Scottish Stay-cation

We were lucky to have not one, but two groups of friends visit us last week from the states! We were so glad they decided to make Scotland part of their adventure and were determined to show them all the things that make this country great. While Glasgow has a lot to offer (especially in the alcohol department), there are so many great places that are easily accessible from the city. Our goal was to show our guests the sights, while still exploring places that were new to us. I think we succeeded!

Day 1 – Tarbet & Loch Lomond
 We took the train from Glasgow to Arrochar & Tarbet, which is a stop along the West Highland Line that ends in the coastal town of Oban. This rail journey is one of the most scenic in the UK, winding through the hills and glens on the way north. We had previously driven this route on our January trip to Arrochar, but taking the train gave us an entirely new (and beautiful) perspective!

After an hour and 15 minutes on the train we arrived in Tarbet and walked 10 minutes into “town” which sits right on the shores of Loch Lomond. We decided to take a 30 minute cruise across the Loch to Inversnaid (via Cruise Loch Lomond). The water was extremely calm and quiet, a peaceful way to see the Scottish hills. When we arrived at Inversnaid we walked to a small waterfall, where our friends got engaged! All of the excitement squashed any desire to hike, so we sat outside with a pint and toasted to the happy couple.

Day 2 – Edinburgh
We have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Edinburgh. Whenever we go, we do all the touristy things (which takes about 3 hours) then walk around aimlessly looking for a unique, non-touristy place to eat and drink. It seems that all of the pubs around the royal mile serve the same steak pie and lager for a hefty tourist price. Edinburgh is a beautiful place, but we need to keep doing research to make the £12.50 train journey worthwhile.

The great thing about Edinburgh is the beautiful history that is all within one mile (and free)! Since our visitors were split over the week, we made two trips in the week. We have a good route down: hike up Arthur’s Seat, walk up the mile to the castle, then eat/beer. It’s a pretty fool-proof plan 🙂

Day 3 – Glasgow
  I always wish we got to spend more time (to eat and drink) in Glasgow! It was one of our friends’ birthdays, so the girls went for a sparkling Afternoon Tea at the Corinthian Club. There is nothing more British than afternoon tea, especially when it comes with a bottle of Prosecco, and the Corinthian Club is such a beautiful building – perfect for a trip with the girls.

Don’t worry, we didn’t leave the guys hanging. Friday night we went to Craft Beer Rising, an awesome beer festival at our favorite brewery. This was the second year we were at the festival and it didn’t disappoint. We were also very happy to see our friends from Thistly Cross Cider, who are always a good time!

Also visited in Glasgow during the week: Charcoals Indian Grill, WEST, Drygate, BrewDog, Bar Soba, Blackfriars, Bar Home, Bar 91 and, of course, The Ark.

Day 4 – St Andrews
  I have a colleague who is from St Andrews and he is always raving about the place. Being the home of golf, we assumed it was going to be full of posh tourists who flew in on their private jets for a round. I was pleasantly surprised at how wrong we were! First of all, the course is public. People were so friendly (mostly older, American males) because they were all so excited to be at the course. We walked around the famous 1st and 18th holes before having lunch at the clubhouse.

St Andrews is on the east coast of Scotland and it is such a beautiful, quaint wee town! We walked along the coast, which was lined by cliffs and old ruins of castles and cathedrals. After our windy walk we ended at St Andrews Brewery in town. My only complaint about St Andrews is that there isn’t a train that connects to the city, so we took a 2.5 hour bus ride each way. But worth the travel time.

Day 5 – Edinburgh
(see day 2)

We’re ready for our next round of visitors! 🙂

An Expat 4th of July

 On July 3rd the Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, came to campus to officially open the new research building that Steve works in. He and his colleagues had the opportunity to meet the Duke and show him some of the research they’ve been working on – how COOL is that? Meanwhile, I stood in the crowd and clapped as the Queen exited her maroon Bentley and waved all queen-like at the crowd. It was a pretty cool experience for Steve and the rest of his research group. Not bad for our first year in the UK, eh? Nothing like a visit from the Queen to get you geared up to celebrate America’s independence…

Celebrating July 4th in another country can be a hit-or-miss experience – especially when that country just recently voted (unsuccessfully) for their own independence and also happens to be part of the nation which you left in the first place. So I wasn’t that surprised when there was nothing happening in Glasgow for America’s birthday. But we were determined to celebrate one way or another. 

We started out in the West End because we heard that there was an “American-Style July 4” party at Ketchup on Ashton Lane.  There were definitely a lot of American flags, but that was about it. So we popped into Brel for a drink in their beer garden and met another American friend from Steve’s lab. Then we made our way to BrewDog, who had a selection of American beers on tap (nae Founders) and jalapeño poppers.

Having had our fill of the West End, we trundled back into the city centre and made a brief stop at the Tiki Bar for a mojito in the rare bit of afternoon sun before dinner with friends at Bath Street Palomino. The restaurant definitely fit with our American theme for the day, and we had a great sampling of their smokehouse menu (BBQ Jerk Chicken Breast, Mac n’ Cheese, Chorizo Burger) but the portions were small and the a la carte sides made it a bit pricier than we had anticipated.

 Our friends were in the mood to give us a memorable 4th, and what is more American than a margarita in a souvenir yard glass at a bar called ‘Campus‘? We indulged our inner 21-year-old selves with ping pong and jugs of cocktails at ‘Scotland’s First Frat House’ – can’t say we will ever go in this place again (except maybe for the Super Bowl!). From there it was trivia at Bunker followed by KFC.

Other than Thanksgiving, I think the 4th of July has been the holiday that has made me the most homesick. Mostly due to the fact that it is not celebrated whatsoever here and back home almost everyone is celebrating. Maybe it’s more FOMO than anything, but it was still weird.

BUT we have a fun-filled summer coming up and we are so excited for the new experiences that await us.

Until then, Happy Bday ‘merica – H

xxx

Shelly Visits Scotland!

Oops. Guess it’s June now…I’m a very bad blogger.

It has been a pretty busy spring: a lot of work and a lot of play. We just got back from 2+ weeks at home and it was so amazing to be with family and friends. But now we’re ready to get back into the swing of things and really enjoy our first summer in Glasgow!

We had the opportunity to play tourist in April when Steve’s sister, Shelly, came to visit. It was so great to have another visitor and show her around our new city. We started off with, what else, our favorite breweries: DryGate, West and BrewDog. She managed to pick the loveliest spring weekend to visit and we had perfect weather to be outside. Since she was only here for a few days, we decided to do a highland bus tour. We were a little wary of the fact that a tour might be super cheesy, but if you’re short on time it’s the perfect way to see most of Scotland’s greatest scenery. We departed at 9AM with Rabbie’s Tours and spent the next 10 hours on a bus (with mostly other Americans) making the following stops:          

1. Rest and Be Thankful Viewpoint – the highest point on the A83, this old military road divides Glen Croe and Glen Kinglas and was used in the 1700s following the Jacobite rebellion
2. Inveraray – We had already been to this cute town when the Browns visited in January, but we were happy to come back again to enjoy a pint at the George Hotel!
3. Kilchurn Castle – one of the most photographed castles in Scotland, Kilchurn Castle was built in the mid-1400s by the Clan Campbell and is now a historical point at the head of Loch Awe.
4. Oban – we made a lunch stop in the seafood capital of Scotland and, of course, had fish & chips (some of the best we’ve had yet!)
5. Castle Stalker – this is a four story towerhouse on a small island in Loch Laich. Itis privately owned and most famous for it’s appearance in Monty Python and the Holy Grail!
6. Glencoe – we’ve been waiting for months to see Glencoe and had the perfect day to visit. Glencoe is one of Scotland’s most famous and scenic glens. It is the site of the historic Glencoe massacre and has been used in several movie/TV scenes (Harry Potter, Outlander, 007). It is definitely a must see in Scotland and totally worth the trip!
7. Luss (Loch Lomond) – we made a brief stop in Luss on our way back to Glasgow. Luss is a cute little town on the shores of Loch Lomond. It’s a picturesque little beach town that would make for a lovely summer day trip.

The next day we took the train to Edinburgh to do the usual castle scene. I will say that this is our third trip to Edinburgh and I have yet to be impressed. Maybe it’s because there are more tourists or the fact that we are more familiar with Glasgow, but Edinburgh just seems to be a bit overpriced and boring. We’re going to make a point to do more research on the city for our next visitors.

BUT we did go to Scotland’s only cat cafe. Yes, a cat cafe. You (and 15 other cat lovers) sit in a room to drink tea, eat cakes and pet cats. It was brilliant. Maison de Moggy has 10 cats, all with french names, who lay around and get doted on all day. Most of them hide from you and some don’t give a crap if you’re there are not. It was hilarious and weird and wonderful all at the same time, and I left wanting a cat (despite the fact that I’m allergic). If they opened a dog cafe I would be in heaven.

We ended Shelly’s visit with a sunny day in the West End: brunch at Hillhead Bookclub, a quick trip to Kelvingrove museum, successful vintage shopping and a few pints at BrewDog. Then we headed back to the city centre for Steve’s first Indian meal at Charcoals. He loved it (and we’ve been back since!).

Thank you for visiting, Shelly! We loved having you 🙂

H

xx

Our Forest Holiday

Tomorrow we go back to work after nearly three weeks of holiday. Three weeks! We’ve been pretty spoiled on our first Christmas in Glasgow: lovely Christmas dinner just the two of us, New Years Eve (or Hogmanay) with new friends and not setting an alarm for 19 days in a row. But the best part was having that extra week to spend with my cousin and her husband, who made the trip from Michigan to spend time with us.

We started out in the city with the usual brewery tour (West, BrewDog and Drygate), followed by a day-trip to Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Christmas Market was still in full-swing, which added a festive element to our visit. We also went inside the iconic Edinburgh Castle for the first time. Even if you don’t like museums, the history and the views from inside the castle are pretty spectacular. One of our visitors had a particularly adventurous palate and inspired us to taste some traditional Scottish dishes such as Haggis and Black Pudding. And, of course, a visit to the UK wouldn’t be complete without Fish & Chips!

Our real adventure started on Monday when we traveled to Arrochar/Ardgarten, Argyll for a 4 night stay at Forest Holidays. To get there, we rented a car from just outside the city (to avoid highway traffic on the M8) and drove for about 30 minutes to Arrochar. The folks at the rental place must have thought we were trustworthy because we were upgraded to an Audi A6 (despite the fact that we were Americans who had never driven in the UK and going to the forest). Driving on the left side of the road (on the left side of the car) is pretty crazy at first, but Steve had it down and delivered us safely to our cabin.

I can’t say enough good things about our experience with Forest Holidays. Our 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom cabin had a full kitchen, heated floors and a hot tub on the patio (plus cable!) – but the views were what made this place amazing. The cabins are situated on the banks of Loch Long, nestled amongst the Arrochar Alps and under the view of Ben Arthur (aka the Cobbler). The retreat offered a small shop for food and over 100 miles of wooded and hilled trails. It was so nice to get out of the city for a few days and experience the beauty of Scotland.

Winters in Scotland are cold, windy and rainy, but we had fairly mild temperatures (low 40s) and a few spots of sunshine before a storm came in towards the end of the week (hail and winds up to 80mph). On our first day, we took the 2.5 mile walk along the lake into the village of Arrochar and ate at Ben Arthur’s Bothy, a traditional pub with a fantastic view. The next day it rained (all.day.) so we decided to brave the elements and take the very curvy and narrow road through Glen Croe up to the Rest and Be Thankful. We ended up in Inveraray after a pretty white-knuckle drive and warmed up with lunch in the cozy George Hotel. We had plans to travel up to Glencoe on our final day, but the weather deterred us from a day on the roads. Instead we took a sunny window in the morning to walk partway up the Cobbler for some amazing views. I couldn’t believe that this beautiful place is only a few hours from our flat in the city. It was the perfect getaway and I can’t wait to get back in warmer weather!

We ended the week with a feast at Viva Brazil and said goodbye to our visitors (after one last game of Euchre) at 3.30am on Saturday. Although seeing them go made me slightly homesick, it was so unbelievably great to have family in town and a chance to show off our new city. We’re getting pretty good at this hosting thing and look forward to our next round of visitors 🙂

Happy 2015!

H

xx

The “First” Thanksgiving

How is it already December? Between work, school and a grueling trip to Ikea this month has flown by. November is clearly the kick-off for Christmas in Glasgow – and boy does this city love Christmas. The Christmas Market seemed to go up overnight and suddenly there was a quarter mile of stalls with vendors selling a variety of crafts, goods and food. It’s almost impossible to resist the chicken and chorizo paella or a glass of raspberry mulled wine, especially when the sun goes down at 3:30pm.

Two days after the market went up, the Christmas lights were ceremoniously lit in George Square. These lights are pure Glasgow: bright, loud and slightly obnoxious. The lighting ceremony was a ticketed event and included a 20 minute fireworks display, which we got to watch from our window.

Last but not least: Glasgow on Ice. An outdoor ice skating rink, complete with DJ and bar, is now open in George Square for the low cost of £12 per person for 45 minutes. The rink is accompanied by a mini-carnival whose highlight is a giant ferris wheel that can be seen from our flat.

I would say that the weather has prevented us from getting into the Christmas spirit (it’s in the low 50s and raining), but we’ve been to the market three times, have our Christmas tree up and Steve has been in a Santa suit more times than I care to share. But we’ve also been waiting for that one gateway American holiday that isn’t celebrated here: Thanksgiving.

I’ve been talking up Thanksgiving a lot but I was also dreading my reaction to our first holiday away from family. So one of my friends drove me to the “big” Tesco and I nearly bought them out of Libby’s Pumpkin Puree. My coworkers made cakes, they got me a card, we went out to lunch and not once was I thinking about bursting into tears (with the exception of an early morning pumpkin pie debacle that I won’t go into). It’s pretty easy to forget that you’re missing out on a family tradition when everyone around you is going about business as usual.

Did we miss our families and eating turkey and having a few days off work? Yes. Absolutely. But did we hate our Mexican meal at Topolabamba, meeting new people at a GYP event, a night out at Arta, another Mexican meal at Squid & Whale or drinks at Brewdog? No. We felt extremely thankful this weekend for these experiences and remain thankful for opportunity, family and friends (and FaceTime).

Happy Thanksgiving. xx

Transitioning Out of Tourism

Last week I skipped my weekly post because I felt like we hadn’t done anything “exciting” enough to put on the blog. But what’s really happening is that we aren’t tourists anymore – we LIVE here and our weekends aren’t going to be full of exciting travels all the time. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and there is certainly a lot to see and do, but we won’t get to all of it in a few weekends. And that’s ok! My obsessive planning self is finally starting to settle.

We spent the last two weekends in the West End. It’s a slower pace of life over there – quieter and more lived-in than the city centre. Last weekend we took the Glasgow subway, which is comprised of an inner and outer loop around the city in what feels like a toy train. There was a football game going on in the West End so the queue was long and the trains were packed with drunk, singing Scots.

We got off at the Hillhead stop and took our time walking up and down Byres Road, which is full of shops, restaurants and bars. It is still crazy to me how many people sit outside to eat in the 50 degree weather, but I love the idea of afternoon fizz on the patio (even if it is freezing). A hideous panda sweater lured us into a vintage shop, where we found the best selection of leather jackets and cowboy boots (both purchased and both cheap at £20 each).

Thrilled with our vintage finds, we went in search of craft beer at Inn Deep.  The bar appears to be in a basement, but has a great beer garden set in an old tunnel along the River Kelvin. The beer selection was ok, and the tunnel beer garden provided shelter from the rain. When it cleared we ventured back out for dinner at the Crafty Pig. The Pig was packed with football fans, but we managed to snag a table for pulled pork, fried pickles and Founders (!) beer.

Fast forward to this weekend and we’re back again, this time making the 3 mile journey on foot. We stopped to enjoy the sunshine and the view of Kelvingrove at BrewDog, then made a pit-stop at Bar Gumbo for more Founders (we have to get it when we can). We got a little lost on our way to our original food destination, Tomboy Burritos & Beers. One minute we were in an alley behind an apartment complex and the next, BAM: Ashton Lane. The cutest street I’ve ever seen.

Tomboy is a trendy, upstairs venue (with a nightclub) that has only been open for 3 weeks. I found them through a discount app and couldn’t resist a 241 burrito and homemade margarita deal. The drinks were awesome and the burritos were spicy (and maybe a wee bit small) but this place really knew how to make you want to eat there. After one burrito we were still hungry and, after a mixup with the credit card limits, ended up splitting another quesadilla and side of chips/salsa. Steve was also brave enough to sign a disclaimer to try their hottest hot sauce – he survived 🙂

Until next time, West End. I’m sure I’ll find many more things that will bring us back to you.

Edinburgh [The Self-Guided Tour]

I’m starting to grasp the greatness that is European travel: you can go a lot of places on short notice and with little semblance of a plan. But I’m a big planner by nature – I can’t help it, I just ALWAYS need a plan. So of course I turned Edinburgh into a huge weekend trip, complete with personalized Google maps that outlined where we were going to go and when. Turns out that staying overnight in Edinburgh is pretty expensive and sometimes throwing your plan out the window can be pretty darn fun (as long as you have a wee bit of a plan 🙂 ).

So Saturday morning we didn’t set any alarms and were on the 10:45am train to Edinburgh (50 minutes, £25 return for two people). We ate the lunch we packed on the train and arrived in an entirely different world. If Scotland is the Midwest and Glasgow is Detroit, then Edinburgh is Philadelphia – full of beautiful buildings and so much history.

The Royal Mile 

If you’re going to do Edinburgh in a day, the Royal Mile is a pretty good way to start. Stop #1 was Edinburgh Castle. We opted not to pay the £18/person to get in, but made our way to the top and got basically as far as we could without paying. Even though we didn’t go in, we were blown away by the Castle, which is situated on a cliff above the city and gave us some amazing views.

The majority of the Royal Mile is made up of shops and restaurants, all amongst some amazing churches and national museums. We also saw a lot of kilts, street performers and cute little pubs tucked in alleyways. The Royal Mile ends at the Scottish Parliament, the only building with a modern facade, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Holyrood (holly-rude) Palace is where her majesty resides when she is in Scotland (I keep forgetting we have a Queen!). She wasn’t there on Saturday, but we still didn’t pay the £13 ticket price to go in. Instead, we stuck our phones through the bars and snapped a few quick photos. There was, however, a large YES rally going on in front of Parliament and it was like the vote was happening all over again.

Arthur’s Seat

Overlooking the city is Arthur’s Seat, the highest of the city’s cluster of seven “hills” – this looked more like a cliff to me. Arthur’s Seat is a dormant volcano that sits 251m (825ft) above sea level and gives one heck of a view of the city. There is a narrow, gravel road that winds around it to the top and people with varying levels of ability and footwear were joining us in our trek. I can see how this could be a very dangerous past-time: the loose gravel slips beneath your feet, there are signs everywhere warning of falling rocks and there is nothing stopping you from tumbling down the side to the street below. The only time I was actually really nervous is when I saw a little boy sitting on the edge drinking an Irn Bru, his mother next to him waving a large Scottish flag.

We didn’t make it to the very top, but we got pretty darn close and going down is actually worse than going up. I couldn’t believe the people who were running down the steep slope. By the time we got to the bottom, we were exhausted and exhilarated. Time for beer.

Self-Guided Pub Crawl

There are two ways to approach a self-guided pub crawl: 1) Google “Top 10 pubs in Edinburgh” and go to those places, or 2) go into the first pub that looks decent, strike up a conversation with the bartender (or the locals) and get recommendations for places to go. Going with option 2, we popped into Monteith’s Kitchen & Cocktails on the Royal Mile. We were drawn by the twinkle lights and alley-way entry to this basement bar, but were disappointed to find that it was a bit more upscale than we were looking for. But the bartender made a mean mint julep and we met some nice guys who made some excellent pub suggestions.

Next up: The Hanging Bat. I was a little skeptical of the name, but their 6 casks, 14 keg lines and selection of smoked meats were pretty spot on. From there we attempted to go to another bartender suggestion, but got lost and ended up at BrewDog instead. Not a bad place to get lost. We headed back towards the train station to Thistle Street Bar, the kind of pub that I envision all Scottish pubs to be like: roaring fire, cozy atmosphere and friendly faces. It was there that we ran into the same guys from Monteith’s who originally gave us the suggestion to visit Thistle St.

Turns out Thistle Street is pretty hoppin’, so we opted for one last stop at Rose’s. I was asked for my ID about three times. The bartender even asked some random guy if he could see my ID before he would pour him a drink! That put a damper on the atmosphere, so we made our way back to the train station, hopped on the 8:30pm train back to Glasgow and were in bed by 10pm (#old).

Until next time, Edinburgh!

West End Adventures

On Saturday we walked to Glasgow’s West End – a hip neighborhood that is home to several cafes, bars, boutiques, Botanic Gardens and the University of Glasgow campus. The West End is a bit over 3 miles from the City Centre and normal people might drive or take the bus. We chose to walk (as it wasn’t raining) and it took us about 45 minutes to reach our first destination.

Kelvingrove Art Museum and Gallery

Kelvingrove is one of the most visited museums in the UK (outside of London) and houses one of Europe’s great art collections. The museum was opened in 1901 and I spent just as much time oggling at its exterior architecture as I did its collections.

Reppin’ ND with Clyde

Also outside the building was Clyde – the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The giant floral sculpture is taller than a double-decker bus and made mostly out of succulents, which I thought was neat. 

The museum has 22 themed galleries ranging from arms/armour, ancient Egypt, Scottish art and French impressionists (including one of the largest collections of 17th century Dutch art in the UK – random). The obvious crowd-pleaser is Salvador Dali’s Christ of St. John of the Cross. Overall our trip to Kelvingrove was really nice and I think we felt we took in enough culture to warrant our next stop…

BrewDog Brewery

A nod to American craft beer

BrewDog is Scotland’s token craft beer company (think Goose Island or Stone Brewing Co.) and can be found at most pubs in the city. Surprisingly, the beer market in Scotland is not great and the options are largely light lagers that make PBR seem fancy. We sampled some of their headliner beers, such as the Punk IPA, Dead Pony Pale Ale, Fake Lager, and had a few off the menu as well (Shipwrecker Circus). I also snuck in a pint of Summer Love from Victory Brewing (USA). 

The food definitely didn’t disappoint either. We stuffed our faces with burgers and chili-coated chips (aka fries) dipped in a garlic mayo. Spicy jalapeño burger for Steve, pork burger for me. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

We walked off our burgers and beers along the river and enjoyed the sunshine. A lovely day altogether in Glasgow!