We arrived in Glasgow at 7a after flying all night from Philadelphia. With the luxurious modern airlines sardine policy, we could only recline our seats about 2 inches so we couldn’t get comfortable enough to get any sleep. We decided to tough it out and not sleep until night to avoid any possibility of jet lag. We caught a bus from the airport which took us to downtown Glasgow train station—this was less than a mile from the hostel we had reserved for the night so we walked. We dropped off our backpacks at the Victoria House Hotel/Hostel. Since we couldn’t get into our room until 1:30p and we had already made plans for my cousin and her two daughters who live in St Andrews to pick us up at 3p, we had some time to kill. We decided to head out and explore old Glasgow on foot.
The first place we went to was Kelvingrove Park to scout out our starting point for tomorrow. We decided to add about 10 miles to the front end of the West Highland Way by way of hiking along the Kelvin Way until we got to Milngavie (somehow, this is pronounced Mull guy). Once we found our starting point, we also found the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (free admission!) so we decided to take a look around. After wandering around for about an hour, we were becoming extremely spaced out (I can’t even remember anything we saw other than a bunch of hanging heads which pretty much reflected how we felt) so we decided to head back up to the city center to get some air (and maybe some food and caffeine) to perk us up.
Downtown Glasgow was hopping! It was about 15 street blocks long with only pedestrian traffic allowed and it was wall to wall people. There was a tribal percussion band (Clandonia) playing in the street as well as bag pipe players and tons of shops. We also got to see a Scottish Socialist Party demonstration (hopefully, another government won’t collapse on me while I’m in country like happened to me in Nepal). After a while, we decided to try a traditional afternoon tea at the world famous (it must be true because the sign said so) Willow Tree Tea House. What a mistake for us to sit down. I was having flash backs to Pam getting drunk and sleeping on the table at Newt’s Pizza in Vienna except this time we were both having trouble keeping our heads up and NO ALCOHOL was involved. After tea, we decided to head back to the hotel for a short nap.
Chris, Audrey, and Katrina picked us up as planned at 3 and then we drove around town to see some sights which were too far for us to walk to. We toured the People’s Museum and Botanical Gardens and had a good time playing around with the girls (11 & 8) and they actually like spending time with us—hold off teen years! After the museum, Chris took us to another part of town around the University. We walked around a bit before we headed to Ashoka for dinner. I am so thankful that the British allowed so many Indians to emigrate when they gave up the colony there because British/Scottish/English food is, in a word, disgusting. Granted, I am not an adventurous eater, but haggis, blood pudding, and spotted dick! Indian Food is my favorite (even over pizza—that says a lot).
After dinner, Chris dropped us off back at the hotel. I asked her if she ever had any trouble switching sides of the rode while driving in Great Britain and the USA. She told me her trick to use while driving in Scotland if we decide to rent a car—keep repeating “keep left” to yourself while driving. The round-abouts were the scariest part for me. We all hugged good night and then watched as Chris drove away the wrong direction on a one way street (but she was on the left side!).
