Two cities of Scotland

We left Ireland bright and early Saturday morning and made it to Glasgow-Prestwick airport in Scotland. The only thing I really remember about our arrival in Glasgow (after taking a train from the airport) is being surprised and confused to see that Scotland's pound notes looked different than England's; I was in a daze after getting up so early and the rush of travel. To get to our hostel we took the underground, which was smaller and much simpler than London's.

Our stop was Hillhead, and, true to the name, we had to walk up a steep hill to get to our hostel. But we finally made it, and I went to sleep as soon as I could.

After I woke up I wandered around the neighborhood with Adam; everyone else had already awakened and gone out. We walked through the grounds of a college, in a nice park by a river, and eventually up and down streets, stopping in every bookstore and thrift shop we saw. It was a very laid-back day, taking it easy after the slight stress that always accompanies travel, and it was a nice way to be introduced to Scotland.

While there we also made it to Edinburgh overnight; it was fairly inexpensive to take a bus from one city to the other. The first day we split up and each saw the city on our own (the pictures in my Scotland Facebook album give a better idea of that than my words can). We ate dinner at a Scottish pub; as usual, the pub food was amazing.

The next day was another hiking adventure, this one in the hills just outside of the city. Dan had walked up himself the day before, when it was clear and he had gotten a great view, but as luck would have it, that day was foggy. After we climbed up just a little ways, the city disappeared in the mist, the only proof of its existence the muffled traffic sounds that still reached us. I didn't really mind, though, because the fog made the landscape mysterious, even mystical, like we were in Lord of the Rings. We climbed higher--as in Howth, it was sometimes literal climbing--until we reached something that seemed to be the top. There was nothing around us but the mist; no more hills that we could see, nowhere to go but back down. It was like being on an island. The fog was so thick that I could see it obscuring the others even when they were just a little ways away.

We eventually headed back down and returned to the city, eating at the same pub as the night before. Then it was back to Glasgow, where our flights were booked out of; we spent one night there before leaving the next morning, which was an adventure in itself . . .