So, as I reflect on the week we spent up north I am going to try really hard not to dwell too much on the fact that my one reason for going (petting real live hairy coos) did not in fact happen. I am disappointed. Good ol' Patrick is such a good sport and did a good job being patient with my disappointment and trying to cheer me up. He has promised a full day of cow petting come May when we actually do go to Holland. See how I put that in writing? There's no going back now, Pattycake.
Right, so about the trip.
We left early on Monday morning to catch an 8:30 train from Euston up north. The trip only took about 4 and a half hours, which isn't nearly as bad as it had been rumoured to be. Patrick studied for his exams later this month, and I listened to music and stared out the window. At this point in the trip, I was bouncing with excitement imagining the hairy cows that would soon love me as much as I loved them. We arrived in Glasgow a bit before 1 and walked the short walk up the hill from the train station to our hotel. The place was a bargain, and so I wasn't expecting much. I loved it. I will stay in a CitizenM hotel every chance I get. I've already written a rave review on Yelp, so I don't feel the need to praise it too much here. Let's just say that if you've ever traveled in Europe, you'll know what to expect out of a hotel room, and would be just as refreshingly surprised as I was at the accommodation at CitizenM.
SO, we checked in, played with all of the buttons on the remote in the room that controlled everything from the TV to the lights (which changed colour), ate some of our food, and then decided to walk to a nearby park. (I had heard rumours that some parks in Scotland had a resident Highland Coo. This was 100% of the motivation for going to the park.) Weather was nice, for Britain anyway. Cloudy but not too cold and not raining. I guess local Scotts would probably say that's all you can expect from weather in Scotland. After a stroll through the park (no cows spotted, though, not even a large enough field to house one) we found the local McDonalds, as per tradition, ate dinner, and found a local supermarket to buy food for the next day. Traveling is much cheaper this way, by the by.
Tuesday was an all day tour up into the Highlands. We saw bens (mountains) and lochs (lakes), fed wild red deer, tried to spot Nessie, and poked around tiny Scottish towns. Note, I mentioned nothing about cows. This was the day I was most deflated. Returning back to Glasgow was a very sad and slightly grumpy Kiersten, and an every patient and optimistic Patrick. Where would I be without him? Tuesday was also Ben&Jerry's FREE CONE DAY! Which was the proverbial carrot at the end of the stick, and so pretty much the only thing keeping me going. Glasgow, despite being the shopping capitol of Scotland, is fresh out of Ben&Jerry's scoop shops. I was having flash backs to my days in Phoenix, where the only Ben&Jerry you could find was in the freezer section of the grocery store. I huffed and shuffled back to the hotel, flopped on the bed, and had a proper dramatic cry and wallow. By the time I was ready to face the world again, it was nearly 9 pm. We headed down the street to a place that supposedly had all-you-can-eat BBQ Ribs. Tummies grumbling, we walked through the restaurant door just past 9 only to be told that the kitchen closed at 9 due to a lack of customers. Tuesday wasn't my day. We wandered aimlessly through downtown Glasgow, settled into a pub and had some surprisingly delicious food. Maybe it was the hunger, or maybe my lamb-shank pie really was delicious.
Wednesday- board the train for Edinburgh. Upon arriving, we struggled to find our way through the hilly winding streets to our hotel. Patrick once again saves the day by dragging our suit case up and down the cobblestone hills with very little complaint. This hotel was fine, but not nearly as fun as the colour-changing CitizenM. We dropped our stuff, took a nap (it's a vacation, after all) and then explored the nearby Edinburgh castle, which is apparently Scotland's most visited attraction. A steep £16 ticket price kept us on the outside of the drawbridge though. We saw some cathedrals and churches, and I took lots of pictures of old doors for Mommy. Then we went to a highly recommended Italian restaurant for dinner. Delicious meal, great service, and a perfectly American banana split and apple pie dessert combo lead to more rave reviews from me on Yelp. We went back to the castle to see it in the dark, took some pictures of the city from the really high hill where the castle is, and then found our way back to the room.
Thursday was Zoo Day. We woke up, found a Starbucks, then hit up the local grocery store to buy more food supplies before finding the bus that would take us to the zoo. Upon arrival, we booked a complimentary Panda Viewing and then explored. The zoo had only just opened, so I'm going to say that was why all of the animals were still sleeping in their indoor houses. The "hoof paddock" section of the map seemed to promise at least a cow of some sort, so we trekked up the hill only to find a really over-grown, really empty field of nothing. One sad looking llama was inside the barn, probably wondering where all of his friends had gone. Patrick saw his favourite, penguins, and then we went to our Panda Viewing. We were herded into a small room with about 50 other people to maybe get a glimpse of female Panda who had been hiding all day. Apparently the 1:30 pm viewing was no different to her, and she remained behind the scenes. The "Panda Expert" tried to console us as he lead us to the male panda's home and explained that the pandas had free will and access to their indoor enclosures at all times. I don't think I was the only disappointed tourist in the bunch. Male panda was sleeping on his platform, barely visible. All I can say is, it's a good thing I've seen pandas before other wise Patrick probably would have had find some Ben&Jerry's pretty darn quick. After we left the zoo, we went back to the hotel to read more reviews on Yelp about where to eat for dinner. (I think Yelp should be paying me a premium for all of this free advertising they're getting here.) We settled on pizza which got good reviews and was just across the street. WORST. PIZZA. EVER. Seriously. Bet your buttons I wrote an evil review when we got back.
Friday, sleep in, check out late, and grab the train back to London. Excuse me, I meant grab the Party Train back to London. Apparently something was going on in Newcastle that was attracting lots of old men in Hawaiian print shirts. And apparently it wasn't acceptable to arrive at this event sober, so you had to get pissed on the train. As soon as we left Newcastle, I slept, Patrick studied.
Wow, that turned into a novel of a post. No room for more than a few pictures.
Red deer checking out the new camera
The highlands
The many versions of Nessie
Our magic colour-changing hotel room
In front of the castle in Edinburgh
Doors for Mommy
