When Irish Eyes Are Smiling...

The intrepid travelers on a walking bridge over the River Clyde.

The River Clyde.

Before we departed Glasgow, we had to see the River Clyde, as my dad lived on the Clyde River on the south shore of NS, so we wandered down and took a couple of pictures. Then we ventured back to Adelaides and packed our suitcases and headed off to Central Station to catch the train to Stranraer. From there we would catch the ferry over to Ireland. The trip southwest was beautiful through Scotland and our last glimpses were of those sweet black faced sheep, a golf course and just a lot of great pastoral scenery. 

Near Prestwick, there were numerous golf courses strung out between the railway and the sea. The roughs really looked rough.

Near Ayr, Robbie Burns country, the rolling hills were replete with wee black-faced sheep.

We arrived in Stranraer and the ferry wasn't leaving for about a 1/2 hour. There was a sign posted saying the sea crossing was moderate and not sure what that really meant, I was wondering if I should have purchased some gravol. It was fine until we got out on the open water and they put the engines on full, but I found as long as I didn't look out at the water that was quite wavy I was okay. We landed about a 1/2 hour ahead of schedule and decided that a taxi would be the quickest, easiest (although not the cheapest) way to get to our lodging. We arrived at Tara Lodge which is about 5 minutes from Queen's University and the whole street has apartments to let. It seems to be a fairly quiet place and they have done a lot of renovations to upgrade it. We headed out on foot to find a place to eat and ended up at a place called Benedict's - they have a 'beat the clock' deal - between 5:30 and 7 pm the time you order is what you pay for your meal. From there we headed toward City Hall and the downtown shopping areas.  

The wake of our ship with a glimpse of Northern Ireland to the left.

Belfast City Hall.

The Albert Memorial Clock, Belfast's leaning tower.

And finally, a street preacher in the shopping district explaining the faith (and he had an attentive audience).

Barb, I will hopefully have a lot more pictures over the next couple of days to post.

"Clean Knackered"

[What happened in Nova Scotia??? The Jamieson's leave and the province gets taken by the socialists!]

Day Two in Glasgow ~

Another beautiful sunny day in Scotland and it seems to bring the street musicians out in full force. It was the first time we have seen a harpist. Today was mostly a shopping day - they really are telling the truth when they say the shopping here is superior to Edinburgh and comes a close second to London. There are many, many shops and the prices are certainly much better than the capital cities.

This harpist was a welcome change from all the bagpipers around.

After putting a couple of hours in meandering through the stores, we headed towards the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis (city of the dead). This was the center of the city about 700 years ago and is located on a hill. The Cathedral was beautiful with a lot of stained glass and our tour guide explained much about the windows, but I was very tired and the brain wasn't absorbing. Behind the Cathedral is the Necropolis, set high on a hill, and I don't think I would want to be out and about at night near there. We were also taught about Saint Mungo and if your are interested in reading about him you can go here http://www.saintmungo.org/stmungo.html. You can tell I am tired and feeling lazy.

The symbols of the fish, ring, bird and square bell can be seen throughout Glasgow, derived from legends of Saint Mungo.

The Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis behind.

The tallest memorial is of John Knox.

The nave of the cathedral. The wooden ceiling is way up high.

The Cathedral has many beautiful windows.  This is one of a series honouring the trades people of Glasgow.  This one for gardeners.

We were going to take in a movie tonight, but after we finished supper, most of them had already started and the next show was too late to go to. Also, Ted the receptionist, said I look clean knackered (translation: very tired) Well, maybe we can find a show on the telly to watch, if we can figure out how to operate it!! 

Adelaides, our Baptist Church Guest Home.

Glasgow

Hello, once again.

We left Edinburgh this morning with a full Scottish breakfast under our belts and made our way to the train station to head for Glasgow. We also purchased our tickets for Belfast when we were there. On our way to the station, we had heard that there was a cafe that J.K. Rowling wrote some of her first Harry Potter book from, so we searched that out and took a picture. There is only a plaque there now and a Chinese restaurant has taken over the cafe.

The plaque on the corner of a building where J.K. Rowling used to write.

It was a fairly short trip to Glasgow with a few stops along the way and we arrived around noon. We hoofed it to our next resting place called Adelaides, about a 15 minute walk, uphill, with loaded suitcases (can you hear the groan?). It wasn't too bad though and our room was ready, but for some reason our rooms tend to be on the top floors of these places. I was very thankful that the fellow offered to lug my suitcase up for me (3 flights of stairs!). We were quite tired and decided, after a light lunch of a muffin and apple, to have a wee nap. Adelaides is a Baptist Church built back in 1877. In 1995 it was renovated to serve the city centre community and the complex consists of a Guest House, Breakfast Room, a Nursery/Preschool and an auditorium for services and for hosting meetings/conferences/concerts, etc. Very unique! Currently we are being serenaded by some opera singers giving a benefit concert in the sanctuary. 

We then decided to explore the city a bit and took off on foot down a pedestrian walkway (Sauchiehall Street) where all the shops are located. We were leisurely walking along and all of a sudden someone cried "thief" and this guy raced by us, apparently the thief, with 2 other males in pursuit. I have no idea whether they caught him or not, but it was enough for us to be back at Adelaides well before dark.

Glasgow's version of Dollarama.

George Square, Glasgow. There are a few statues (one of Robert Burns and the tall one is Walter Scott) and they are all covered in pigeon poop - not really attractive. City Hall is in the background.

We ate supper at a place called the Bar Horse and Andrew (always the one willing to try new things!) decided on bangers and mash. See photo. He actually enjoyed it but didn't eat all the bangers (sausage) and I did try the mash and it was quite good.

Bangers and Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes in a pool of gravy). 

Heart attack waiting to happen!

So, we are back here at Adelaides, Andrew sipping his evening tea and me, well blogging! 

Extra Photos from our Bus Tour

The tour took us to the west coast town of Oban which claims to be the seafood capital of Scotland. As we left the bus for lunch, the familiar aroma of the seacoast met our nostrils. It smelled just like a community along the south shore of "New Scotland".

We could have haddock, hake, plaice, or cod fish and chips. We opted for haddock and it was very tasty.

Oban is the gateway to the western islands. The distant mountains are the Isle of Mull. A small island beyond Mull, and not in this image, is Iona where St. Columba first brought Christianity to Scotland in 537 A.D.  Andrew  would like to visit there but time didn't permit. 

The Columba Hotel in Oban.

The ruins of  the Kilchurn castle situated on Lochawe. This was lived in until the 1700's when its tower was struck with lightening twice in one night, toppling the tower.

Inveraray Castle again.

A small town called Luss on the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond. This is a community of seniors who live here and tend the gardens of these small townhouses. A very quaint place.

Beautiful! I wonder if they would let Canadians retire here!

Andrew dreaming of building a stone wall just like this. Loch Lomond in the background.

In Edinburgh, there are many of these long, narrow alleyways that connect an upper street to a lower street (or vice versa) called closes (see sign above doorway). They are usually very steep with a lot of stairs and many of them have apartments off of them.

Hope you enjoy these photos.

Castles, Bens, Lochs & Wild Rhododendrons - Can Life Get Any Better?

Here we are at the end of another day, our last in Edinburgh. We spent most of the day sitting on a bus, touring the West Highlands of Scotland. We had a very engaging tour guide (Billy) who took every opportunity to point out the ways in which Glasgow and Glaswegians are superior to Edinburgh and Edinburghers.  The tour was very worthwhile and the scenery "dramatic", one of Billy's favourite adjectives.  It was awesome to experience some of the different landscape and to again learn some more history. History was not exactly my strongest subject in high school - if I recall correctly, I just got my credit!! We caught our bus at the entrance to Edinburgh Castle and then headed northwest to Stirling. We learned about the importance of William Wallace and the Stirling Castle as we drove past.  We didn't stop here but got a picture through the window. 

The imposing Stirling Castle perched high on the rock of an extinct volcano.

As we left Stirling, the hills rapidly grew larger. We saw glimpses of other castles along the way including the Doune Castle immortalized in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Eventually we reached the highlands and the road signs were then in Gallic and English. As we drove through the glens (valleys) the bens (mountains) seemed to be straight up on either side of the road.  It was difficult to photograph to get the right perspective.  Some pictures from today...

Look way up!

An old railway viaduct now a bicycle trail. The area is a wonderful place to hike and mountain bike.  Next trip to Scotland!

A "hairy coooo" as they call it.

Inverary Castle, the "spiritual" centre of the Campbell clan, and the home of the Duke of Argyll.

Laurel, Loch Lomond, and Ben Lomond on the distance.

All in all it was a fantastic day and we ended up trying our first Thai food for supper. Now it is time for rest.

Holyrood Palace, St. Giles Cathedral & National Gallery

This morning we woke up a little later than usual. I think the pace is starting to slow down a bit! We had our breakfast and Andrew was going to try 'Black Pudding', another traditional Scottish dish, but he had the good sense to ask the innkeeper what it actually was. He told us it was pig's insides boiled in blood - sounds yummy, huh? Needless to say he didn't try it although an elderly Scottish couple enjoyed theirs. 

Holyrood Palace, about a 25 minute walk from our B&B.

After our breakfast we walked toward Holyrood Palace, the Queen's residence for a week before she goes on to Balmoral Castle (her summer home). It was a beautiful morning, but we were caught in the rain yesterday, so Andrew took his umbrella anyway. We stopped at Holyrood Palace, took a few outside photos, but didn't take the tour inside. Anything related to royalty over here costs money to see, so we decided to save our pennies. We then proceeded up the Royal Mile, the road from the Palace to the Edinburgh Castle. 

St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland

The pipe organ in the cathedral. It really didn't hold a candle to the one at St. Paul's, but the organist sure could play it!

It was a lovely morning and we ended up at St. Giles Cathedral for their morning service at 11:30 am. We really wanted to hear a cathedral choir sing and decided to go to a service to do that. It was so incredible to hear the enormous pipe organ and the choir voices fill such a large cathedral. It was 'Trinity' Sunday and I think probably half of the congregation were tourists. It was a very formal service, much different than our usual Sunday worship. 

A very well dressed young man trying to pick up some extra cash on a Sunday afternoon.

After that we stopped at Marks and Spencer and picked up some muffins and apples for lunch and ate outside on the steps of the National Gallery and were serenaded by a young male guitarist with  a really good voice. It was a good day for the street performers because of the nice weather and there seemed to be a lot of people around on a Sunday. 

A friendly game of cricket.

In the afternoon we took in the National Gallery of Scotland. Again, about a third of the size of London's National Gallery, but much more manageable to see a lot of the works. Here, we saw another self-portrait of Rembrandt, Gauguin's 'Three Tahitians', Ruben's 'The Feast of Herod'. Absolutely amazing! It has been an almost surreal experience to have been in the same room as these paintings. Sorry we couldn't take any photos Heather, but I hope that someday you will be able to see these for yourself.

Well, it has been a long day so I think we will retire early. Tomorrow we have booked tickets for a bus tour to Oban & West Highland Lochs and Castles. Will fill you in tomorrow evening but it will likely be mostly photos. We also purchased our train tickets to Glasgow for Tuesday.

Hope everything is running smoothly at home. 

Edinburgh Day Two ~ First Rain

Out before breakfast.

The sun rises very early here in Edinburgh (4:30 am) and Andrew wasn't too far behind! At 6:00 am, I heard "I am going for a walk up to Arthur's Seat - want to come?" After a groan, I wasn't going to be left behind, so we hauled on yesterday's clothes and set out. I think we chose a harder route up than was necessary, but we made it and what a great view of Edinburgh from the top. We then made our way down - we knew if we weren't back by 8:30 am, Margaret (the innkeeper) would be cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Andrew actually tried haggis for breakfast, but I wasn't so brave - he likened it to very spicy meatloaf - the description of what it contains just does not appeal to me!

The path was of stone steps zig-zaging up the hill. The stones were laid as a make-work project for unemployed textile workers many decades ago.

Laurel at the 251 metre summit.

 A view of Holyrood palace and the Firth of Forth in the distance.

The weather started out sunny but cool and we ended up with showers later on. Next it was off to the Royal Botanical Gardens via the bus. It was our first experience where the bus driver stopped for a loo break, got back on the bus, bus wouldn't start, he went to the rear of the bus and managed to somehow start it from there! Well, we finally got to the gardens and Andrew was again in his element. They were very beautiful and well maintained and it was much easier to see it all in about 1 1/2 hours, unlike Kew which was about 3 times larger. 

The RBG has a fine rock garden and world renown collection of Rhododendrons, most of which were post-bloom.

The RBG has an enormous clipped hedge apx. 30 ft. high - very impressive.

Palm trees in Scotland???

We had a quick lunch and then decided to take in Edinburgh Castle this afternoon. First of all it was recommended that we climb Scott Tower, which was over 250 steps on a very narrow spiral stairwell. The view from the top was pretty amazing, though.

These narrow spiral staircases made us dizzy.

View of Edinburgh from the top of Scott Tower. The spire is of St. Giles church.

Another angle of Edinburgh from Scott Tower.

Well, you would think that the Castle being set on a hill in the middle of the city, it wouldn't be too hard to get to. We thought if we got on a bus to take us there, it would save us some walking. Having not yet mastered the bus system, we managed to take the wrong bus and were actually heading away from the center of the city. So we quickly got off and hopped on one going the other way. To make a long story short, we ended up doing a fair bit of walking but made it to the Castle. It was well worth the effort and thoroughly enjoyed listening to Laura, the tour guide, enrich our knowledge of the history of Scotland with her wonderful Scottish brogue.

Edinburgh Castle with the National Gallery in the foreground.

At the top of Edinburgh Castle - a wee bit heavy.

The Great Hall @ Edinburgh Castle - note the ceiling which was designed and built by shipbuilders thus the look of a ship's hull.

  

After a quick supper at Quizno's, we hopped on the 'correct' bus and made it back to Gifford House for a relaxing evening, off our feet!!