Thursday, July 11

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city and it took about 2 hours to get there. Lots of one way streets, but we found a parking garage quickly in the middle of town. All we knew was that Buchannan St. was a pedestrian-only street for shopping and we ended up about 2 blocks away. The city seems to be mainly for shopping. There are many old buildings, and lots of them were designed by an architect named Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the late 1800's. We turned on to Gordon Street, another pedestrian street and ate lunch at tables that had been set up in the middle. We both had a combination beef and vension burger with a small salad.

Our other objective was to tour the Transport Museum. We had a map and followed it by walking up and down a steep set of blocks only to have a bar owner tell us we had another 20 mins to go. It was hot, and  we were tired, so we aborted. As we walked back toward the car park we kept stopping to find an espresso, but the only places that served it were several Starbucks. I don't get coffee at Starbucks in foreign countries. It just doesn't seem right. Still looking, Linda wanted to go into Fraser's department store - 5 stories tall and takes up a half block. We are both reading the Outlander series of historical fiction and Jamie Fraser is the hero. Well, they didn't have Fraser plaids or anything that we couldn't get in the States. Almost to the car and we had an espresso at a Cafe Nero in an ancient looking building where we could sit outside. We had spent some time at Cafe Neros in London. On our way out of the city, we try again to find the Transport Museum in case we return. After some back and forth and 2 u-turns, we ask some guys walking down the street. They tell us that it has changed its name to the Riverside Museum which we had seen plenty of signs for. Who knew?

On the way back, we made several stops to take pictures of towns with lots of flowers. We had previously bought some food, so I made some rice and marinated strips of beef by pouring some of our Famous Grouse Whisky on it. Linda cooked onions and mushrooms which were added to the meat. A very tasty dinner eaten in front of the tele.