Day 1 – Head-Smashed-In Glasgow

Well I think that I am off to a good start. The flights went very smooth, even having three of them. I wasn’t able to make any friends on the flights, mainly because no one spoke English, never saw that one coming on a flight from Canada to London.

Upon arriving in Glasgow I took a cab to the hostel. £21 is  reasonable apparently for a ten minuet cab ride in this part of the world.

Once I checked in I started walking around the city. Glasgow is an interesting place, but I am glad I am spending more time in London. Other than the Glasgow Cathedral, there wasn’t much else around the city. The architecture was interesting though. Most of the city was built during the industrial revolution, so everything is made out of mossy brick.

When I cam back to my room, three other travellers had arrived. We all decided to get something to eat in the restaurant attached to the hostel. I wanted my first meal in Scotland/Europe to be a little authentic, but they were out of everything except burgers. I ordered a Guinness to go with it to make it somewhat authentic, but it was still a pretty terrible burger, and the Guinness took twenty minuets to order. Off to a good start.

The entertainment for the night came while eating our airplane food when some dude stomped out some other dude right outside on the street. He literally stomped on his head about four times before running away.  A car passing by stopped and checked to see if he was ok. He was having trouble standing up, but he soon started to walk off in the direction of his attacker. I guess he figured the best course of action was to confront the guy who just stomped him out. Maybe he was warmed up now.

The nice people in the car persuaded him to get in the car though, where they drove off likely to the hospital. Off to a good start.

I was very tired at that point and decided to go to bed, I hadn’t slept since I left Canada. In the middle of the night I woke up to what sounded like a hurricane. It was the guy in the bunk below me. He is the loudest snorer I have ever heard. Like I said, off to a good start.

 

Day 2 – Edinburgh

Day two saw me discover the city of Edinburgh. I wanted to start of earlier than I did. I woke up and the internet wasn’t working, and I still had to book my flight to London. It took me almost two hours to find Internet, and less than twenty minutes to book my flight.

I rushed to the train station and soon discovered the Scottish accent is almost impossible to understand. I was able to get on the right train though, and met a very nice old couple that told me about the sites in Edinburgh.

When I arrived the whole city was alive. It was a holiday, and the Fringe Festival was on. Fringe Festival has pretty much everything, art, street performances, official shows, and comedians.

I was slightly overwhelmed by all the sites and immediately started speed walking from one end to the other. There was an old castle built on a cliff that I took pictures of from about every angle, except for inside, that cost £16!

I kept in trying to get a better view of the city, and went from tower to tower. I saw a huge hill across the city and decided that the best thing to do would be to hike to the top of it, in my flip-flops, with a blister.

The view was well worth it though, but I wish I had brought some water with me. I ended up getting a brew instead.

When I got back to the hostel I was completely wiped. I was looking outside to see if someone was going to get stomped again, but it was quiet so I decided to upload some photos.

When I uploaded my photos from Edinburgh, I mistakenly deleted all my photos, stupid iPhoto.

I spent the next two hours recovering them, and did not go to bed as early as I wanted.

Day 3 – Distillery Tour, Random Hike

The flight I booked to London left later in the evening so I had another day in Glasgow. I was almost regretting not buying a train ticket when I realized I hadn’t been to a distillery. I took the train to a distillery almost two hundred years old, and listened to a tour that I didn’t understand one bit. Something about barley, sugar, and yeast.

Walking to the distillery I was feeling the walking from the previous two days. On the way down I saw a gnarly cliff that overlooked the area. I figured the best course of action was to walk up it.

About two and a half hours later I finally made it to some random lake in the trail. Again, I didn’t have any water, but I did have skate shoes instead of flip-flops. I realized that I should probably head back to catch my flight, which was in a couple of hours.

Making it back to the airport was very painful. My legs have almost locked up a number of times, and I am afraid now of getting up after I finish this entry.

I think when I get to London I will hop on a tour bus. I think I have walked enough for this whole trip.