OK, it's not the South China Sea or the Australian Outback, but navigating a new culture on the far side of the planet still is reality at its finest. :)
And this trip was packed with unscripted drama from the beginning, because it was a trip back in time--to see where my family came from and what they left behind. I felt like I was retracing someone's steps, and it was quite cool to look at something and wonder if my ancestors had seen it too. Of course, I'm sure they would have seen fewer stores selling plush Loch Ness Monsters and Cadbury chocolate. :)
Anyway, on with the recap!
Glasgow is paradox city. Heavily hip, design-conscious, with a wonderful sense of civic pride, it's also a bit crude, provincial, and in the shadow of its industrial past. And you can't understand what anyone's saying. That just makes it more interesting. The place revolves around George Square with its enormous City Chambers, just one of the many, many, MANY examples of over-the-top Victorian buildings that probably couldn't be replicated today. I also walked over to the brooding Necropolis, an enormous cemetery city on a hill. By then I was on an architecture kick and checked out the Glasgow School of Art, the masterpiece of local architecture legend Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Though the place is nearly a century old, many of his ideas and designs are surprisingly modern.
Glasgow also seems to have a great sense of humor. Check out this pompous
statue
of Wellington in front of the Gallery of Modern Art. Yes, that's a
traffic cone he's wearing. :)
Maybe it was because everyone was so friendly, or because it looks like
places I've lived in the American South, but it felt like home. Or maybe
it's just the Buchanan genes telling me so. :)
Amazingly, Scotland's capital seemed to be the least Scottish place I visited. Here I saw people in kilts—followed by tourists. I explored Edinburgh Castle, where people obviously battled over who had the best views of the city. Then I walked the Royal Mile, which is the street connecting the castle with historic St. Giles Cathedral, medieval Old Town houses, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, once home to the romantic and very doomed Mary, Queen of Scots. Today it's Queen Elizabeth's little Scottish cottage, complete with evocative ruined abbey. Across the valley, the orderly New Town is full of beautiful 200-year-old Georgian terrace houses, most of which are still in use.
Two things not to miss: the overwhelming National
Museum of Scotland and a hike to the Salisbury
Crags overlooking the city--and the queen's backyard. It's a great
place to enjoy an Irn-Bru, the Scottish national soft drink, which has
a sweet orange candy/bubblegum flavor and a printed warning that if spilled,
it will stain. :)
From Inverness, I went by bus to nearby Loch
Ness. No, the monster didn't pop out and say hi. How rude. Anyway,
pleiosaur or not, the loch is quite dramatic, especially at the ruins
of Urquhart Castle. On this day the sun
and rain were playing tag on the loch, chasing each other every 10
minutes, so I ducked into one of the local Loch
Ness Monster exhibitions. This one was actually kind of good, a video/sound/light/laser
show through the history of the loch, the monster sightings, and the monster
searches. Then, of course, I had to buy a plush Nessie and photograph the
fiberglass
monster threatening the tourists outside. What's travel without a little
tackiness?
:)
I ferried across the Sound of Sleat (love that name), in sight of the
rocky islands of the Hebrides, to Mallaig and the mainland. There I caught
the West Highland Line, which is scenic overload.
First there were the silver sands of Morar and island-filled bays. Then
sea lochs in mountain valleys. Then snowcapped mountains, brooding mountains,
and Britain's highest mountain. Then craggy gorges packed with waterfall
after waterfall. Then an enormous gloomy moor right out of a Bronte novel.
Then a spectacular waterfall off a tall mountainside that broke into several
waterfalls as it plummeted toward Loch Lomond's fjord-like northern reach.
Then Dumbarton castle on its rock by the river Clyde. Then Glasgow. It
was unbelievable--but what's more unbelievable is that no one was selling
any picture books of this!
I conquered the castle, which felt more inviting
than Edinburgh's, probably because it was a favorite home for the royal
court. It includes a small palace and great views
from the ramparts over the former royal gardens and hunting preserve, the
whole city, plus the battlegrounds of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn--the
pivotal battles for Scottish independence. For Clan Buchanan fans, the
castle is one of the places the scholar George Buchanan tutored the young
James VI (I of England). Also, if you know the story of the Buchanan known
as the "King of Kippen,"
this is where he would have visited James V at
court after the famous incident.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. :)
