Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Scotland so far!

What an amazing time this past week has been spending time with my family. I wish it didn’t have to end and I wish I wouldn’t have gone so fast. I was waiting and waiting for them to get here and I knew it was going to go faster than I wanted it to. Oh well, we had a great time while it lasted. I apologize for not posting more often; I’m sure there were a lot of people who were patiently waiting to hear about our experiences. We were so busy that it was hard to keep up with everything. I tried to write the blog as we went but there was no internet access at the hotels and if there was we had to pay extra to use it for a few minutes. So, I tried to at least type up what we were doing each day, but needless to say, I fell behind. I hope you enjoy the following experiences. They may be a little scrambled because some were written as we traveled and others were written after the fact.

On Saturday the 9th we left Wales and headed north to Scotland. Before we left for the day we did a little last minute exploring of Bangor. The family hadn’t been to the pier yet so we wondered that way. The pier is home to the scones and I couldn’t let the family come to Bangor and not have a scone. The day was one of the most beautiful days I have witnessed since I have been in Wales so they were really in for a treat. The tide has been exceptionally low since the family got here so as we were walking to the end of the pier it seemed like there was no water in the Menai. By the time we walked back from the pier the tide was coming back in. Everyone enjoyed their scone and the oh-so-rare view of the mountains that over shadow Bangor.

After everyone said their goodbyes to Les we headed for the train station. We were there plenty early because we weren’t sure how busy it was going to be with classes just ending for the three week Easter break. Everyone had to pick up their tickets except me, so I wanted to make sure we would have plenty of time; we did. We sat on the platform for about an hour before our train came. We enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and I think I even got some sun on my legs J.

After we got on the train I knew it would be as busy as it was. I have taken the train on a Saturday before and it always seems quite busy, at least between Bangor and Llandudno. The family all had reserved seats but I just had a general ticket. I told them that probably wouldn’t matter but they insisted they would be fine. We got on the train and of course it was packed. They all did manage to find a seat but not the ones that were printed on their ticket. There was really no space for the luggage so we left it sitting near the front of the car. I stayed with the luggage for a few stops but eventually found a seat. We switched trains in Chester and then there was a short ride to Crew. Once we switched in Crew we had about a 6 hour ride to Glasgow. The ride up was very beautiful and so green. I think everyone, including myself, thoroughly enjoyed the ride north and all the beautiful scenery. As we got closer to Glasgow the train got emptier so we enjoyed all the space. Mom, Dad Steve and I even enjoyed some four-handed euchre.

We arrived in Glasgow around 9 and the town was booming. It appeared we were right in the middle of all the action. There were people wandering the streets having a grand old time. We really didn’t know where the hotel was so we asked around and found out we were not far and it was super easy to get to. Steve and Judy jumped in a taxi while the rest of us took off on foot. Up a small hill (at least compared to the ones in Bangor) and then down another street we soon arrived at the Thistle hotel. Steve and Judy had arrived before us and had us all checked in. We headed to our room and I was in awe! From this point on we were part of the CIE tour of Scotland and I was pretty sure we were in for a treat by the looks of the room. The outside of our door said “Executive Suite”. We opened the door and I was faced with the largest hotel room I had ever been in on a family trip. There were two huge queen beds. a huge flat screen TV, a comphy couch, tables, chairs and more. The only down side was internet was not included. You could buy 90 minutes to be used for a 24 hour period. I found it really hard to believe since the hotel seemed pretty fancy. Oh well. After we got all settled in we went to check out Steve and Judy’s room and Pat and Aggie’s room. They weren’t as lucky as we were because in each of their rooms they had two single beds. The rooms were still nice; they just didn’t get to enjoy the ginormous beds. Needless to say, the party was in our room that night.

Our group actually arrived in Glasgow a day before the tour began so we had some time to enjoy the city. We were going to grab a few beers from a liquor shop across the street from the hotel but as soon as we said that the shop closed. Humm, now what to do? Well the next best thing of course, go to the bar. There was a bar in the hotel so we went down and had a few rounds.

The next morning (Sunday the 10th) we decided to go wandering around town. The tour didn’t officially start until 2:30 that afternoon so we had plenty of time to get into trouble. Before we could find trouble, we found a Catholic church, how convenient! I’ve noticed the Catholic churches are much more common in Scotland. We found out there was a family mass at 10:30, plenty of time for us to enjoy a walk, have some breakfast and then make it in time for church. We wondered around Glasgow from awhile and found some very beautiful architecture. We also found a few churches that were transformed into other things. We also managed to wander into a not so nice part of town but we hightailed it out of there even though we would have been fine since it was so early in the morning. After our walk we went back to the hotel to enjoy a “full Brit” which was a very hearty breakfast. It even included black pudding (aka blood sausage) and haggis (a very traditional Scottish food that I don’t actually want to know what it is but I do know it is cooked in a sheep’s stomach). After we got all ready for the day we went to mass. The church was the most beautiful Catholic church I have ever seen. There were multiple different types and colors of marbles used to decorate the front of the church. There were also beautiful mosaics of the last supper and other religious figures that decorated the church. The mass was a traditional mass; nothing different than we would experience every Sunday back home except for the heavy Scottish accents. We were also lucky enough to experience to the music from the grand organ that was placed high above our heads.

This is where the blog is going to stop for now. We had internet access tonight for a little bit so I thought I would post what I have so far. The next time I will post will be after I arrive back in Bangor. I have one more day with the family tomorrow in Edinburgh and then the rest of the family will head home on Friday. Sorry there isn’t more, we have been having too much fun for me to sit and blog.

Until next time…

~Amy

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