Coming to you all the way from sunny (yes, sunny!) Glasgow, it's Karen and Brian's brand-spankin' new travel blog!
The trip so far has been remarkably smooth. We left our new place around 5:30pm on Thursday, hopped on a bus to the airport and were on the plane by 7:30pm. Things almost took a turn for the worst when we got to our seats and found that, despite about 1/3 of the seats being unassigned, we had been crammed into a 3-seater with the only baby on the plane, a baby who, quite frankly, looked like he was about to blow any second. Fortunately, a young flight attendant noticed us right away and tactfully let us know that as soon as she had the go-ahead, she'd show us to some unoccupied seats. We were able to hang onto them through Halifax, thus narrowly averting Brian punching a baby.
The two of us, aided by the miracle we call 'sleeping pills', managed to get some shut-eye on the 6-7 hour flight, but not nearly enough. By the time we touched down in Glasgow (at 8:00am local time, or 3:00am Ottawa time), we were wiped. We got on a bus into the city with a plan to grab breakfast before dropping our bags at the hostel. I don't think I can convey how excited I was to see a Pret a Manger when we got off the bus. For those of you who aren't familiar with this place... I'm sorry. You're officially underprivileged. It's a chain of sandwich shops, where diners get to walk up to a WALL of pre-made, gourmet sandwiches with quirky combinations of ingredients--all of them organic/free-range etc.--and make your choice. Yesterday I went with thick slices of tomato, pickle and sharp, old cheddar cheese on flax bread. Brian opted for cured ham, roasted tomato and cheese. We each paired our choice with a much-needed coffee and sat in the cafe, getting our bearings.
The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. We walked around Glasgow after locking our bags at Euro Hostel, but--how can I say this nicely--there wasn't too much to see. In fact, all of the tourist maps only have about 5 items listed under 'Tourist Attractions'. Maybe that's why they call it "The Friendly City". I picture a group of ad execs and tourism officials sitting around a table, some of them with their heads cradled in their hands, others staring up at the ceiling, tapping their pencils, trying to come up with a moniker for their city but unable to figure out exactly what it is that they're known for. Suddenly, one of them has it:
"Well.... uh... I've heard the people here are pretty nice..."
And here we are today. Really, though, we've only just scratched the surface of the city center. Many of the travel brochures and maps list a range of attractions just outside the city, and we're inclined to think there's much more to this area than what we've seen in our short time here.
The trip so far has been remarkably smooth. We left our new place around 5:30pm on Thursday, hopped on a bus to the airport and were on the plane by 7:30pm. Things almost took a turn for the worst when we got to our seats and found that, despite about 1/3 of the seats being unassigned, we had been crammed into a 3-seater with the only baby on the plane, a baby who, quite frankly, looked like he was about to blow any second. Fortunately, a young flight attendant noticed us right away and tactfully let us know that as soon as she had the go-ahead, she'd show us to some unoccupied seats. We were able to hang onto them through Halifax, thus narrowly averting Brian punching a baby.
The two of us, aided by the miracle we call 'sleeping pills', managed to get some shut-eye on the 6-7 hour flight, but not nearly enough. By the time we touched down in Glasgow (at 8:00am local time, or 3:00am Ottawa time), we were wiped. We got on a bus into the city with a plan to grab breakfast before dropping our bags at the hostel. I don't think I can convey how excited I was to see a Pret a Manger when we got off the bus. For those of you who aren't familiar with this place... I'm sorry. You're officially underprivileged. It's a chain of sandwich shops, where diners get to walk up to a WALL of pre-made, gourmet sandwiches with quirky combinations of ingredients--all of them organic/free-range etc.--and make your choice. Yesterday I went with thick slices of tomato, pickle and sharp, old cheddar cheese on flax bread. Brian opted for cured ham, roasted tomato and cheese. We each paired our choice with a much-needed coffee and sat in the cafe, getting our bearings.
The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. We walked around Glasgow after locking our bags at Euro Hostel, but--how can I say this nicely--there wasn't too much to see. In fact, all of the tourist maps only have about 5 items listed under 'Tourist Attractions'. Maybe that's why they call it "The Friendly City". I picture a group of ad execs and tourism officials sitting around a table, some of them with their heads cradled in their hands, others staring up at the ceiling, tapping their pencils, trying to come up with a moniker for their city but unable to figure out exactly what it is that they're known for. Suddenly, one of them has it:"Well.... uh... I've heard the people here are pretty nice..."
And here we are today. Really, though, we've only just scratched the surface of the city center. Many of the travel brochures and maps list a range of attractions just outside the city, and we're inclined to think there's much more to this area than what we've seen in our short time here.
After the public nap referenced in the title of this entry, we did go into the Glasgow Cathedral (attraction number one of five) and the adjoining necropolis, and both were stunning.
After grabbing a late lunch (a '2-can-dine for 7 pounds' deal), we headed back through Merchant City toward our hostel, checked in just after 3:00pm, took showers, checked email (the wireless here is 'free'... you just have to buy a drink at the bar), and fell asleep by 6:00pm. We didn't get up--except to rummage through our stuff for earplugs to block out the sounds of more ambitious travelers--until 6:30 this morning. We just returned from our free contintental breakfast (i.e., carbs 7 ways) and plan on having a leisurely morning strolling around the city before hopping on a bus to Edinburgh, where our good friend Derek will pick us up and show us around his digs.In addition to the pictures you're seeing here, we're trying to set up a Flickr site where you can check out our entire album. We'll let you know when it's ready.
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