In case you were wondering, yes, Subway restaurants have that lovely smell here as well.
So, yesterday I had quite the adventure.
My intention was to head over to the Burrell Collection on the South side of Glasgow. It was only 3 miles away (according to Lonely Planet) so I thought I'd just hoof it. 3 miles isn't that much, right? Well, as soon as I walked over the bridge (over the River Clyde), I was greeted by a downpour of rain. YES RAIN, that shit is following me I tell you! I took that as a sign that I shouldn't walk (especially since the southside isn't as open to tourists until well over on the other side) so I went back, thankfully the bridge wasn't too far from my hostel.
My next step was to try and figure out the bus system. This turned out to be a lot harder than I expected and I got the run around a few times before I realized I needed to catch a bus from one of the stops around the city center. after a few hours of tromping to and fro, I finally found a stop. Now here's my question: Are bus drivers everywhere total dicks or what? The first bus showed up and I was seriously jogging up to it, the driver saw me, and still took off away fromt he curb. Jerk. No matter, the next one came about 15 minutes later and this driver was much nicer.
Now comes the adventure. Due to my own negligence, I didn't realize that we had greatly passed my stop until we were at the end of the 47 bus line which ended in the South south south regions of Glasgow, pretty much in the suburbs. I was among houses and slow life when I got to Pollock Centre. I totally swore at myself and took this as another sign that I just wasn't meant to see the Burrell Collection. I walked around a bit at the Centre to try and figure out what to do next as I felt totally inconspicuous with my purple hair and asian-ness. For the most part no one seemed to notice and before long I took another 47 back to the city centre which was about a 30 minute ride.
I was actually happy to have ridden the bus that long though because it gave me a chance to see a bit of surburbia of Glasgow. From the outside, it looked just like any other neighborhood in Midwestern American, with the green lawns and open yards. The houses were cute, quaint, and I wished I could have one.
I finally got back into town around 5pm and I was starving at this point so I headed over for some Italian homecooking. The food was decent but probably not quite worth what I paid for it, but it's the UK and everything is fucking expensive!
I headed over to St. George's Square to try and read for a bit before heading over to watch "Wedding Crashers" but it was freakin' freezing so I just went to the theater. Luckily I did though because it was quite busy, apparently Glaswegians loves their cinema! Also, there were a lot of tourists there. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory seemed to be a popular one since it just opened here last weekend.
Anyway, I loved Wedding Crashers and it was great to be able to laugh that much. Vince Vaughn in top form all the way!!! I haven't seen him be that funny since Swingers (although Old School was pretty close). I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Owen Wilson. Kay, enough about that.
I headed back to the hostel around 11pm and there were still tons of people out. Oh and the sun doesn't go down till about 10pm around here so people tend to stay out pretty late. I felt really safe walking back to the hostel alone though which I had been somewhat worried about. When I got back, Murder By Numbers was on in the lounge so I sat and watched the end of that with everyone before heading back up to the room. I had two new roommates, one of which was asleep by the time I came back up and the other was a girl from New Zealand who has been traveling in Europe for the past 5 months just trying to find work and live here. She says she's lost more money than she's earned but she's having a good time.
And now here I am in Edinburgh. I took the train in from Glasgow this morning which was, thankfully, painless (especially after yesterday's fiasco!). The weather has been terrible here, raining one second, almost sunny the next. Seriously, the rain comes and goes depending where you are walking. I buckled down and bought an umbrella but not some shitty umbrella because I know what that can do! I also booked my flight to Barcelona today so I will be arriving there on the 8th which is a day earlier than planned. Julie has been incredibly gracious in letting me stay with her and I may try to cancel some of my reservations at the hostel to stay with her the whole week. It'd be great to be shown around by a resident! I can't wait to get where there is SUN! and someone I know!!! The glory. Oh, and thank goodness for having STA everywhere!
Anyway, the next 3 days will be filled with lots of sights, Edinburgh is super compacted so everything is pretty near each other. It's an amazing city from what I've seen so far, constant hustle and bustle, quite different than Glasgow. The University of Edinburgh is here so the city is definitely student filled and more "hip." I almost wanted to buy a sweater from H&M so I could fit in a bit more, ha ha. My hostel is filled with long term travelers and more "hip" backpacker but I'm going to do my best to meet some peeps. The hostel is actually in a converted house so it's got a homey feeling which I like, yet I also feel like a bit of an outsider. It's a bit more on the expensive side but it's really clean and small.
Anyway, now I'm off to eat some dinner and get some shut eye so I can start the day early tomorrow.
Oh and a few notes about casualties of the trip. 1) My Volcom jacket that I bought from the sample sale. Farewell dear jacket, it was bound to happen lugging you around. Plus you were terribly dirty. 2) My alarm clock. Got smashed by the books. Damn you! I bought a new one today for £1, we'll see how well it works. 3) My adapters! The one I am most bummed about because now I can't charge my Ipod. Totally annoying. I'll see if Cris can bring me one.
Cheers!
P.S. MY GOD what is going on in the hockey world?? Just briefly reading what I have is making my head spin!! Leeth a Bruin? Forsberg a Flyer? With RATHJE?? Roenick a King?? Two Niedermeyers in Anaheim? Holik a Thrasher?? Adam Foote a BLUE JACKET?? Jesus!! (That's who I expected next to be signed)
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