Scotland

Thursday, April 28-Monday, May 2

For my last long weekend of the year I went to Scotland with Kimzey. Both of us have a Scottish family history so we were excited to go there discover more about our heritage. We arrived late Thursday night to Glasgow. It is the second largest city in Scotland, more industrial and less touristy than the second city we would go to: Edinburgh, which is the largest city in Scotland.

Day 1: Friday, April 29: We had the whole day to walk around and explore Glasgow. We started off on the west end of the city where we visited the Glasgow University and the Kelvingrove park, which were right next to each other. The park consisted of lots of beautiful green grass areas and many paths for running, walking and biking.

The University

The Calvingrove Park

We then took a break for lunch on a street with lots of cute cafes. There, we had our first pot of tea along with a fresh sandwich.

That afternoon we headed to the east end of the city. It was quite a long walk and along our way we passed through the down town area with all the shops and restaurants on a nice pedestrian street. On the far east end of the city was the oldest house in Glasgow and the Glasgow Cathedral. The house has been created into a museum with all of the typical furniture from the time. The Cathedral is under renovation from the outside but we were still able to go inside.

The Oldest House in Glasgow

The Glasgow Cathedral

That evening, we were able to meet some young locals from Glasgow which was a lot of fun but we realized their accent is almost impossible to understand when they are talking to each other. It is like another language.

Day 2: We had the morning to walk around the down town area of Glasgow before catching a bus to Edinburgh. It was about an hour bus ride so we had most of the afternoon by the time we got there. After checking into our hostel we walked back into the center of the city by cutting through the University which is absolutely beautiful. We then visited St. Giles Cathedral.

St. Giles Cathedral

After seeing the Cathedral we passed the Scott Monument which is a big tower you can climb and in the same area is a big open park with many people hanging out there.

The Scott Monument

We then climbed Calton Hill on the northeast end of the city. It has some monuments and beautiful views of the city from all sides. From the top you can see the water, a mountain and the whole city.

The Royal Palace and Holyrood Park

Day 3: We had the whole day to explore all of Edinburgh. We started off by visiting the Edinburgh Castle since it is probably the most famous tourist site in the city. It is enormous with lots of little museums of the history of Scotland. There were also some great views of the city from the castle.

The Entrance

The Esplinade

After visiting the castle, we walked down to the Royal Palace where we climbed a small mountain in the Holyrood Park (which is the name of the palace.) It was a beautiful hike with lots of green land and a little bit more of a hike than we had predicted. It was everything I had imagine Scotland to be like. Unfortunately it was a little hazy from the top but still a good view.

That evening we went out with two people we met in our hostel; one from Spain and the other from England and had a great time.

Day 4: We caught a bus back to Glasgow the next morning followed by a bus to the airport.

It was a wonderful trip. We were lucky to have such sunny weather for the whole weekend however, I am still shocked with how cold it was for the beginning of May. Everyone there thought it was summer while we were bundled in our jackets and scarfs. If we could do the trip over again we probably would have spent less time in Glasgow and tried to make it up to one of the Locke's but maybe next time.