Glasgow-ing Away From Here (Part 5 of 7)

This post will probably be the shortest because I really didn't like Glasgow.  I was only set to stay there about a day, with an evening flight to Dublin (then a late drive to Belfast), and it was still too long.  I paid extra to change my flight so I could leave Glasgow earlier.  Back to Glasgow.. here's a couple photos from the train ride.

Glasgow is definitely more modern than Edinburgh, but it reminded me of LA, but more boring.  The main shopping area reminded me of a gritty Third Street Promenade,  

I thought this looked interesting.

A lot of the city is in ruins, which can be seen in this picture taken from my hostel window.

The whole city is kind of a bummer, so it wasn't surprising when I heard of the "Glasgow Effect", an explained phenomenon where people in Glasgow have lower life expectancy rates and poor health compared to the rest of the United Kingdom.

There wasn't much to do the next day.  I saw a neat bridge and went to the Gallery of Modern Art.  I usually like modern art museums, but this one was so sparse and the exhibitions were so boring.  I was going to take a hop on, hop off bus, but there were issues with finding it, and I wasn't incredibly compelled to spend a long time searching.

Bye, Glasgow.  

It's Getting Scot in Here - Edinburgh (Part 4 of 7)

The day started with an early morning flight to Edinburgh.  It only takes about 1-2 hours to fly from Cork to Edinburgh.. I'm not sure the exact time, because I slept the whole flight.  But when I got out of the airport in Edinburgh, I was amazed.  I felt like I stepped into Harry Potter's world.  Granted, it is where the books (at least the first one) were written.  But the city was so striking. The plan was to stay a night in Edinburgh and the next night in Glasgow, with an evening flight the day after, so I wasn't sure how to split it.  However, I was told to go to Glasgow as late as possible, since there wasn't much to do there.  That was an understatement.  I wish I stayed in Edinburgh longer and skipped Glasgow.  This is going to be a longer post, since I did so much in Edinburgh. To offset this, the Glasgow post after this will probably be short and mostly complaining about how much I didn't like the city.

Look how pretty this street is.

A guy in a kilt! There's actually a lot of bagpipe performers on the street.

The guy at the front desk of the hostel mentioned the Surgeon's Hall Museum, which sounded really interesting.  This may be the coolest museum I've been to - I don't have any pictures because cameras aren't allowed.  It's a hall that details the medical progress made in Scotland.  First, I was amazed because I saw an exhibit of non-food things that people have swallowed, like coins, sharp objects (yikes), and balls of hair.  But that was nothing! There was an entire building filled with preserved body parts, which was soo interesting to see.  You name it, and it was there.  There was even a preserved face - he had a mustache and everything.  It was so cool, I kept telling people I met to go there.  I spent hours looking at the skulls, fetus skeletons, amputated limbs, etc.  Does this make me sound creepy?  Whatever, I'm used to it.

The only picture I could get of The Surgeons Hall.

Then, I went to the National Museum of Scotland, which is a really great museum for kids.  It's large and three floors, with each room had a different theme and each floor focused on a different aspect.  

Continuing my theme of an interest in livestock, I was most excited to see Dolly, the sheep.  You have to admit that the first cloned animal ever is pretty cool, though!

This is a coffin.  I don't remember what country in Africa this is from, but a lot of people there have fancy coffins to signify wealth.  They had a shark one too.

I may or may not have a Speak and Spell in my closet somewhere, but it's surprising to see one in the museum.  It makes me feel old!

This sign is hilarious!

Even though I don't (can't) drink liquor, I went to the Scotch Whiskey Experience.  It started off with a Disneyland-like experience, where each party sits in a car shaped like a barrel to move through different rooms that explain the whiskey-making process.  I asked the attendant to take a picture of me in it but he did a horrible job, so I gave up.

I look angry, for some reason.  Maybe I wasn't ready for the picture?

 

This is part of the tasting portion.  Each of the corners has a different scent to help you decide what kind of whiskey you most like.  Everyone gets to keep the glass.

There was this room that was just filled with whiskey.  It's the largest private whiskey collection in the world.

I also went to Camera Obscura, this interesting museum that was filled with optical illusions and other really neat visual exhibitions.  They also had a roof with a view and some cameras on the top that you could see from a dark room they had.

The Edinburgh Castle, which you'll see further down.  I went there the next day.

I kept running into these mirrors.  It took forever to get out!

I wrote my name with the lights and it stayed.. for like a second.

I could only stay in here for a little.. it gets dizzying pretty quickly.

I had a lot of fun in Edinburgh in the evening but it was definitely different from my experience in Dublin, in that the pubs were more spread out, so there was more walking in between.  A bagpiper was hanging out in the pub and this woman tried his bagpipes (she didn't do a good job) and then had him spontaneously play them in the middle of the pub.



I had a ton of fun that night, but it definitely made the next day a little tough.  I carved out most of the day to visit the Edinburgh Castle before heading over to Glasgow (boo).

Here's a small picture of me so you know I was actually there.  I promise I packed more clothes than just the one jacket I'm wearing in pretty much all my pictures, but since I take my own pictures, you can only see me from the shoulder up.

The castle took hours to see - there were many different buildings, including two museums and a memorial chapel for all the UK soldiers who have perished through wars.  

I definitely could relate to this guy, who was imprisoned for being drunk on guard.

A lot less sunny at the end of the day.

Then, I had to leave to go to Glasgow.  Boo again.