Another weekend of waking up at 4:30 in the morning. Well, that was the plan. I had actually woken up at 3:00 AM due to a sore throat and could not go back to sleep. Alyssa and I left Hillhead (our student accommodation) at 5:30 to catch our 6:30 bus in town. The ride to Glasgow was just over three hours. The people in front of me and the guy behind me talked the entire journey which made it impossible to sleep. However, I was still comfortable, as I had two seats to my self. Upon arrival in Glasgow, I was on the prowl to find a bathroom. After going into several stores, I finally found a free bathroom on the third floor of a shopping mall. As we could not check into our hotel, we decided to find some of the attractions that were on our "To do" list.
Our first stop was the Glasgow Cathedral. From the outside, the Cathedral looked rather small and was quite black, probably from weathering. Inside, the Cathedral was magnificent and extremely large. There were tombs under the cathedral that we explored. The stained glass windows were also very intricate and colorful. Leaving, we walked up a hill behind the Cathedral to see the Necropolis. The view of the Cathedral from this hill was quite stunning. We explored the graveyards on the hill and were confused why all the gravestones were so close together
We made our way back to the city center of Glasgow and now I would like to comment on my observations. I did not expect Glasgow to be so city-like. There is an underground subway system, which is the first Scottish city that I have visited to have this. There were also so many homeless people begging on the streets, a much greater amount of people smoking and vaping than any other Scottish city so far in my travels, and I actually felt dirty walking around. I would have specks of dirt fly into my eyes and my mouth. There were large amounts of trash in some places. I was quite disappointed to be honest. Continuing this disappointment, I had lunch at an Irish pub called Kitty O'Sheas. I am not kidding, this was probably the worst food that I have ever gotten at a restaurant. I ordered a regular pepperoni pizza and could barely finish it. The cheese tasted so artificial, the crust was as thin as paper and the pepperoni was extremely spicy. At this point, I was already done with Glasgow.
On a brighter side, we were able to check into our hotel after lunch. The hotel and our room was quite nice. We had a bathroom in our room this time as opposed to our hotel in London! No complaints about this hotel. After settling in, we went to find the University of Glasgow. We "accidentally" stumbled upon a sweet shop on our way, where I got some amazing waffles covered in white chocolate and sprinkles. Shout out to Big Licks. Before arriving at the University, we went to the Kelvingrove Art Museum. The outside of the museum is beautiful and the inside had some interesting exhibitions, one containing drawings by Leonard da Vinci. Museums are not really my favorite thing to do so we did not spend too much time in here. Visiting the University of Glasgow was honestly my favorite part of this trip. The University buildings are absolutely stunning. They honestly make the University of Aberdeen look basic. I was able to see the famous arches near the courtyards. These Gothic arches gave me Harry Potter vibes right away. I am surprised that no scenes were filmed here. We headed back to the hotel and were too tired to find some place to eat dinner, especially after the tragic lunch we had. We did some research and found a deal on Pizza Hut's Website and get this... delivery was free and you do not tip the deliverers here! What a bargain. We thoroughly enjoyed our pizza in our hotel room while watching the Great British Baking Show. This was a great end to the night.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, which was amazing compared the breakfast at our hotel in London, checked out of the hotel and then headed to to the train station. We took a 50 minute train ride to Balloch, which is right at the Southern tip of Trossachs National Park and Loch Lomond. It was great to be out of the city and immersed in nature. Unfortunately, there was no sun and the scenery was not that pretty because no leaves are on the trees yet. I did enjoy the walk and was happy to find Balloch castle. Although small, this was the first Scottish castle that I saw that was not in ruins! After browsing through Google Maps to see where to go next, I saw another castle 30 minutes up the path. We decided to check it out but when we got there, there were signs saying private entrance only. This castle is booked out for weddings and receptions and cannot be visited by the general public. This was a disappointment. We walked back to the town center of Balloch and I noticed how all the dogs in Scotland are not walked with leashes. The dogs run around freely and always come back to their owner. It seems as though Scottish dogs are more obedient than American dogs. It began to rain, so we headed to the train station and waited about 20 minutes until it was time to board our train back to Glasgow.
There were still a few things I wanted to see in Glasgow but could not access because of the rain. Alyssa and I did are usual walk through every clothing and food store just to pass the 5 hours we had until our bus back to Aberdeen. There is a giant panda mural that I wanted to find so I went to search for it. Google Maps said that I had arrived but there was no panda mural to be found. As I was searching around, a lady could tell I was obviously lost and asked if I needed help finding something. I showed her the picture of the panda and she said that she had never seen that before. It was nice of her to offer me help. Due to the rain and my general unhappiness in Glasgow, I could not wait to go home. We finally boarded our bus and I got back to Aberdeen around 11:00.
Overall, Glasgow was definitely my least favorite city that I have visited in Scotland. Perhaps the city and the National Park would be better to visit in summertime but I do not really have any desire to go back to Glasgow. This Friday, I will be going to Edinburgh for three days. I surely hope that I will have a better experience. Additionally, I have been battling a sore throat so I hope to be healthy by then!
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