July 7-9, 2016

On the road again. The Collins family was traveling again after 11 months in St. John's, Newfoundland.

This was a different type of trip for us. Toward the end of our year of travel, we had become accustomed to 'winging' much of our plans and we often secured accommodations only five days or less in advance of our arrival. This trip to Scotland was all planned and booked prior to our arrival.

Our original plan for a trip was to do something less stressful like an English speaking country we could reach with a direct flight. Previously St. John's had direct flights to Glasgow, but we were quickly denied that luxury. We had to backtrack and fly through Halifax, then board an overnight flight to Glasgow which would arrive at 8:00 the following morning.

The overnight flight was drama free and we appeared at our B&B by 9 a.m. Our hostess was understandably not ready for us, but she took one look at us and described us as looking "shattered". She recommended a lovely Scottish breakfast place nearby while she got the room ready. After breakfast we got my phone set up with a SIM chip and then we promptly returned to our room for a nap.

With only two days in Glasgow we had to get into town and explore. I had never been to Scotland before, but Michael had lived in Glasgow for four months during a university work term. He reminisced a bit as we walked through downtown Glasgow.

Scotland is known for its delicious Indian food. We were not disappointed.

My inner fourth-grader wanted to constantly place an "I" between the O and L in UK rent signs.

With some significant walking and touring and one lovely Indian dinner in us, we returned to our room for the night. The next morning we headed back downtown for a more thorough informative tour on a hop on, hop off bus.

Some amazing artwork on buildings...all done with spray paint.

National animal for Scotland is the unicorn.....

Gallery of Modern Art.  Yes, that is a construction come on the statue. Started as a local joke and it stuck. — Gallery of Modern Art. Yes, that is a construction come on the statue. Started as a local joke and it stuck.

We visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The must-see piece there was Salvidor Dali's Christ of St. John of the Cross. Apparently there was a lot of flack given at the time of purchase due to high cost, but the town is pretty pleased now.

The museum is adjacent to a lovely park. It turned out to be a gorgeous day, so we enjoyed a walk through the gardens.

Salvador Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross

Steward Memorial Fountain within Kelvingrove Park dedicated to Stewart responsible for Glagow's first permanent supply of fresh water (built in 1871).

We planned our evening meal at one of the top rated Indian restaurants in Scotland. Fortunately, it was right around the corner from our B&B. We were lucky to get a reservation and the meal did not disappoint. Maeve refused to eat another Indian meal, so I treated her to some ice-cream at a local specialty shop. We continually saw people walking down the street with amazingly original creamy creations. One lady had a full slice of cake hanging off her cup of ice cream. They also had a massive selection of cereals. Apparently that's a popular thing to add to your ice cream.

Most of the cereal selection at the ice cream shop

I truly enjoyed Glasgow. I found the downtown and west-end charming. The people were lovely and I surprisingly had little difficulty understanding the accent. We were definitely looking forward to heading to the highlands to see more of Scotland.