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Friday, July 18, 2014
By the way
Maybe I should mention that I haven't posted on here in ages and ages because:
Scotland 2014, part 1
Colin and I recently got back from a 10 day trip to Scotland. Our main goals were to hike the beautiful hills and coasts, visit some castles, drink scotch whiskey (Colin), and watch the World Cup.
Day 1
We flew into Glasgow around 2:30 and picked up our rental car. The car we rented was a manual, because that was by far the cheaper option, and as you know, they drive on the left over there. I'll just say that as someone who knows how to drive stick but has never done it regularly and hasn't driven a stick shift in a while, between that and the whole driving-on-the-left thing by the time we got to our guest house my legs were shaking. I stalled out about 8 times, partly from nerves and partly from getting stuck at a red light on an uphill.
I can't remember where we ate dinner, so it much not have been too memorable.
Day 2
We had a leisurely breakfast at the guest house (although I couldn't quite bring myself to have the full Scottish breakfast, which typically includes: sausage, black pudding, bacon, baked beans, fried eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomato, and a potato scone). Then we set out without a real agenda. We walked over to the main part of town, with its old stone buildings and pedestrian shopping streets, and took in some typically bad coffee, the bustle of city center, and City Hall. A highlight from our walk was Garnethill Park, which is a little park nestled north of center city.
Then we headed to what we thought was the Botanic Garden, but is actually the Winter Garden. The Botanic Garden is something else that we unfortunately did not make it to. Attached to the Winter Garden is the People's Palace, which houses a small free museum that explains the history of local issues.
From there we wandered up to the cathedral and Necropolis. The cathedral is impressive and dark.
Necropolis is a large cemetery that was created when there started to be too many people dying to all fit in the churchyard cemeteries, and the rich people wanted to make sure they were buried together. The place is all monuments and large, stone crosses. I was almost regretful that the day was so sunny and blue, because it detracted from the moody atmosphere of the place. The views from up there are pretty great.
Finally, we wandered back through city center toward the guest house, to rest our feet before dinner. For dinner we went to the Indian place across the street that we had been smelling since we got into town. Mama India treated us well, with yummy curries and a conveniently short walk.
 |
| Loch Linnhe |
Day 1
We flew into Glasgow around 2:30 and picked up our rental car. The car we rented was a manual, because that was by far the cheaper option, and as you know, they drive on the left over there. I'll just say that as someone who knows how to drive stick but has never done it regularly and hasn't driven a stick shift in a while, between that and the whole driving-on-the-left thing by the time we got to our guest house my legs were shaking. I stalled out about 8 times, partly from nerves and partly from getting stuck at a red light on an uphill.
 |
| Our guest house's street |
Day 2
We had a leisurely breakfast at the guest house (although I couldn't quite bring myself to have the full Scottish breakfast, which typically includes: sausage, black pudding, bacon, baked beans, fried eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomato, and a potato scone). Then we set out without a real agenda. We walked over to the main part of town, with its old stone buildings and pedestrian shopping streets, and took in some typically bad coffee, the bustle of city center, and City Hall. A highlight from our walk was Garnethill Park, which is a little park nestled north of center city.
Then we headed to what we thought was the Botanic Garden, but is actually the Winter Garden. The Botanic Garden is something else that we unfortunately did not make it to. Attached to the Winter Garden is the People's Palace, which houses a small free museum that explains the history of local issues.
From there we wandered up to the cathedral and Necropolis. The cathedral is impressive and dark.
Necropolis is a large cemetery that was created when there started to be too many people dying to all fit in the churchyard cemeteries, and the rich people wanted to make sure they were buried together. The place is all monuments and large, stone crosses. I was almost regretful that the day was so sunny and blue, because it detracted from the moody atmosphere of the place. The views from up there are pretty great.
Finally, we wandered back through city center toward the guest house, to rest our feet before dinner. For dinner we went to the Indian place across the street that we had been smelling since we got into town. Mama India treated us well, with yummy curries and a conveniently short walk.
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