Suivez Francois!

Starting tomorrow the latest of the big Dunnett gatherings takes place – this time in the romantic city of Paris. With plenty of sites from Queens’ Play and Checkmate it should be a wonderful few days for the  participants who are heading there from various parts of the world.

Sadly I’m not one of them – originally I’d hoped to attend but a combination of business pressure and the process of buying and moving into my new house mean that I’m more than fully committed. A great pity, the prospect of eating French cuisine in some dramatic and historic venues and visits to places like Fontainebleau, not to mention the real point which is of course meeting up again with many old friends and correspondents, was a seductive one. But I guess I’ll have to wait till Istanbul which is planned for 2012.

Some participants are also visiting Bruges as part of an extended trip, thus taking in Niccolo territory as well. Another city I’ve been promising myself a visit to for far too long.

To everyone taking part;  fair skies and fine eating – I’m sure you’ll all enjoy yourselves immensely. And have a glass of wine for me.

Rosslyn Chapel emerges from scaffolding

Anyone who was with us for the DDRA Edinburgh weekend a few years ago when we visited Rosslyn Chapel (thankfully before the Dan Brown inspired increase in visitor numbers) will remember the intricate scaffolding and extra roof which was being used to allow access for restoration and also to help dry out the building after earlier ill-conceived restoration efforts. While it was fascinating to walk around the scaffolding and see the roof carvings up close the broader external views were much disrupted.

Now the chapel, which Dorothy used as a setting in the House of Niccolo, is emerging from its web of steel and can be appreciated in full again. You can read more details about it at the Scotsman site

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Rosslyn-Chapel39s-resurrection-revealed.6473239.jp

Dunnottar Castle

Just a quick mention that on one of my other blogs – Enigma Variations – I’ve just posted a photograph of Dunnottar Castle; which of course you’ll all remember was where Richard was staying when news of the shipwreck of the Edward Bonaventure came through. Unlike my usual photos this one was taken on a mobile phone, but I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. The post is called Travels with a stand-in camera.