Finally, I’m out of Belfast.  What a depressingly horrible place.  It should be sister cities with Rochester.  I finished it off by having a vegetarian fry for breakfast, getting some work done, then getting wasted on Irish car bombs at the Europa hotel #toosoon?, which was right next to my bus station.  JK I hung out at the coffee shop next to it.

And then I was off to Glasgow.  

I took the Stella Line Ferry across to Scotland, and the Internet connection was terrible the entire way.  Barely working internet is worse than no internet at all if you ask me. It was a beautiful day though and the Irish Sea was pretty.  Same crappy internet deal with the 2-hour bus ride from the ferry terminal into Glasgow.  It must have been a Belfast bus.

But I was glad to be in Glasgow.  Immediately it impressed me, with high-rises I haven’t seen since London, it actually looked like a real city.  Or maybe I was just happy because it wasn’t stupid Belfast and its stupid aquamarine-domed historic buildings.

My first hostel looked like a hotel that never made it to puberty.  A dream that died.  That precocious 7th grader who started smoking weed and never looked back.  But I’d rather be here than a 5-star hotel in Belfast.

Tuesday

I had to switch hostels and my new one had a terrible Internet connection.  Belfastian, if you will.  I worked all day from coffee shops and pubs, but my phone calls were ruined so I’m not happy about that.  Walked around the city a little, but didn’t do anything spectacular.

Met Darrell in the room, an Australian who is traveling around, so we grabbed dinner and a pint at the Hootenanny while watching the Chelsea futbol match.

I realize that is two days gone and I haven’t really done anything worth noting.  But to be fair, there really isn’t a lot to do in Glasgow.  There are a bunch of art museums and sports stadiums, but nothing that really makes me want to walk with a purpose.

Wednesday

I finally took a walk to the west side of Glasglow and went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.  It has a lot of Scottish history stuff and is like a mixture of a natural history museum and an art gallery.  They had pieces similar to those I’ve posted before, with Dali’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross being the highlight.  Here’s a picture of the outside.

Kelvingrove Park was close by too so I walked around there a little bit.  There was a river going through it.  Guess the name! The River Kelvin!  It’s the theme.  University of Glasglow is right there too, and I think I took a picture of it.  I don’t know though.  It’s a picture of something.

That night I went to The Royal Scot for dinner and had a veggie burger and a pint of Kronenbourg.  Later I stopped by The Pot Still, which is an awesome whiskey bar, and had a glass of whiskey.  The bartender had a really awesome, long chin beard.  Here’s a picture of that place.

Lastly, I went to The Butterfly and the Pig based purely on it’s name.  I was trying to find a place to grab a drink and didn’t really realize that all of the establishments were below ground level on that street.  Which is cool, but at the same time it’s tough for me to tell where I want to go (typically I can find a reason to write off any place).  This place was interesting though, with a 4-person live band playing that included a saxophone, very old-timey chairs and furniture, and a futbol match that held most of my concentration.  If I wrote official reviews, I’d describe it as an “intimate setting.”

Thursday

My hostel caught on fire this morning, luckily I had already checked out and was just hanging around working so I didn’t have to wait around.  Off to a coffee shop to work.

I walked down to the business district of Glasglow and got a picture of their fancy modern architecture bridge.  Then I walked on it so that I could say I walked on it.  Checkmark.  So yeah, here’s that.

Then I ended up going to the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (GOMA) after all.  It was rubbish.  But someone did manage to get a traffic cone on Wellington’s head, which was really the highlight of the experience for me.

I tried to find the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, but apparently it’s impossible to find.  I didn’t even take a wrong turn this time… it’s just like… invisible.  Disappointing.

And then I drank a couple Isle of Arran dark beers while working at Mint & Lime next to my hostel (where my luggage was stowed), who I assume decided on that name after having a conversation called “what’s the worst thing you could name a pub?”  It’s no butterfly and pig.

My bus ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh was supposed to take just over an hour, but it took 2 1/2 hours instead.  So that was nice.

But when I got there St. Andrew’s Square was lit up with a “field of lights” display which I thought was very cool.  I think they’ve done it a few other places or I’ve seen it before, but basically it’s a bunch of lightsticks that change colors.

I checked in to the hostel and then ended the night with a quick walking tour of The Royal Mile where I’m staying and had a drink at WHISKI.  It was a nice little whiskey pub with live music.  They do whiskey flights, so maybe I’ll do one of those tomorrow or Saturday night.