We were so busy yesterday, we never had time to post our happenings of the day, so here is the Wednesday recap. Jeff walked to the neighborhood bakery and brought back our breakfast. He had trouble understanding the lady behind the counter, so he came back with an odd assortment of pastries. (fyi: a Scottish kolache in no way resembles an American kolache!) Although English is spoken here, we all have trouble understanding the heavy Scottish accent. We pick up about every 7th word, but if we ask them to repeat it and we stare at their mouth and concentrate, we can get every 4th or 5th word!
We took the “high road” west for 2.5 hours to Loch Lomond, not to be confused with Loch Ness. The scenery became more bucolic (SAT word!) as we went. The roads, lined with stone ledges, became smaller and curvier, with overhanging trees creating a tunnel of green. Then the lake appeared surrounded by huge hills. They are the size of mountains, but don’t have trees or peaks, just soft and rounded in umpteen shades of green. Jeff and Martha serenaded with “The Banks of Loch Lomond” (yes, we’re the family that sings in the car) but now we can’t get the silly song out of our heads…..kind of like “You Are My Sunshine”.
We found a really neat place for lunch at the Lodge on Loch Lomond Hotel. It had good food, a great view and our waitress, Catriona, was a lot of fun although we couldn’t understand a word she said. We drove around the lake through fairytale-like villages. Although it was very overcast, even drizzly at times, and very windy, we were not deterred from taking pictures and walking through the “wee town” of Luss.
We took the “low road” to Glasgow. We hit it at rush hour, and since it’s Scotland’s largest city (2.5 million), we had an interesting time finding our way around town. Our first destination was the famous Glasgow Cathedral which we found with great difficulty, mainly because the streets were either one-way or pedestrian-only and because we couldn’t really find the church on the map. Although we asked a passerby for directions, we couldn’t exactly understand all he said, but alas we found it 30 minutes before it was supposed to close. Unfortunately, it was locked and we were left to wander through the Necropolis (i.e. cemetery).
Downtown Glasgow was teeming with people leaving work and heading to dinner, theatre, etc. and it didn’t seem to have as many tourists as other places we’ve been. This city is less quaint, more grandiose….scores of beautiful, old buildings with ornate facades and, of course, lovely landscaping. Here we found the best pub so far, The Drum and Monkey, which was located in an old bank building. Inside were marble columns, an ornate plaster two-story ceiling, lots of brass and mahogany, and it appeared to be a popular watering hole for the locals. We walked around the pedestrian mall, then had a delicious dinner at DiMaggio’s before driving back to Leven. Wish we had more time to spend in Glasgow!
Click here for today's pictures. Click on Slideshow, the click on Full Screen mode in upper right.
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