Glasgow

On Friday, at the not-so-amusing hour of 4:15 am, I awoke to embark on a trip to Glasgow, Scotland. This was the first trip outside the country I had taken since I arrived in Ireland. It was also the first trip using RyanAir, and the first trip without a tour guide.

The flight only took about 45 minutes, and Jeannie, Merry, and I arrived in Glasgow center before 9 in the morning. After finding breakfast, we realized we needed at least some sort of plan. We pulled out our map, and set off to the east end of the city.

Glasgow has some absolutely beautiful architecture. Even their casinos are inside old Victorian buildings, with wainscoating, gargoyles, and intricate details throughout.

Our first real stop was in Glasgow Cathedral. Unfortunately, the cathedral has been under construction for the past 14 years, but the inside was still impressive. At one point, we noted that it was like we were in a Harry Potter movie - the inside looked very much like the inside of Hogwarts.

From there, we went to the Necropolis, a gigantic hill covered with mausoleums and elaborate monuments to Glasgow's rich dead.

Throughout, the weather was absolutely bizarre. It would pour for a half hour, then the sun would come out, then it would drizzle, pour again, the sun would come out, repeat.

It was pouring behind me when I took this photo.

Glasgow is an incredibly easy city to walk around in. Basing our day off our map, even things that were "off the map" only took an extra two or three minutes to get to.

In the afternoon, we found our hostel (which turned out to be disgusting and loud and, on the whole, horrible). We then made our way to the Botanic Gardens, where I proceeded to take about a hundred pictures of plants.

That night, we decided at the last minute to book a trip to the Highlands and Loch Ness. I was apprehensive; I'd already spent so much money on this trip, and the exchange rate from pounds to dollars is terrible. But, you only live once....so we booked it.