217,000 acres. He’s a regular-sized man.
The place is full of old paintings and furniture and tapestries and China-ware… like any good castle ought to be. The most impressive piece in the collection might be the original Rembrandt painting “An Old Woman Reading”.
It was painted in 1655 and is worth lots of money, and there it was… hanging above the fireplace. And we saw it.
We also saw two cabinets that were given to the Duke’s family by King Louis the XIV. To call them ‘cabinets’ doesn’t really do them justice. But because photographs aren’t allowed — and because I don’t know how to begin to describe the delicate wooden inlays, the gilded statue legs, or the incredibly precise joinery — I’ll just call them cabinets. We were told that they are priceless, and I believe it.
Now, I’ve mentioned some of the impressive stuff in the castle. But the castle has seen some pretty impressive guests over the years. One was Charles Edward Stuart, “affectionately” known as Bonnie Prince Charlie. He and his troops stayed there one night (December 22, 1745) and, by all accounts, they wrecked the place. The Duke and Duchess weren’t there at the time, and the servants were all run off. Quite a party.
More recently — 1971 — Neil Armstrong and his wife spent the night there. I imagine they were more gentle on the place.
Okay, enough about the castle. After that, it was time for dinner. Because we had such a good experience last night at the Buccleuch & Queensberry Hotel, we decided to go back. We sat at the same table and had the same excellent experience.
Pretty good day.