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

Remember, Remember…

“Remember, remember, the 5th of November…” On 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes (aka Guido) was captured and convicted of treason for plotting to blow up Westminster Palace. Since then, the Brits have been celebrating Guy’s capture with bonfires and fireworks. In Glasgow, Guy Fawkes Night – or Bonfire Night – is celebrated by a huge fireworks display in Glasgow Green, complete with a funfair (carnival), food trucks and snogging teenagers.

Steve and I decided to join the locals at the park, where we indulged in one ride on the Scrambler before deciding we were too old for all that hoopla. We took our celebration to WEST Brewery, were we shared a pitcher of West4 beer and a picnic table with some random folks. It was a beautiful night to sit outside and watch the fireworks display!

The real excitement of the week came the next day, when we were notified that we had the opportunity to purchase tickets for the MTV European Music Awards at the SSE Hydro. I could hardly contain my teenage self – when are we ever going to live in a city that hosts an event like this!? Sunday night we were in the venue watching Nicki Minaj, U2, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Charlie XCX, Ariana Grande, Slash, Ozzy and Enrique Iglesias.

Ariana Grande

Nicki Minaj

It was a pretty random mix of people, but it definitely was more of a concert than an awards show. This is primarily because most of the award winners for the EMA’s accept through video and not in-person. My favorite performances were (not necessarily in this order):

• Nicki Minaj: She did a throwback to SuperBass before she got crazy with Anaconda.
• Ed Sheeran: his performance was a little boring, but his song “Thinking Out Loud” was so good.
• U2: Wow! They turned off all of the big screens and the lights for this one, leaving only the spotlight on Bono – it gave me chills!
• Enrique! Good lawd, I couldn’t stop screaming!
• Slash & Ozzy singing crazy train – their use of pyrotechnics was pretty crazy. You could feel the heat!
• Ariana Grande: girl can put on a show.

MTV has a great gif page that can explain all of this way better than I can: http://uk.mtvema.com/gifs

City Centre Weekend

So forget what I said before about having found our “neighborhood bar” – it was too soon to tell. Living in the city centre puts us within walking distance of some of the best bars and restaurants in Glasgow and this past week we found a few more local favorites.

Citation’s classy patio

Too much Strongbow at The Libertine

First, there was the global selection at Beer Cafe, followed by the accidental Strongbow at The Libertine and a ‘Raging Bitch’ brew at Blackfriars (our second time to this traditional pub). Then during the week we had two outings with my new co-workers, one for a mojito at Metropolitan and another for wine and “fizz” on the sunny patio at Citation. Did I mention these are all within 0.1 mile of our flat?

The WEST beer garden

Our tour of breweries in Glasgow continued this weekend with a visit to the surprisingly fancy WEST brewery in Glasgow Green.  We were slightly taken aback when a waitress (who was wearing a floor-length apron and white button-down shirt) asked if we had a reservation to sit in the restaurant – not very craft beer like. So we opted to sit outside with everyone who had brought their dog. Literally EVERYONE had a dog with them – Frenchies, Maltese, Labs, Airedale, Yorkies and (much to my dismay) a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy. We were a bit disappointed with the selection and variety (only four beers on tap, mostly German-style lagers) and left after one to head to Drygate.

Now this was more our style: industrial feel, sunny beer garden, awesome staff and a great selection. I almost cried when I saw Founders in their bottle shop and would be lying if I said I didn’t get a little homesick. Then the bartender asked Steve to help him with his Fantasy Football lineup* and I knew we were really going to like this place. Oh, and this is a half mile from our flat.

This post seems to indicate that we do a lot of drinking, but don’t worry (moms) we’re not that wild. With only one drink at most places, we’re usually home (and sleeping) by 10:30pm. And we do eat…

Pre-Theatre

…but eating out is expen$ive in the city. An average restaurant would probably cost roughly £16 (~ $26) per person mostly because everything is a la carte. A lot of bars will advertise “2 meals for £7.95 – every day, all day!” which is usually a set menu of generic, ok-tasting items (that are the same no matter which restaurant you go to). So we haven’t been able to get to the foodie side of Glasgow living.

But this week my co-worker told me about the amazingness that is “pre-theatre” – a set menu that most upscale restaurants offer before 6:30pm. I had seen these menus and just assumed you had to have theatre tickets (midwest upbringing), but turns out it’s just an early-bird special to get butts in seats. So Friday night we went to Qua, an Italian cafe next door to our flat. For £10.95 per person, Steve and I each enjoyed three courses: minestrone, mozzarella fritta, flatbread pizza, spaghetti con salsiccia, lemon cheesecake and hazelnut spongecake. We left stuffed and happy that the only thing more expensive than our food that night was our bottle of wine. Surely this won’t be the last of our Pre-Theatre excursions!

*Steve here* I should make it known that I gave the bartender rational, but eventually crap fantasy advice. It was RG3 v. Jacksonville or Luck v. Philly. I reasoned that his choice was not RG3 v. Luck, but to either start RG3 this week or cut him– if he can’t put up numbers v. Jacksonville, when will he? RG3 was carted off in the first half with a dislocated ankle….

I leave you with a few more photos from our ‘hood:

Pre-Theatre at Qua