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Published: November 20th 2009
Thursday, August 9th - Isle of Mull to Glasgow:
“The final island ferry crossing brings you this morning to
Oban. Then over the Pass of Brander, and from
Inveraray follow the road known as "Rest and be thankful" to the "Bonnie Banks" of
Loch Lomond, the most famous loch of all. Back in
Glasgow this afternoon your orientation city tour takes in the fine 12th-century cathedral, imposing university buildings, and elegant Georgian squares built by the wealthy tobacco barons. Time for last minute shopping, and this evening raise a glass of wine to a successful tour at a private farewell dinner at your hotel.”
So, in other words, we drove to Glasgow and stopped at places along the way. As we got off the last Ferry, we found ourselves in Oban. I wish we had had time to browse thru the town, especially the ruins of
McCaig's Tower on the hill, but we just hopped on the bus and took off. One stop was Inveraray. This was where we all tried to do our last minute shopping. Nancy was looking for Argyll socks (since we were in the territory of Argyll you would think it would be easy- no). Nikki was
still on the search for a perfect sweatshirt and I was still trying to get mom to call me “daughter” again by finding the t-shirt with the great ass on it. We’d pass eachother on the street and pass along any info we found on the other one’s list. Other than trying to get a picture of the bridge and its reflection in the water, and the fact that some Spanish carnival was being torn down on the waterfront, the only thing I remember about this town is running from store to store trying to find this shirt. And dragging mom, who decided to resemble the unibomber, along behind me.
So, after a couple other quick stops (one at the Argyll Forest where I took a picture of a unique man and his dogs and another at the infamous Loch Lomond) we take a quick drive thru tour of Glasgow. What amazed me most about this tour is realizing how frigging lost I got on my first day- and how far I traveled in that city. 80%!o(MISSING)f the time I was looking around going “Oh, I was there”. The hotel we stayed at, the
Radisson was beautiful. This
is where I decided what I wanted to be when I grew up: rich. The bathroom tiles were heated- we plan on getting married next year. We had two rooms this time and, since Mom was still the walking dead, we were nice and gave her a room to herself. John and I shared the other room. We all lounged until dinner (mom slept and slept and slept) and then we all got pretty and went downstairs for our goodbye dinner. We snapped a shot with Margie & Frank (whose lovers were sitting at the bar- Margie’s was very yummy, as was Frank’s but his was also quite young- wish we could have teased him). I then decided to stress myself and got everyone arranged for a tour group shot. I find it funny that, after I quasi arranged everyone and had a bartender take the shot, I chose to stand in a place that blocks my face. I’m pretty sure that was accidental, but I won’t swear to it.
Dinner that night was fun because we had larger tables and we were able to sit with who we wanted to sit with. Our table consisted of the 3
of us, Nikki, Joe, Nancy, Bob and Burt. Would have been nice if we could have gotten Melissa and her family at our table, but oh well. Joe was still rather green and didn’t eat and ended up excusing himself early. Mom was feeling better after sleeping all afternoon, and she, myself, Nancy, Bob, Burt and Melissa decided to visit
The Waterloo across the street- Glasgow’s oldest gay bar. We walk in, and all eyes are on us and while they aren’t threatening, they aren’t welcoming. We wander to the bar, place our drinks, and huddle around a table. I get tired of not fitting in with the crowd, so I suck up my courage and turn to a guy and ask him what gift I should buy a gay male friend in the states. He suggests a “toy” and another one suggests I get him a cat, but then takes it back betting that he already has one. We then spend about an hour chatting with William, William and Michael. Michael suggests that we head over to
The Arches when we’re done at The Waterloo and gives me his business card (he works there). So, he and I watch Sinead O’Connor’s
video “Nothing Compares to You” and gossip over the fact that she really is crying in the video ‘cause her lover broke up with her a few days prior. Gay men are fun no matter what country you’re in. At some point, Nancy and Bob agree that my ass needs squeezed so he does the honor. Shocks the hell out of me but when I see that Nancy is aware of what he did, I decide to sick my new friends on him. He had a “stay away from me” vibe going on so they didn’t really mess with him. Mom and Nancy take a smoke break at one point and while they are outside smoking, a gentleman tells Mom that he loves how she is dressed and that she is a “Classy Lassie”. Makes mom's night. Would have made her trip but she got the feeling that he wanted her clothes, and nothing more. We take a group shot (Bob takes the picture, wish he had been in it!) and decide to call it a night. We don’t make it to the Arches, but I have Michael’s email address and drop him a line when I get back to
LA. Mom, John and I are leaving on a later flight, so we won’t be taking the bus with the rest of the group in the morning (they have to be on the bus at 6am). So, we say our goodbyes and say goodnight to Glasgow.
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