Glasgow - July 12-15
Turns out we weren't able to stay in Edinburgh for any longer and so opted to take the train to Glasgow until our flight out on the 15th. We booked a hotel that would accommodate all of us...no small task and we are heading to the train this morning via taxi. We arrive at the station with plenty of time for those who wish to visit the Edinburgh Castle to see it while a couple of us guard all of the luggage. Hudson and I volunteer to stay in the station with the luggage while Paulie, Annie and Sam go to see the castle. A short time later the group re-unites and it turns out they didn't go into the Castle anyway since it cost too much. So I go with the kids to pick up sandwiches and to buy belts for the boys who have new pants that are a bit too big. We get back in time to catch the train to Glasgow and we settle in for the one hour trip. We arrive at the station around 2pm and wonder how to get to our destination. We go outside the station to look for the hotel owner who has said he will meet us at the station but he is nowhere to be seen. So, we look around for the bus stop that will deliver us to the hotel we have reserved. We are finally greeted by a guy who is the son of the owner who hustles us over to his waiting BMW and gets all of our luggage packed away in the back of the car. He tells us that there is a problem with our hotel room and instead he is taking us to a two bedroom apartment that he has. We drive for what seems a long time and notice that the neighborhoods seem to be going downhill the longer we drive. Finally he pulls up to a dead end street where it looks like we are in some sort of ghetto and says that we have arrived. Hmmm. We go through a heavily locked door and up a musty, moldy staircase to a wonderfully bright apartment....something is very fishy about this deal??? The guy is in a huge hurry and brushes through the directions on the TV and the like and makes a quick exit, leaving us in an unknown city in an unknown location with no means of contacting anyone in the event of a problem...HMMM. We just stare at one another in disbelief and come to our senses and decide to make the best of it. Soon afterward, we meet the next door neighbor whose name is Kathy and she shows us where to go shopping for food and we discover a nice curry restaurant next door. The neighborhood is very sketchy, but we are resigned to living here for the next three days. We find the Lidl grocery store and stock up on goodies that we can prepare in our kitchen over the next couple of days. Paulie locates a great curry place and orders food for the night. We all tuck in and enjoy satellite TV for the movies and "Friends" reruns for the remainder of the night.
The next morning, we do our best to enjoy Glasgow, but truly there is very little to do here. We walk around the town and find Argyle street and walk up and along the narrow walking streets amid all of the standard shopping stores: Accessories, Primark, etc. until we have lunch at a horrible place and decide to return to our little hovel for the rest of the day, but not until we have a little stop by the Lidl and the fruit vendor from Afghanistan. The evening is completed with an ample helping of "Friends", the "Big Bang Theory" and assorted movies.
Our final day in Glasgow is fraught with indecision - should we stay or should we go??? We have reserved a car to go and explore the countryside, but we are freaked out by the reports that this is a very difficult city to drive in given the numerous one way streets and such. Also, we have to be at the airport very early the next day (ie: we have to be on the road at 5am in order to get to the airport which is 1 hour away by 5:45 am) and since we don't know the way, we risk missing the airplane. We research the bus schedule to see if it is possible to take a train or bus to the airport, but alas, the city transportation only begins at 8:00am. So we still have two options: taxi (for $100) or drive ourselves to the countryside and to the airport tomorrow ($108). Hmmm... in order to get to the airport, we have to take a bus out there at a cost of $30 and two hours of time, but first we discover that we don't have our passports that will be necessary to rent a car. So, Paulie boards a bus back to the way out neighborhood where we are staying in order to get the passports that will be needed to rent a car. Once he is back, we conclude that taking a taxi is the way to go and so we venture off to find a pay phone to call a taxi to pick us up at 5:00am on the morrow (like the little Scottish flare at the end there?) We finally find a pay phone and acquire the necessary coins to make a call and lo and behold once we get the taxi company on the horn, a marching band passes by the phone booth in favor of gay rights...everybody paint their faces with a rainbow PLEASE! As I cannot speak or hear the person on the other end except to find out exactly how much ^*@# money it will cost to get a taxi on a Sunday morn (I just did that Scottish twang thingy again) I hang up the phone and join the revelry of the "Gay Pride Parade" of Glasgow. After all the hoopla has passed, I get some more coins from the nearby grocer and proceed to make another call to which I receive a different set of information: "No phone to call up and confirm, No taxi on the morn"...old Scottish proverb. As we are in the corner of the universe without phones thanks to our mixup with the hotel, I am almost in tears as we are swept up in the rainbow-colored flags and escorted into the George Michaelish concert event. Not to worry, we are ejected from the event shortly and I approach the experts (aka; REAL taxi drivers to ask them for assistance) They make a call, we have a taxi scheduled, everyone is happy! Wow! So we are off to enjoy rainbows of a sort. After a while, Paulie, Sam and Annie return to the hovel and Hudson and I venture off on a short jaunt....can't you see us jaunting? We get home and settle in for more "Friends" and off to sleep for a 4am wake up.
Turns out we weren't able to stay in Edinburgh for any longer and so opted to take the train to Glasgow until our flight out on the 15th. We booked a hotel that would accommodate all of us...no small task and we are heading to the train this morning via taxi. We arrive at the station with plenty of time for those who wish to visit the Edinburgh Castle to see it while a couple of us guard all of the luggage. Hudson and I volunteer to stay in the station with the luggage while Paulie, Annie and Sam go to see the castle. A short time later the group re-unites and it turns out they didn't go into the Castle anyway since it cost too much. So I go with the kids to pick up sandwiches and to buy belts for the boys who have new pants that are a bit too big. We get back in time to catch the train to Glasgow and we settle in for the one hour trip. We arrive at the station around 2pm and wonder how to get to our destination. We go outside the station to look for the hotel owner who has said he will meet us at the station but he is nowhere to be seen. So, we look around for the bus stop that will deliver us to the hotel we have reserved. We are finally greeted by a guy who is the son of the owner who hustles us over to his waiting BMW and gets all of our luggage packed away in the back of the car. He tells us that there is a problem with our hotel room and instead he is taking us to a two bedroom apartment that he has. We drive for what seems a long time and notice that the neighborhoods seem to be going downhill the longer we drive. Finally he pulls up to a dead end street where it looks like we are in some sort of ghetto and says that we have arrived. Hmmm. We go through a heavily locked door and up a musty, moldy staircase to a wonderfully bright apartment....something is very fishy about this deal??? The guy is in a huge hurry and brushes through the directions on the TV and the like and makes a quick exit, leaving us in an unknown city in an unknown location with no means of contacting anyone in the event of a problem...HMMM. We just stare at one another in disbelief and come to our senses and decide to make the best of it. Soon afterward, we meet the next door neighbor whose name is Kathy and she shows us where to go shopping for food and we discover a nice curry restaurant next door. The neighborhood is very sketchy, but we are resigned to living here for the next three days. We find the Lidl grocery store and stock up on goodies that we can prepare in our kitchen over the next couple of days. Paulie locates a great curry place and orders food for the night. We all tuck in and enjoy satellite TV for the movies and "Friends" reruns for the remainder of the night.
The next morning, we do our best to enjoy Glasgow, but truly there is very little to do here. We walk around the town and find Argyle street and walk up and along the narrow walking streets amid all of the standard shopping stores: Accessories, Primark, etc. until we have lunch at a horrible place and decide to return to our little hovel for the rest of the day, but not until we have a little stop by the Lidl and the fruit vendor from Afghanistan. The evening is completed with an ample helping of "Friends", the "Big Bang Theory" and assorted movies.
Our final day in Glasgow is fraught with indecision - should we stay or should we go??? We have reserved a car to go and explore the countryside, but we are freaked out by the reports that this is a very difficult city to drive in given the numerous one way streets and such. Also, we have to be at the airport very early the next day (ie: we have to be on the road at 5am in order to get to the airport which is 1 hour away by 5:45 am) and since we don't know the way, we risk missing the airplane. We research the bus schedule to see if it is possible to take a train or bus to the airport, but alas, the city transportation only begins at 8:00am. So we still have two options: taxi (for $100) or drive ourselves to the countryside and to the airport tomorrow ($108). Hmmm... in order to get to the airport, we have to take a bus out there at a cost of $30 and two hours of time, but first we discover that we don't have our passports that will be necessary to rent a car. So, Paulie boards a bus back to the way out neighborhood where we are staying in order to get the passports that will be needed to rent a car. Once he is back, we conclude that taking a taxi is the way to go and so we venture off to find a pay phone to call a taxi to pick us up at 5:00am on the morrow (like the little Scottish flare at the end there?) We finally find a pay phone and acquire the necessary coins to make a call and lo and behold once we get the taxi company on the horn, a marching band passes by the phone booth in favor of gay rights...everybody paint their faces with a rainbow PLEASE! As I cannot speak or hear the person on the other end except to find out exactly how much ^*@# money it will cost to get a taxi on a Sunday morn (I just did that Scottish twang thingy again) I hang up the phone and join the revelry of the "Gay Pride Parade" of Glasgow. After all the hoopla has passed, I get some more coins from the nearby grocer and proceed to make another call to which I receive a different set of information: "No phone to call up and confirm, No taxi on the morn"...old Scottish proverb. As we are in the corner of the universe without phones thanks to our mixup with the hotel, I am almost in tears as we are swept up in the rainbow-colored flags and escorted into the George Michaelish concert event. Not to worry, we are ejected from the event shortly and I approach the experts (aka; REAL taxi drivers to ask them for assistance) They make a call, we have a taxi scheduled, everyone is happy! Wow! So we are off to enjoy rainbows of a sort. After a while, Paulie, Sam and Annie return to the hovel and Hudson and I venture off on a short jaunt....can't you see us jaunting? We get home and settle in for more "Friends" and off to sleep for a 4am wake up.
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