Day Two In Scotland

Don't know what all the fuss is about with this golf thing.

We watched a TV reality show called Britain's Worse Mother-in-Law last night. Unbelievably vicious but funny. We only get 13 channels here, so if anyone at my work is reading this, please remind Jean B. to tape Survivor and The Amazing Race for me.

Here's a couple of pics of the hotel interior just outside our door:

I don't remember if I explained why we are in Scotland. My wife Karen is presenting a poster session here at an international AIDS conference. She has been working with a group of patients to teach them how to maintain themselves on the new medication. Roche, the company that manufactures the drug sent her here to explain how she does what she does. I'm here simply as a freeloader.

Karen outside our hotel

Today, Karen is off to the convention and I'm off to explore Glasgow. Our hotel is not located in the city center. We are located in what they call the West End. A suburban area of mansions about 5 miles to the northwest of the city center. There are buses but I have no clue where they go and I want to walk and explore anyway.

So at 9AM (that's 4AM back home) I head off down Great Western Road located in front of the hotel. Passing by rows of stone buildings all attached to each other. Parking could be a problem but some of the residents seem to have solved that problem by driving some very tiny cars.

The weather here has been cold and gray but the people are very warn and friendly. I was heading to George Square and everyone I asked for directions were eager to help although I had trouble understanding some.

After passing the University of Glasgow I came across several great stone churches. This one is St. Mary's.

The picture above is a good example of the kind of attached stone houses that are found in the area. I don't think I passed a wooden house yet. I love the chimneys with their individual fireplace pipes sticking out of a common chimney structure.

Below is Central Station, the main train station in the city center. I'm about 1 1/2 hours into my walk by the time I reached this spot. Here I made a wrong turn and headed off in the wrong direction from George Square.

Below is a picture I took while on the Glasgow Bridge which crosses the river Clyde. This was the last picture before my camera's battery died and although I have 2 others, I left them both in the room (of course). Also, I knew the river Clyde was located to the south of the city center so I was way off course. I resigned myself to this initial defeat to walk to George Square and started wandering back.
I plan to try again tomorrow.

I passed a couple of Pizza Huts, a McDonalds and a KFC on the way back. I stopped in McDonald for a cup of coffee and can report that the regular menu is almost the same as home, but the breakfast menu is very different. I don't remember toast and jam as a menu option in the US.

I stopped in a post office to change some US dollars for pounds. The Euro is not commonly used here although it is valid currency. Everyone here still uses the UK pound. At the current conversion rate, a pound equals about 2 dollars.

-----------

This afternoon we both headed back to town. This time by bus. We got the bus number to take from the front desk. Here's a photo that Karen took of the people on the bus. They look thrilled that we're onboard.

Once in the city center, we head off to find George Square.

Getting close at St. George's Tron Parish Church.

The pictures below are from George Square.

You can see a current picture of George Square HERE

After a quick dinner, we headed back. More tomorrow.

Intro Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7