Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Scottish Pub Crawl Without Boots

My boots are in storage in Delaware.  Who would have thought I would need them while I was living in the Middle East.  But, I sure wish I had them now.

We just spent 4 lovely days in Glasgow, Scotland.  Lovely is not referring to the weather. My hands and my feet nearly froze every time I went out. It was 48 degrees Fahrenheit or 9 degrees Celsius with scattered showers.

They spared no cost for the decorations at the Glasgow airport.  Really??? What were they thinking?
D had business in Glasgow so I tagged along.  It was great fun even though there was only 6.5 hours of daylight each day.  Sundown is at 3:45 in the afternoon this time of year.  That took a bit of getting used to.
Street scene at 4PM.  Shopping was in full swing.
This pic is of a street named West Nile.  WOW!  Didn't they name a virus after this street?
Our hotel was in the heart of the City Center and only a couple of blocks away from D’s office so we could walk everywhere.  The first day I walked for almost 5 hours.  It was awesome and I found a plethora of wonderful sights.

Not sure these painters would make it for safety at D's company.
The city was all decked out for Christmas with strolling musicians. There was a full band on one corner.  Here are a couple of videos of all the merry making.





Every night there were holiday parties going on all over the city.  All the restaurants were completely booked and this caused a bit of a problem.  On our last night, D and I camped out in a pub.  We had pints of ale with fish and chips for dinner.  It was a lot of fun.
We gave these two guys the award for the WORST Christmas sweater.  These kinds of sweaters were all over the place but these two were proud enough to model them for us.
Came all the way to Scotland to drink Virginia beer????
Ale available on every corner!
Our self portrait inside the Anchor Line spirits house. This was the by far the nicest bar we visited. 
One of the highlights of the trip was a climb to the top of the MacIntosh Lighthouse. 
Dusk (3PM) from the Lighthouse Tower designed by MackIntosh.
One of the Tea Rooms we visited designed by MackIntosh.
Looking down inside the MackIntosh Lighthouse.

We were leaving the hotel at 4:50 AM (we had a very early flight home) and a group of ladies were just coming in from their party.  I asked what they were celebrating and they said, “It is Christmas of course.”  I guess I have never seen this much celebration in advance of Christmas.  The cabbie even said it slows down for New Year’s Eve. 

We had a lay over in London’s Heathrow for just a bit on the way home but we did not leave the airport.  As I was sitting in the British Airways Lounge, I thought once again how lucky I am.  The lounge overlooks the runway and a large number of the planes sitting at their gates. What an amazing life to travel and enjoy our global community.
MackIntosh in the airport.  He was everywhere.
Inside structural details of Heathrow as seen from the British Airways Lounge.  It was very impressive.
Reading the London newspaper, it occurrs to me maybe the US crime rate is not so bad after all – the London paper was like reading a tabloid filled with the most outrageous crimes.  WAIT – I am reading a tabloid.  It just looked like a real "news" newspaper.

A big snowstorm is coming in behind us. Thank goodness we won’t be in Scotland then. Now we are on to our way to our 6.5 hour flight back to the sandbox. Everyone here in England has on boots, but mine are no where to be found.

Cheers,
Brenda

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