After
our brief touring of North Ireland, we took a ferry across the Irish Sea to
Scotland. We stayed in a town called
Paisley just outside of Glasgow which is Scotlands biggest city [according to
Wikipedia…]. In the morning, we took the
ScotRail, an over-ground version of London’s tube, to Glasgow’s city center and
walked to George Square. While in George
square, we got to see some of Glasgow’s older buildings and beautiful
statues. In addition to that, we were
there at just the right time to see the troops returning home. They marched around the square led by a
military band complete with bagpipes.
The square was filled with people who wanted to show support for their
soldiers including their families. After
the march, they had some pictures, and then they got to reunite with their
loved ones. It was amazing to get to see
this. It reminded us all of the people
who serve and have served in our military and was definitely tugging on some
heart strings.
After
the soldiers homecoming was done, we walked to Glasgow cathedral. It was a beautiful stone church with Medieval
[or whatever kind it was] architecture.
Inside the cathedral was beautiful with tons of stained glass windows,
beautiful tombs, and Scottish crests adorning everything.
Just a
short jaunt from the cathedral was the Necropolis, an old Victorian style
cemetery on a hill. It was filled with huge
elaborate headstones, graves, and statues.
Walking the winding path up the hill and seeing all of the monuments was
a chilling experience. With the imposing
cloudy skies, the graves, the wind, and the beautiful wildflowers and lush
green grass, it was the perfect and peaceful combination of eerie and
incredible.
From there, we found our way to Glasgow market. It was an interesting experience. Picture a giant garage sale/ farmers market/ secondhand shop. It was massive and filled with all kinds of mostly second hand items. It was something you definitely don’t see most places in the U.S., and not at all what we were expecting to find. After picking through the market, we walked through the park along the river Clyde back to city center where we continued to shop and spend the day. We all met up for our last big group dinner at [Italian restaurant…]. It was the best meal of the trip, and a great time to catch up with the rest of the group and hear about everyone’s day in Scotland. After dinner, we headed back to Paisley to celebrate our last night of the trip and sing karaoke with the locals who enthusiastically joined us! We were all sad that we had to leave so soon, but Glasgow was a great place to end our tour abroad.
Nicole T.
