You will have to forgive me a but of meandering here. I am both happy to be nearing the end of this project, I am realizing how much ground we really covered and how many amazing things we saw. It truly was the trip of a lifetime for us, and I am kind of longing for the time to come again. So, if anybody has a spare 20-30 grand they want to throw at me I wouldn't turn you down. I have tried to not post TOO many photos, but it is hard as I loved so many of them, and it is hard to not show them all to you. I will do a follow up post discussing how my equipment choices panned out and talking about transportation choices etc... tying things up. But this IS the last photo filled extravaganza.

Taking leave of Scotland by way of Edinburgh Waverly Station, we drove there from our Hotel in Irvine and I dropped off lovely wife with our stuff and

drove to the car drop off about a mile away. (This brings me to a moment where I have to admit one of my many mistakes, where I believed the website where Budget said their car drop off is convenient and close to the station. Two lies for the price of one.) I dropped off the car and walked back, arriving with plenty of time to collect my bride and find the platform for the train to Durham. The ride was lovely with great views, our first daylight train trip beyond the short steam train ride we took. Now, we could have gotten a hotel or B&B close to our last great house we planned to visit, which could have made some things easier, I was fulfilling another of my promises to myself. When I took a train down to London for a placement during my physiotherapy training, it ran through Durham and I saw the Cathedral perched on a hill and found myself really wishing I could have stopped to see it. That desire stuck with me, and though I did try to take a trip down I was never able to arrange it, and I was determined to stop there on our way back. It is a grand building, and I enjoyed it, but planned poorly as it was a Sunday, and tours were not on offer, and there was a service starting that curtailed my photographic endeavors. I had given consideration to trying to photograph the exterior in the evening, but we had been traveling for nearly a month now and after the travel of the day, we were happy to rest. I did go out in the early evening in search of some snacks and really did enjoy walking around the town, Durham, at least the older part we were in, is a pleasant place to wander.

You can see how the cathedral dominates the skyline.  

The pedestrian bridge over the river Wear was a favorite  

The entrance is oddly through the side of the nave rather than at the end of the narthex to enter into the nave walking straight up the aisle.   

Now THAT is a door knocker. Though, it may be used to pull the door closed as well.   

The crossing or central part of the cross shape in this cathedral has thousands of origami "Peace" doves as part of an art installation, unfortunately due to services that were starting soon, we were not allowed closer to see them.   

IF you look closely in the first two Harry Potter movies you will see parts of the cathedral, including this walkway around the cloister.  

Such a lovely pedestrian area, though there are some steep hills to climb getting around, it is quite enjoyable.   

Looking up the road towards our Hotel (The green dome is on the top, it is the former offices of the Shire, or county government built in the late 1800's a lovely baroque revival style with extremely dark red brick.)  

There is a story behind the next days events. Shortly before leaving, the plan was to have a leisurely morning, take the train down to London, and spend a relaxing afternoon and evening in our Hotel close to St. Pauls before flying home the next morning. Then, we were watching the 2005 Pride and Prejudice moving starring Keira Knightley one night and as nosy people like me are wont to do, I looked up the filming location of Pemberly the house of Mr. Darcy. Called Chatsworth House, one of the largest and most ornate homes in England. As I looked at the map, I realized that it was located roughly midway between Durham and London and just a few miles from Chesterfield which is a stop on the route our train to London would take. I remember asking lovely wife if she would be interested in adding a stop here on our last day and being met with a significantly positive response. Now, to do this, required hiring a cab that not only could transport us there and back, but also store our larger bags while we were in the home and get us back to the station in time for the next leg of our journey. Honestly, I stressed about the cab arrangement more than anything else on the trip. The online booking website for the company was widgy and Expedia was not helpful for this kind of thing. It was eventually sorted and we were delivered precisely on time and safely to the entrance.

To put it delicately Chatsworth House was STUNNING! It is amazing what hundreds of years worth of effort and large amounts of money can produce. Your first staff member you meet after gaining entrance is a little surly but doesn't bother you.  

The one on the other side of the street has a slightly less threatening look on their face, but remains quite quiet.   

Imagine rolling up to this entrance in your carriage.    

The interior is as much art as it is residence, at times it was overwhelming, they did keep it dark in many places, I would guess to protect the frescoes painted on the walls and the wood.

My face mirrored that of Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice walking through this hall. Every inch is designed to overawe and impress.   

Decorating a wall in just another hallway, I would think this could be the centerpiece of many smaller homes.   

It is just... beyond words. Lovely bride and I exchanged many wide eyed looks.

Yes, upon closer examination, the statue is devoid of skin, which has been thrown over its upheld arm. I find it both exquisite and frankly disturbing. Having performed anatomic dissection in school and worked with cadavers, I am not bothered by that. But having one, in gold (Maybe polished brass, can you imagine the cost?) standing AND holding it's own skin. If a cadaver did that I would be quite astonished really.

The most glaring incongruity I find in the art in these homes, is the prevalence of many partially clothed and even completely nude women and men yet the people commissioning these artworks were quite prudish about uncovered skin in real life. It does make me shake my head at times.   

It is a stairwell, just a stairwell. Decorated within an inch of it's life. In case you are wondering, it is extremely difficult to hold your camera so that it points perfectly straight up and keep yourself in the geometrical center of the thing. I think I got this pretty straight though.   

I am not sure I can say how much I LOVE this photo, B&W is a delicate art, everything becomes about the light and shadow, the shape and how the light touches it. It is just a vase (Ornate vase) in a backlit window, but it captures the mood of the moment so well for me.

I can feel right now, what I felt there. The overwhelming level of decoration, It is extravagant and ornate, but not a usable space to me.   

A dome at the top of a stairwell.   

When I read Victorian or Regency Romance novels, yes I do, I never imagined the "Library" being... this...Heavens!   

This statue being at least moderately well known I found it odd that it was available to view from that close of a view point, It was close enough to touch. The lighting made this quite a challenging photo to take, and I had little choice but to make it Black & White.   

Not quite sure that dining at this table would make for a relaxing meal. I'm actually sure they were not particularly comfortable.   

I think they put the soup in that?   

It is fair to say that Lovely Bride was zeroed in on maximizing her time in the sculpture gallery, it plays a big part in the film and it was definitely a significant part of what I was looking forward to. But, for her it was a particularly important stop. Did you know they have busts of Mr. Darcy you can buy that look just like the one in the movie?   

From a photographers perspective, it is easy to take a picture of a beautiful object, but in this setting it will look like everyone else's. I had sufficient time to play a little and try to make an image that is different  than what Aunt Martha will get with her cell phone and a steady hand. My 15-30mm with the aperture wide open at f2.8 was where I started, this was at 21mm. The wide open aperture gives me some background blur.   

15mm and stopping back down for greater depth of field (Area in focus) as well as a nice starburst from the light helped me out here as well as getting up close and personal.   

Do you like the color of monochrome picture better?   

It was time to see the grounds. Lovely lively bride was happy to sit and not be on her feet knowing that I would be moving quickly to get to the end of the lake and back.

An iconic shot for me in the movie was stopping the carriage to see the reaction of Elizabeth and her Aunt/Uncle to this view. You have to admit it IS impressive.   

The urn is a monument to a lost loved one, just kind of stuck in the middle of the road at the end of the trees. Melancholy and striking. 

Conversion to monochrome (Black and White) allowed me to turn the trunks of the trees more spectral and just visible in the darkness. What is difficult when you are taking a file from the RAW format straight out of the camera and "Developing" it in the digital darkroom (i.e photoshop or whatever software you use.) is that the device you view the picture on will change what it looks like. Looking at it on my calibrated monitor compared to my tablet the shadow detail is very different? I have no control over how bright your screen is set and I don't know if the photo you see looks like what I chose to make it look like. That is the more beautiful part of printing a photo, it is static and I control the brightness. That is part of why it is important to have a tool to calibrate your monitor as a photographer if you are printing. What you see on your monitor should very closely match what you see on your print.   

It wasn't raining, yet, but the fountain was providing some atmosphere, really loved the interaction of the ducks with the couple eating their lunch.   

The snake in the infinity symbol is the sigil of the building, echoed in many places.   

At last we have ended the journey, we did have a night in London where I took many photos of St. Pauls and Tower Bridge reflected in the Thames, but they were included earlier in the posts about London. 

A full month traveling, seeing both familiar and new things for me, with ALL OF IT being novel to my patient lovely bride. I sincerely hope that those of you viewing this blog have enjoyed in some way coming on this trip, maybe helping you see places you will someday visit. It has been my pleasure to share these photos with you. As ever, if you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me or leave a comment on the post or main page.

See you soon, go take some photos for yourself!