Coming to the End

Through rain, sleet, sun & snow we managed to have a grand time. Slainte!

Walks We're Going to Miss

Walks along the River Kelvin

Walks in the Botanics Garden

Walks through the Dowanhill neighborhood, full of villas, tenements and terrace housing

Sheep, Lots and Lots of Them

There's no way to leave Scotland without mentioning sheep. Sheep are omnipresent throughout the countryside and outnumber people. It's rumored that there are 5.3 million people in Scotland and nearly 7 million sheep.

On the Trail of the Apostle

Market Street, Ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral, St. Andrews Castle

It’s not difficult to picture Kate and Wills strolling the leafy quads at the University of St. Andrews. The campus and the town are bathed in an air of privilege, affluence, and tradition. As the third oldest English-speaking university in the world (founded in 1411), St. Andrews is known as the “Cambridge of Scotland.” The university museum pays tribute to its long history with displays such as the silver medallions (usually sporting a student’s family coat of arms) that winners of the annual archery competition were required to commission and receipts in Latin for gifts given by freshmen to their upperclassmen mentors (traditionally raisins but today more likely wine for males and lingerie for females). The most impressive sight by far (for those not awed by the course that gave birth to golf) is the ruins of the enormous 12th century cathedral that served as Scotland’s ecclesiastical center and the resting place of the country’s patron saint, set high above the dramatic coastline.

Dundee - City of Design

Nobody told the seagulls to show some respect for Dundee as a 2015 UNESCO City of Design. Their mark is omnipresent on the cobbled streets and old granite buildings of this sea-faring city that’s hoping to attract attention with ambitious development plans (including a northern branch of the Victoria & Albert Museum that’s slated to open in 2017). Rudy got the inside scoop on the city’s rebranding from the head of the city-supported Creative Dundee. We admired the grand public buildings, visited the impressive contemporary arts center, and paid homage to the city’s past glory as the jute capital of the world. In the mid-1800s, a million bales of jute a year came to Dundee from India to be processed into everything from rope for whaling ships to canvas for American pioneers’ wagon trains to burlap bags for South American coffee beans and sugar to backing for carpets and linoleum. In a few decades though someone figured out it was far cheaper to teach the Indians to manufacture those products themselves rather than transport the raw materials halfway around the world. Yet another great Scottish industry vanished, leaving derelict brick warehouses, empty wharves, and unemployed workers in its wake. Former industrial detritus now houses design firms, artists and digital start-ups (think made-in-Dundee Minecraft)....and no wild dundee marmalades were sighted!

Tea v. Coffee

According to a recent report, the average British resident sips 884 cups of tea each year. That’s enough to fill two bathtubs, though we’re not sure who is actually soaking in Earl Grey. While tea consumption goes up the older one gets, it’s obvious that coffee may be gaining ground (or grounds), particularly if all the young hip people filling coffee houses cling to that habit in their later years. We’ve had our share of lattes, macchiatos, Americanos, and flat whites at independent cafes that would do Portland proud— bragging about their artisan blends and house-roasted beans. Oh, and by the way, there's no shortage of pastries either.
 

Creative City Book Is Published

Research and teaching on cultural case studies of  Glasgow and Portland has resulted in the publication of The Creative City. Connecting People, Place and Identity by the Glasgow School of Art. Led by Mackintosh Professor Brian Evans and Fulbright Professor Rudy Barton, the students analyzed characteristics that define creative cities worldwide and how they drive economic development and quality of life. The class also compared and contrasted urban attributes of Glasgow and Portland, including public space, café culture, street food, and riverfront amenities.