Glasgow

Since we elected to stay an extra day in Oban, we didn't really have any time to visit Edinburgh before flying out of Glasgow, so we decided to overnight in Glasgow instead.  We are very interested to see Edinburgh, but we're also pretty sure we'll be back one day and can see it then.

We were a bit worried Glasgow would resemble a Dickensian factory town, full of soot and decay.  But we actually found it pretty enjoyable.  If you're a huge fan of shopping in the same chain stores found on every pedestrian street of every downtown core of every major city in the world, then you'll enjoy the city center.  Otherwise, 10-20 minutes of walking around will do.

On the NE edge of the city center is the big medieval cathedral, which is somewhat impressive as it was built in the 1200s, and is multi-level (i.e. there's a floor beneath the main floor).

Cathedral "basement" - with windows!

We got a smoking deal on a hotel room in the trendy "West end" of Glasgow near the University, and that was the city's saving grace.  Lots of cafes and restaurants and shops, and a nice feel about it.  Also home to a nice city park, Kelvingrove.

We had a fantastic Indian meal at "A Wee Curry Shop" on Byres Road - a small place where everything is cooked fresh to order in the bistro-style open kitchen.

Then to wash all that curry down - oh boy, I could hardly contain myself - a stop at the BrewDog pub!  BrewDog is one of the premiere craft breweries in the world, and certainly tops in Scotland, and they now own a pub in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh.  Finally, an oasis of proper, flavourful, adventurous beer after a long period of mild, safe British ales.  The beer was fantastic and the environment comfortable - complete with a hipster rock-a-billy type group providing live music.  (I'll likely provide more detail on the beers in another post.)  It was a wonderful night, made even better because 1) we were celebrating the completion of our house sale that day, and 2) we were about to embark on 4 weeks travelling in what we assumed would be an empty wasteland of beer in Turkey.

On the walk home, we passed by a large heritage church that had been converted into a nightclub.  I had heard of such places, but not seen one until then.  The next day we saw a wedding taking place there.

We completed our fun Scottish trip with a slow descent into madness - a flight arriving at Heathrow at 10:30pm, with our connnecting flight not departing until 7:10am.  We spent the night at Heathrow rather than getting a hotel room. Ugh.

At least we got a nice sunset on the way to Heathrow airport

Sarah enjoys a hot chocolate before the cafe closed and we were booted onto the hard stone floors of the concourse

Interestingly, there were many others spending the night in the Terminal 5 Concourse just like we were, with limited-to-no success sleeping.  Terminal 5 can suck up a lot of people.  I don't think many people have seen this famously busy airport quite this empty inside.

I got a strong urge to start up a game of ball hockey in the wide, flat empty spaces.  But lacking sticks and a ball, it had to remain a fantasy.  Instead, I played "avoid the crazy loners" and hoped I wasn't one of them.

One reason we were happy to leave Scotland - it was still cold and rainy.  STILL!  Our entire trip so far has been one long Vancouver-style winter, with few signs of Spring anywhere despite the fact May is more than half over now.  Scotland is having a terrible Spring, and this April was the wettest England has experienced in 100 years.  So Turkey should provide some much-deserved warmth (even though it's supposed to rain in Istanbul the day we arrive...)