Glasgow is the smaller of the two cities and has less to see. Right outside the bus station is a statue of a pair of legs and a clock. I'm not sure what it's supposed to represent, but every time I walked past it, I felt like slowing my pace. Buchanan Street is the major road that is packed with shops, offices, hotels and people running one way or the other. Sauchiehall Street represents the modern Scotland. The street is full of restaurants, bars and clubs. There are so many ethnic restaurants that they outnumber the Scottish options. I realized that Scottish people like to go out very early and get overly dressed up for simple bars.
There are many places to see right outside of Glasgow. I saw Stirling Castle, which is located up on a hill and gives a great view of the landscape. The castle is currently making copies of tapestries that were once up in the castle hundreds of years ago. The series is about the Scottish hunting a unicorn. Although it seems like an odd theme to display in a castle, the story is actually about the persecution of Jesus. Visitors can actually see the weavers creating the last tapestry, which will be finished in June of this summer.
I next went to Loch Lomond, home of the Buchanan clan. We climbed to the top of a hill and after much huffing and panting, the gorgeous Scotland comes into view. On one side you can see the mountains, on the other side the plains, and right in the middle is the loch. Some people were very excited at the first sightings of sun and had already brought out their boats to enjoy the weather.
My trip to Scotland would not have been complete if I had not visited a whiskey distillery. The Scottish are big on drinking whiskey and boast of being the only ones who know how to truly appreciate the drink. I toured The Glengoyne Distillery, which uses its own supply of soft water to make the whiskey. It was a little strange being only one of the two girls on the tour but I learned a lot about the whiskey making process and definitely appreciate the drink more.
My favorite part of Glasgow was the statue outside of the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMa, sort of like MoMa?) Someone once put a traffic cone on the person's head as a joke. The council got upset and removed the cone but it would reappear in the morning. The people finally decided the cone was officially part of the statue and now, it's always there! It's the greatest sight as you're walking around the city.
