Day 6 Working Man’s Glasgow

Our next stop after Edinburgh was Glasgow.  It only takes about an hour to drive over so it was a shot day on the bus.  Compared to Edinburgh Glasgow is working class city.  Up until the 90s most of the city would have been considered working class.  In the late 90s they started reinvigorating the city towards tourism, a developed downtown and upper class shopping.  

We started the tour at George square.  Like many European cities of the past the square was used as a stockyard and butchery.  Today many statues of the cities past politicians, writers and namesakes stand around the square along with another WWI monument. 

We proceeded to walk down the road to a statue of the Duke of Wellington.  Many of us had seen pictures of the statue before abed it was not because of how famous he was but because of his adornment.  The Duke has a construction cone on his head.  Basically awesome.  The town certainly has a sense of humorous about themselves.  For many years the police would take the cone down but it would always be back on in the morning so they gave up on keeping the Duke sans hat.  

 Behind the Duke is a former home of someone that had too much money.  The home is now home to Glasgow's modern art museum which was formerly a home.  I'm not a big fan of most modern art and that museum did not change my opinion.  The best thing in there was sculptures that looked like the ice cream at the top of a cone.

I wish I would have bought a post card of the Duke in the shop but I suppose that I remain consistent with my non buyers remorse.  Along with not buying any tartan scarves in Edinburgh, there were too many options.

 A few of us then walked over to the city cathedral.  It wouldn't be a European city without one.  This one was one of the most impressive that I have seen.  The upper level was huge.  The stained glass murals were probably 20 feet high each.  My guess that there was at least 20 of them.  Not only was that but there a whole lower level that had a variety of rooms for a variety of ceremonies.  Even if you are not supposed to take photos inside I did anyways. 

From there we grabbed a very authentic Glasgow meal of an overpriced Mexican burrito.  Just what I thought my Scotland experience would be.  Oh well.

 Most of the group headed back to the bus up to a whiskey distillery.  I've been to breweries before so I had some level of what to expect.  We started with a dram of single malt whiskey that most people couldn't even finish.  We walked around the distillery with our guide who explained all the steps of making it.  She also told us that they used to have the Royal seal on the bottle because the queen mum used to order and serve it.  Gotta love a 100 year old lady who still likes her whiskey.

The drive back the distillery was beautiful as it could be considered part of the Scottish highlands and lowlands.  But before heading back into Glasgow we drove up into the highlands to Loch Lomond.  Just like the song, you take the high road and I take the low road and I'll meet you at Loch Lomond.  So yes.  I saw a Loch in Scotland.  Bryn for the win!

 Our bus dropped us off at the hotel in what seemed to be the Indian part of town.  Let’s just say that our accommodations were not the Ritz but they weren't hostels either.

Our regular guide Tim told us about a comedy club in town so we all headed that way for a show.  A group of girls and I ended up at a small local pub where I ordered a toastie.  Basically a grilled cheese with onion tomato and bell peppers with a side salad. I only paid £2.95 for it and it was the best thing that I had outside our paid meals and Oink. Nothing fancy but it was great with a little hard cider.

After dinner we went to the comedy club called The Stand.  There was a sub par warm-up guy with 4 other comedians that came over to Glasgow from Edinburgh fringe.  He first guy was an Aussie like half of our group so he played to that really well.  The next were two women and they were both excellent.  The last guy was probably the worst.  About 3/4 of the audience was from out the UK and if he had been paying attention to the last couple of acts he would have known that most of his jokes were not going to make much sense to us.  Plus he looked like an old crazy Harry Potter without the glasses which I couldn't get over.  About 2 1/2 good acts for £10 was a good value.

Back to the hotel to sleep off an interesting but not spectacular day in Glasgow. The next day we would cruise across the sea to Ireland.  I suppose most cities would be a letdown after Edinburgh.

Day 5 A Solo Day in Edinburgh

I enjoyed my second full day in Edinburgh solo.  Almost everyone in the group took a day trip up to Loch Ness. it took them 5 hours to get up there, only one hour to explore, and 5 hours back.  I'm glad I passed on going because I had the most fantastic day solo.  

I went down for another Scottish morning breakfast and found only a few people stayed behind.  I ended up taking an easy morning leaving a clothesline in the room full of hand washed clothes and left around 11 and hit the town.

I got off a couple stops before where I had previously because there were a couple churches around with art fairs around them.  And taking after my mother I had to explore around the cemeteries in the town.  Every cemetery contains so much history and it seems that especially around Europe they all have a different feel to them.  

I walked into the church where they were rehearsing for a show a couple hours later.  Its always nice to have some extra ambiance while wondering around. 

On the outside of the church there wad an art fair but there was not too many things that tempted me so I walked out without anything added to my bag.  I headed into Prince's gardens and walked around in the rain taking pictures of the Edinburgh Castle from a different angle. 

From the park I went the Scottish museum   Mostly paintings and busts inside.  Nothing stood out to me too much.  Some of he landscapes were worth a stop for but how many can you truly look at.  My favorite was a display from various artist and their depiction of turn of the century fairy tales like the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.

After the museum there was a bit more Fringe fest to see.  There was a woman contortionist doing a show with hula hoops out front.  She was very talented and extremely flexible but for her own safety when it started to rain she ended the show.  Well I didn't pay for it so I can't complain.

I headed off to a part of town that I had not visited the day before, New Town.  This part of town had more upscale shopping and hotels.  I was hoping to run across the international book fair.  I was close by when I was walking but I did not find it at the time.  Oh well.  Nothing in that area interested me too much so back I went to Old Town and the Royal mile.  

I headed towards the castle again and stopped in some of the shops and literal tourist traps.  One shop I couldn't figure out how to get out.  Easy in not so much out.  After walking by bagpipers, William Wallace, and old timey soldiers I walked into another church.  I had a nice conversation with a local man inside about the Stone of Destiny and the various myths about it and if the one that is in possession by the government is the real one.  Who knows?  I got directions from them to a restaurant that was in the KC paper before I left and headed down alleyways and stairs to find it.  The place was called Oink and they serve pig roast sandwich   They were excellent and I got there between the lunch and dinner rush because there is usually a line out the door.

I walked down the road to Grey Friers cemetary.  The story goes there that a man passed away and his dog came to his gravesite every day.  For 10 years the dog came to his masters grave and even when they locked him out the keepers would always find him in the morning.  Amazing story. So much so that there is gravestone for the dog and people leave dog toys for him.  Also around the area is a coffee shop that JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book.  Sorry about all he Harry Potter mentions.  I realize I have a problem.

Around this area is the former city meeting place and the place where hey hung he accused.  There is another great story from his area as well.   There was a woman who was hung in the square who lived an entire second life if you will.  She was hung and when she was about to be buried she woke up and had not been killed.  The town rallied to the judge that she should be hanged again to follow though on her verdict.  But he judge disagreed because she had already been hint so she had already served her sentence.  So now that is why the sentences stay hung until dead.  Good to know!  

So off from the hanging spot I went down one of the lower streets to where ever it lead me.  I ended up around the other side of the Royal mile from the castle and at he Scottish Parliament building.  Scotland reinstated their parliament in 1997 and are currently proceeding to become their own separate country from the UK within the next few years.  The building is very strange looking.  If you looked at it from above the buildings would look like leaves and then connected with walkways.  Very strange.  But I ended up talking to a couple of employees of the building.   The woman instead of saying yes to answer said aye, awesome!  We talked about the summit that people were climbing behind the building and abut how long it would take to get to the top.

Well needless to say but my next adventure was he climb to the top of Hollyrood rock.  It took me about 45 minutes or so to get to the top with many stops in between   I've been working out at the gym before leaving but certainly not in preparation to climb mountains   When I finally got to the top I was rewarded with a 360 degree view of the city.  I could see the inlet, the other side of Scotland to the north, the ports along the water, a cruise ship in the water, the neighborhoods surrounding the city, the downtown area and the Castle.  It was totally worth the effort.  I got some other people at the top to take my picture while trying to stay upright because of the super heavy winds.  Wow is all I can say about the view.

I got a little lost when I was walking back into town.  I figure if you don't get at least a little lost while traveling you didn't do it right.  I found my way back to he middle of the Royal mile and found the bar where our group was meeting for he pub crawl.  We went to 5 fifteenth bars around the center of town, getting a shot at each and drink specials where we went.  Some of he shots were good, others were terrible and i ended up taking the shots of some of he lightweights.  The last bar we went was the best with a great DJ and a Frankenstein theme including the shots coming from test tubes.  I had a couple drinks and barely felt anything.

So after a really long day a couple of the girls and I caught a taxi back to the hotel for a good nights sleep for our next city of Glasgow.

Day 4 Edinburgh Festival Time

Wow, what an amazing city.  We started the day with a Scottish breakfast consisting of beans, ham (which they call bacon), tattie scone (potato scone), scrambled eggs, pan seared tomato, and sausage.  The tattie scone was probably my favorite.  Kinds like a lighter hash brown, not quite as greasy.

After breakfast the whole group boarded the bus and made our way into town.  We started with a short walking tour of the town around the princes garden.  Our guide Tim pointed out a couple of the monuments around the area and their history.  Around the city there are monuments and historical buildings about every 

block.  It does make remembering all of them a bit difficult but all my photos will jog my memory.  

After our short tour a group of about 8 from our 24 went up the hill, which there are many, towards Edinburgh Castle.  Some people decided not to go because it cost 16 pounds to get in.  

It was totally worth paying to get in.  I mean how often are you going to be able to walk around a 800 year old castle.  We started by going on an included guided tour around the castle.  I loved listening to our guide's accent plus he had lots of info that we would have not seen or read around the castle. 

From the tour our next stop was seeing the Scottish crown jewels which include the crown, sword, sector and the Stone of Destiny.  The stone supposedly is where the monarchs of the past 1000 years were crowned upon.  England stole it from he Scottish 700 years ago and built a throne over it for when they crowned their monarchs including Queen Elizabeth.  It was returned to Scotland in the past 15 years or so.

At the top of the hill next to the crown jewels building there was an amazing memorial that was dedicated to those who lost their lives in WWIand WWII.  The amount of lives lost in WWI was pretty large for Scotland.  They had books around the memorial divided by the different branches of the military.  The books listed all the names of those lost from the first world war to current wars.

The final stop at the top of the hill was the great hall.  The hall was lined with weaponry from various battles over the years.  We primarily went in to watch two performers talk about pikes and muskets.  Unfortunately it was raining outside so they were not able to shoot them off.  And of course I took a photo with both guys.  Very important.

The last stop at the castle was watching the 1 o'clock cannon shot.  It was used by sailing ships in the bay area to set their watch to.  They shoot only a blank from the cannon.  If it were a live bullet the cannon has a range 10 miles.  On the way out of the castle I stopped by the soldier who shot the cannon and took a picture with her and the blank.  That was a very large blank.  About the size of a gallon jug.

After the castle we grabbed lunch and wandered a while around the new town area.  Mostly higher priced shops that most of us where not interested.  So myself and Jackie started back up to the royal mile.  I had looked into going to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo after learning a little bit more about.  The ticket office was on the way to the mile so we stopped by to give getting a ticket a try since Jackie already had hers.  I went up and got the last ticket for the night.  They told me that they had been sold out all day and one ticket had just come back.  Score.

Jackie and I walked back up to the Royal mile, picked up some flyers from all the performers from the fringe and decided on picking up tickets for one of them and headed down the the show hall.  Now keeping in mind that there were about 250 show halls around the city and some of them were on the upper level streets and some on the lower.  Ours was on the lower street while we were trying to find it on he upper streets in an on and off rain.

We finally found our show which was a 3 man team playing multiple characters about finding pirate treasure, finding treasure again and everything in between.  It dragged a bit and there were too many characters. If they would have cut about 15 minutes of the show it would have been pretty good.  Well at least it was only £6.  And it burned some time before the highlight of he trip.

After dinner we headed back up to the castle where the Tattoo was.  The seats were set all along the esplanade.  My seat ended up being in the area where all the American tour groups were seated.  Very strange.  I had a nice time talking to he lady next to me from Cincinnati until he announcer started talked about 30 minutes before he show.  I thought he was just saying a couple messages but he ended up talking the entire time.  And then it was time for the show.  

300 or more bagpipers came streaming out of the castle gates.  My mouth was literally open in awe.  Holy crap!  There were great acts from around the world including a US navel band.  There were too many great acts for me to even write down.  Some of the highlights were the Highland dancers doing a number about Whiskey, the drill team from Norway with the most amazing and precise movements and an incredible drum line.  

The end of he show brought every band together in front of the castle.  Oh and a sequence from Brave.  I just can't get away from Disney!

Even if I wrote 10 pages about the show it would not be enough to describe how amazing the show was.

Well it was back to the hotel to sleep to night away and look foreword to my day alone to find out all that Edinburgh has to offer.

Day 3 Getting to Edinburgh

From York we drove north to cross the border to Scotland to Edinburgh.  But before crossing the border we stopped for a little history.  Our first stop of the day was at Hadrian's wall.  

This was the wall that created the northern most border of the Roman empire.  The wall still exists in many places along the border.Our stop was where the officers outposts and barracks were located along the wall .

Not much of the original building was there but the base rocks are still there.  They built at the top of a hill so there were fantastic views any ways you looked.  The wall traveled off into the distance east and west.  Lots of hills to climb and puddles to step in.

We had about an hour to walk around the site which had sheep moving throughout.  They would run away of you if you got too close.  Too bad, I wanted to pet an English sheep.  Sheep poop was a definite difficulty about walking around the site.  It was everywhere.  And I took way too many pictures of sheep.

Totally worth it.  After all the pictures and some sore calves we boarded the bus to head across the border to Scotland.

Our bus made a short stop at the border.  No stamp for the passport the border but there was a bagpiper.

It was the perfect way to enter Scotland, minus the lack of stamp.  Poor sad passport.  It was a quick stop at the border before continuing our drive into the city.

We did make a short pitstop for break from sitting on the bus for hours on end.  There was tons of crap to buy of course and I'm afraid to say that I have non buyers remorse.  Why didn't I take this little guy home.

Oh that's right, I thought I could only take a carry on and being on day 4 of 25 I thought they may be more important things to bring home.  Mistake!

Because of traffic we arrived a bit late into the city.  We only had 10 minutes to get settled in our rooms before our bus took us to the Royal mile downtown.

I ordered Haggis, tatties (potato), and neeps (turnip).  The Haggis had a texture similar to browned beef.  All the ingredients were stacked on top of each other so you didn't taste anything singularly.  I actually enjoyed it very much.  For dessert I enjoyed a whiskey  cream and raspberry concoction.  It wasn't very sweet and only had a touch of whiskey.  

After dinner most of the tour group went to get tickets for a Fringe Festival show.  The festival happens every year in August for 3 weeks.  Someone in our group suggested a comedian from the festival so most of us bought tickets.  We headed into a church apparently for a racey comedic show.  His name was Jim Jeffries.  Someone mentioned that he was going to have a standup on Comedy Central soon so I expected him to be good.  And he was.  Lots of strong language but it was all part of his style and stories so it worked.  Great show with lots of great bits.  I would see him again.

After a long day many of us were tuckered out and hailed a cab back to our hotel.

My next adventure was staying in probably will be my favorite city of the tour, Edinburgh, for two more days.