We were pretty tired by this time of the trip. I think we were both glad that Glasgow was our last city not because we wanted to leave Scotland, but because we had the least amount planned for that city. We had tossed around the idea of using our rail pass to go to another city, but we ended up not and while seeing more of Scotland would have been awesome, I don't think we would have enjoyed our last few days had we done that. It's important to be rested and well while traveling!
We were also a bit done with public transportation by this point, too. After our epic day of bus/cab/train to get from Kirkwall to Glasgow, we wanted to stick close to our hotel and not have to 1) worry about getting around and 2) pay for cabs. Luckily, our hotel was in a primo spot of the city and we could walk most everywhere. The only place I had wanted to go to, but was too far away, was Ubiquitous Chip, but that's okay. It's good to leave things for next time.
First up, we headed down Buchanon St, which is the main shopping area of the city. It's a pretty impressive street of shopping! It's also a lot of fun because there are street musicians and it has a very energetic feeling. While Edinburgh feels magical and old, Glasgow feels bustling and gritty.
After hitting up a few places, we went to the National Piping Centre where they offer lessons and have a small museum. I love anything music related!
Lunch was at a pub nearby and we got some brews and food.
Afterwards, we headed towards the Glasgow Cathedral.
If you're thinking, "That's not the cathedral," you would be right! Oops! It's an impressive building and we felt like we had walked far enough, but luckily we realized because the real Cathedral was one of my favorite parts of Scotland. I'm glad we made it to the real one!
The Glasgow Cathedral was built in the 12th century and is the only church still standing from before the Reformation. Read that again: 12th century.
It's majestic and beautiful.
After the Cathedral, we went to the art museum right next door, which was really cool!
Then Nessie helped us decide where to go next:
The other place in Glasgow I really wanted to go to was Provand's Lordship, the oldest remaining house from the medieval period in Glasgow. It was built in 1471.
It's so awesome in there. A lot of art is displayed as well as authentic furniture and architecture.
If you go to Glasgow, I HIGHLY recommend going to these two places. They're beautiful, interesting, and old. Every so often I would think about how old something was and I just couldn't believe it.
The walk back towards our hotel was kinda long, but we popped into a bookstore to check things out:
Dinner was a bit of a struggle once again. Seriously, what is up with the Scots and their lack of food in pubs!? We tried to go to a famous pub, but were told they weren't serving food anymore so we ended up back at our hotel to ask the front desk. She suggested McDonalds. Grrrr! So, once again we ended up at a Thai restaurant for dinner. It was really good and we drank a lot of wine/beer.
After our delicious dinner we went to our hotel bar to chill out and relax. We ended up having a great time watching Paranormal Activity, talking to an Irish couple, and then making friends with a guy who was in town for an Arctic Monkeys concert that got canceled. I actually follow him on Instagram now, which is fun! He was entertaining and made fun of our accents and we had an awkward conversation about sports where he was talking about the Rangers and we assumed hockey, but I later realized was the local soccer team.
Annnnnnd that was day 9!
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