Foxglove

If asked what impressions Scotland left with me I'd be lying if I didn't say rain, but foxglove would also be there. These beautifully vibrant colored flowers would seemingly pop up out of nowhere along the road everywhere we went in Scotland. There'd be fields of them near our cottage, along the coastal road and the M77, as well as the train tracks. One of the few things I bought in Scotland was a scarf that was in that same color, in fact the label even called it Foxglove.

Even when things would get a bit challenging, and they did, I could always rely on some foxglove to brighten the day.

8.13.11 – Last Day in Glasgow

Sadly this was our last day in Scotland. We had to return the rental car to the airport by 11:00 a.m., which we were a little late for due to missing our exit and ending up in Glasgow center city. The guy at the return desk luckily let us slide saying he'd worked in the Glasgow center city area and it was crazy. He also let us know, a little too late, that for 10 pounds more we could have had a GPS (or Sat Nav as they called them) in the car, but the agent (and online form) did not let us know. Sigh…

As our flight didn't leave until 6:30 p.m., and not wanting to spend that much more time at the airport, we left our big checked luggage (which they couldn't check in for us until two hours before the flight -- double sigh) at the left luggage area and took the shuttle downtown. We wandered around the shops on Buchanan Street then to the real Willow Tea Room on Sauchiehall, once we got past the Saturday bagpipe parade. I had pancakes. Yeah! Of course everyone was taking photos, which was a bit disconcerting knowing you'd be in strangers photo albums. Later we found out the real original tea room was an additional flight upstairs near the restrooms, but I did get a shot of it and felt very awkward doing it, even though the wait staff said it was fine. We then wandered over to the Glasgow School of Art, but having just missed the 2:00 p.m. tour, and me really starting to feel both under the weather and exhausted, we just browsed the gift shop and took photos. It was really windy, as the reduced audio will show, so stills give a better view, although the low sun was a bit hard on the eyes and the camera. I was envious of the pretty tabby cat with the yellow curtain across the street from the school who gets to look at the school all day everyday.

It seemed time to get the shuttle back. After a brief mishap of standing at the wrong stop, we made it back, got our bags, checked them in (with the cops walking around with semi-automatic weapons at the airport, I didn't chance it taking any photos or videos). Unfortunately our flight was delayed about two hours due to a malfunction, so instead of staying with friends in Amsterdam (yes, our flight again took us back to Amsterdam before returning to the U.S.), we were stuck overnight at the Yotel Hotel at the Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. If you've ever seem footage of the pod hotels that Japanese businessmen stay in, you will know what we experienced. I'm just glad I had been lifting weights or I'm not sure I would have been able to lift myself up on to the berth. I was terrified I'd roll out during my sleep, but luckily there were no further mishaps other than none of the cafes at the airport being open for our Sunday 8:00 a.m. flight (we were told to be at the gate by 6:15 a.m.??!!??). The duty free shops were open, so we could buy booze and tacky Dutch clog items, but no coffee! Triple sigh.

8.12.11 – Glasgow Do Over

I was still bummed out for having nothing really work out on our day in Glasgow on Monday, so I felt I needed a re-do. Also, we decided to go our separate ways for the day, giving each other a little space. Kent went to the Isle of Arran, while I went back to Glasgow (he's still tweaking his photos, but you can check out his photo stream on Flickr).

He dropped me off at the Ayr station where I took a train with a mother whose son kept asking her who was making her drink and that she was fucking herself up, which she kept responding that she wasn't drinking and no one was making her. It was strangely compelling in a disturbing way.

Arriving at Glasgow Central Station I took the bus to Bellahouston Park, and after finding my way actually into the park, I made it to House for An Art Lover, which was definitely worth coming back for, even though it was set up for another wedding. It was filled with dark oak, that I love, and all those Mackintosh wall coverings and lights. I spent all morning there before heading back by bus to catch the train to Scotland Street School Museum, which was also worth going back to. The building was designed by Mackintosh and the inside is basically what Victorian schools were like. Not for me, but fascinating (I took stills not included in this clip. See Monday or my Facebook page for more photos). I then stopped in for tea and soup at their Willows Cafe before making it over to the Kelvingrove Art Museum, crossing the River Kelvin to get there. I saw more Mackintosh's there, making it a very good day indeed.

My blisters were throbbing by the end of the day, so I knew I was on vacation. Sorry for the shaky camera; the cold/sinus infection/virus/whatever was starting to get worse, not that that would deter me from seeing sights.

8.11.11 – Largs and Girvan, Scotland

After a day in Glasgow, a day in London (oh, the blisters from walking), and a day in Edinburgh, it seemed a good idea to take a bit of a respite (at least for me; Kent, sweet guy that he is, drove). I was also beginning to feel the effects of the cold/sinus infection/virus/whatever I had caught, and that I'm still getting over. As the rain began that morning in Dailly (what a shock), we, after sleeping in a bit and then getting some goodies next door at the Brunston Golf Club, drove north on the Ayr coastal drive up to Largs. I had spotted this pencil-like Viking monument in a guidebook before we left and since there was also a good ice cream place nearby, why not check it out.

Foxglove was noticeable throughout our drive, and there were two rather cinematic ruins on the way. The guidebooks did mention that getting gas (petrol) in small towns could be difficult, but they never mentioned traffic jams waiting to get in. Luckily with the small size of our car, it didn't matter which side of the gas pump we parked on. With a full tank we continued our travels. Even with the rain and the overcast sky, it was quite beautiful. We very easily spotted the pencil, but figuring out how to get to it was a challenge. After a few false starts and turnarounds, we asked some older people out for a walk (the strong Scottish constitution).

I loved the vibrant colored benches along the path to the pencil, which brightened up the day. It was an interesting place, and with better weather we might have stayed longer. I can't even begin to tell you how windy and chilly it was. While trying to photograph the top of the structure with my still camera, the wind literally knocked me on my back. It seemed time for lunch and ice cream by that time.

I stuck with my toffee and Kent with his raspberry. Apparently not all Brits are finicky about tea, as the tea he ordered was "just tea" according to the waitress when he asked what kind of tea they had in stock. Once finished we braved the wind again and set back off on our now familiar path home. We tried to stop at the Abbey so I could take some photographs, but the parking lot was closed and the rain was started to come down harder by that time, but we did make one final stop to the Girvan Gift Shop/The Sweetie Shop so I could get more sweeties and Kent found a driving atlas. Now we have to go back!

8.10.11 – Edinburgh

Rain, rain, go away. The rain first started as we left our Glasgow airport motel. We were told there would be a fine if we didn't return the key, yet a half hour before breakfast would begin, there was no one in sight, so I documented our leaving the key. We then drove in to the city center, parked our car, and caught the train to Edinburgh in order to shave off some time on our journey. We were greeted by a beautiful ceiling light at the Waverly Station and the disconcerting taxi ramp inside the station. Once outside -- rain and more rain. Luckily there were some breaks, but we spent most of the day at Edinburgh Castle, which is mostly an outdoor tour, thus, we were mostly damp all day. Still, the castle was beautiful and what a view. Even with the rain and fog you could just make out the Isle of Arran. (This is what our tour guide said. Kent claims Arran isn't close to Edinburgh, but couldn't find what other islands they could be in his Atlas). The competing tour guides was a bit overwhelming at times, but equally entertaining. Seeing the roundabouts from overhead gave me a slightly better understanding. Apparently you don't have to go round.

I forgot to shoot any footage at the Elephant House Cafe (where J. K. Rowling first started writing the Harry Potter books), but it was lovely and had surprisingly good food. We strolled through some of the Fringe Festival on the way to the train station, but mostly had American students wanting to show us card tricks (??). We weren't able to stay for the Military Tattoo because of the drive home. The sky was very strange that night, but sadly the camera didn't quite capture it.

P.S. There appears to be something wrong with Blip (hosts my videos), which is why this didn't go up last night and why the video had to be broken in to two parts. Hopefully this is just temporary.

8.9.11 – London!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, glorious day, and it was! No rain in London! We had a bit of a bumpy start getting up at before the crack of dawn, me still being upset from yesterday, and someone with a medical issue that had to be taken off our EasyJet flight from Glasgow to London, but we got there. This was the first day I really felt I could breathe. I'm not sure whether it was the somewhat familiar territory (although I was only there for a week in 2003) or just my love of London.

We had been a bit concerned when the riots broke out after we arrived in Scotland, but I felt (and hoped) that the troubles would be far north of us, and thankfully the only notice we had that something was going on was the barricades at the House of Parliament and Downing Street (with a crowd of onlookers), heavy police presence, and all the police paddywagons that kept going by filled with unhappy people.

Originally I had thought we could make it to Greenwich or Kew Gardens, but Kent had never been to London and wanted to take in the city, which I had no problem with, although I do really want to see Kew when its in bloom someday soon. We started in Westminster and then wound our way to Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, and then South Bank to get some better shots of the London Eye, and then back to Westminster, crossing the Thames, before sadly going back to Luton for our plane. Apparently the bagpiper was piping for us.

8.8.11 – Glasgow, Scotland (Bellahouston Park, House for an Art Lover, and Scotland School Museum -- sort of)

This was not the best day on our trip, even though the skies were blue, it was windy, but warm, and no rain. I was still experiencing jet lag and couldn't quite get up as early as I would have liked, which if we had been staying in the city center wouldn't have been much of a problem, but the far distance between where we were staying and the things I wanted to see caused a great deal of problems.

We left late morning to go in to Glasgow and didn't arrive until late lunch at Bellahouston Park. After being perplexed at seeing the outdoor no-snow ski slope and then wandering through a magical little garden, we arrived at Charles Rennie Mackintosh's House for an Art Lover, which was closed early for a wedding. Who gets married on a Monday? We did get to browse the gift shop, see the sparkly bathroom floors, and get not-very-good service in the cafe.

Without a GPS (or Sat Nav as they call it in the UK) we were unable to find the Satchiehall Street Willows Cafe designed by Mackintosh, but stumbled on the Scotland Street School Museum, also designed by the same, which was also closed (both the museum and their Willows Cafe).

There was an attempt to reach the Burrell Collection Gallery before 5:00, which didn't happen. A third failed visit of an attraction in one day caused me to become a bit emotional. This led us to a Tesco to pick up supplies for our overnight stay in Glasgow (we fly to London via EasyJet tomorrow at the crack of dawn out of Glasgow Airport) in what we would soon discover was a most horrible airport hotel. Before reaching this establishment, we needed a map (DO NOT drive in Scotland without a Sat Nav and a good map), which proved to be far more challenging than one would have thought. I can tell you that one thinks a great deal stuck in a hot car for an hour in a large shopping center parking lot. My thoughts were that I see us in city centers on vacations from now on. That's really all I'll say.

8.7.11 – Dailly, Culzean Castle, and Girvan, Scotland

I'm not sure if we were experiencing jet lag or just exhaustion from the flights, but we slept in on Sunday morning. Of course this threw us off my not-very-realist schedule, but it couldn't be helped. Once up, fed, and caffeinated, we headed to the lounge to check e-mail (there was only WiFi in the lounge and only limited hours) and planned to stay a bit close to home, visiting Culzean Castle and perhaps venturing to the nearby beach of Girvan.

With directions in hand we were off for our coastal drive north, but still in South Ayrshire, to visit Culzean. It is definitely worth the trip. It reminded me a bit of Biltmore with the lush trees and foliage as you drive in, as well as the hydrangeas. I couldn't believe it when I saw the palm trees, but it is southern Scotland. The audio tour filled us in on Dwight D. Eisenhower's stay here (he was given an apartment, lucky man). The rain did cause us to be unable to take in the grounds, but we were the last to exit the castle.

Girvan was our next stop, first to get some gelato that I spotted as we turned into the public parking lot. Mine had Scottish toffee and was quite good. Kent stuck to the healthier raspberries. Seeing that the drizzle had ended and the sun was peaking out, we headed to the beach. It was way too windy and cold to fully enjoy, but luckily the water had not made the sand muddy, and it did give us an opportunity to get a closer view of Aisla Craig, which we saw on the beginning of the coastal drive. Makes me think of Devil's Tower in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Once we were thoroughly windblown, we headed back to the main square and had dinner at an Indian restaurant. I loved the saffron rice and was equally pleased with the charming bathroom trashcan. The day finished with a great deal of helpful information from the owner of the Girvan Gift Shop/The Sweetie Shop. I of course exited with sweeties.

8.6.11 – Glasgow, Ayr, and Dailly, Scotland

My recent trip to Scotland caused me to remember an eighties film called Outland, starring Sean Connery. He played a federal marshal in space and at the end he and his family flew back to Earth from one of Jupiter's moons, and due to the length of time for the flight, they had to be put to sleep for the entire trip. This seems to me the best way to travel, especially after starting our trip on Friday afternoon with an hour and fifteen minute trip north to Dayton in order to save $200 on each ticket, then transferring to Detroit, then flying, perplexingly, nearly 500 miles past Glasgow to Amsterdam, and then finally on to Glasgow. At least it appears we got the extra miles as frequent flyer points.

I've always chosen centrally located hotels on my solo travels, not having to rent a car or deal with additional hassles of staying outside the city, so this was a challenge for me since we were staying at a resort in South Ayrshire, about 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours southwest of Glasgow. Neither Kent or I slept on any of the planes, especially with the usual crying babies, so we were in a state of stun as we arrived through customs in Glasgow at around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Coffee seemed to be the first necessary item. I had originally planned for us to take in Glasgow via the shuttle that left the airport and went to the city center and then pick up the car back at the airport later in the day, but after finding out it would cost us more to leave our bags at the airport than it would to park in downtown Glasgow (we must learn to pack lighter), and finally admitting to each other how tired we were, we went to the car rental agent and tried to get our car early, which still caused us to be stuck at the airport Starbuck's until 11:00, as the car wasn't ready. FYI -- free WiFi is not as readily available in Europe as I had thought, not even in a Starbucks.

On my previous trip to London I hadn't driven and mostly walked or took the subway, so was unfamiliar with the roundabout on the motorways. We have one minor roundabout in a Cincinnati park, but it is nothing compared to ones in Glasgow on the motorway. The lack of sleep and overwhelming highway driving (and I wasn't even driving) pretty much did me in that day. The fact that our cottage couldn't be made ready early and wasn't even ready at its appointed time made me long for the city center. I'm amazed as I look back that I was able to capture the beauty of the scenery flashing before our eyes, especially as mine kept wanting to close for good during the drive.

Finally, twenty minutes past the time it should have been ready we gained access to our cottage, which wasn't fully clean, but I was too tired to care. After a quick bath and a nap, I was conscious enough to go next door with Kent to the golf club that he had already checked out (it was the closest dining facility). The very good food made by Martin and his wife, Patricia, helped me become almost human again. The drizzling rain that had started as we waited for our cottage in the lounge had luckily stopped, and I was able to get a shot of the beguiling sky before us.