A weekend in Scotland: Glasgow

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There were two places in Scotland that we visited and the main city that we stayed in was Glasgow. The bus ride down there was a little long to say the least. We took a ton of breaks, visited a city on the way for lunch and we finally made a 6 hr trip into 11 hours with the traffic and breaks. Thank goodness I can sleep almost anywhere! When we arrived at the Premier Inn hotel we had some down time to get situated before having our arrival dinner. This hotel was like a breath of fresh air and a good break from the tiny dorms and showers that we're used to. For dinner I had my first Fish & Chips while in the UK! It was pretty good and something I will definitely have to get again. The dessert was the best part though. It was apple crumble cake with ice cream and they also put pitchers of warm custard on the table to drizzle over your dessert. I've never had anything like it and it was absolutely delicious.

In the morning we had a continental breakfast that was better than anything I've had at hotels. And I've had a lot of continental breakfasts, especially with all of the business conferences I've been to in Chicago. This was smaller than those in Chicago but much better. They had huge pieces of ham and sausage, eggs, mushrooms, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, toast, and Costa coffee, with many other things that I didn't even know what it was but didn't look that appetizing. It was a great start to a beautiful day. We took a bus tour around the city where we saw the opera house, BBC Scotland, and St. Mungo's Cathedral where they had a huge cemetery next to it. This Cathedral and the many I've seen so far never seem to amaze me. How elaborate each of them are with their architecture, stained glass, and statues/sculptures.

After this mini bus tour we went over to the University of Scotland to hear a scholar talk about James Whistler who is a famous who has done paintings, portraits, and printmaking to name a few techniques. It was interesting to hear about but much more intriguing to see in the Hunterian museum. In that museum there was also an exhibit of Charles Mackintosh's house which was neat to walk through, especially because he's a well known architect. We were also fortunate to see the University's special collection department. There an employee of the university pulled out some items of interest to our college to go into more detail about. We saw a Medieval illuminated manuscript, 18th century printed plates, a Whistler collection of newspaper articles, photo's and letters, an art journal, and Kelmscott press books. The Medieval illuminated manuscript was unbelievable. The detail that went into the the pictures they had in the book was incredible. It was like mini paintings that also had gold inlaid in the paint. It was beautiful and was from the 14th century, 1325-1335 to be more exact. For dinner we went to this Italian restaurant where you would order like 2 or 3 dishes and then share them with the rest of the people at your table. I had a pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni and a quails egg in the middle of it and I also had a pasta dish with mushrooms and a lighter sauce with garlic and it was super good. Some of the other girls got gnocchi and calamari which I've never had before and actually liked them both. I can't believe I'm Italian and this is the first time I've tried Gnocchi and in Scotland of all places! It is something I will definitely be having again. Later that night was a great night out on the town with the girls that I will never forget.

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