Glasgow

Did you know that the citizens of Glasgow are called Glaswegians?

Now you know.

I don't have a good reason for sharing that little tidbit - other than it felt like a good lead-in to my next destination.

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The train ride north from my brother's home in England was very long. When you look at a map of the UK, it doesn't seem very big - but it's actually deceptively long (from north to south.) Plus the roads that aren't freeways tend to be quite narrow and windy with low speed limits - but I suppose that doesn't apply to a rail journey.

Anyways, it took a good eight hours to get to Glasgow. And when I saw my hostel up close, I immediately turned around and headed back south.

...Ok, no, that didn't actually happen. But man, that hostel was ugly, and worn-down, and kind of gross.

(A note for potential European hostellers: The hostels in Europe tend to get progressively worse the further west you go. The best hostels I stayed at were all - with one Italian exception - in the Balkans. The hostels in the UK - and Ireland, and Germany, and etc., were all pretty scuzzy.) (Yes, I said scuzzy. Deal with it.)

And boy am I ever getting sidetracked.

Glasgow

Glasgow is Edinburgh's smaller, dingier little brother.

[Ducks tomatoes thrown by indignant Glaswegians]

Nevertheless, it's a pretty cool city.

[Gets back up, brushes self off, gets hit squarely in the face by fruit hurled by an Edinburger]

It's got some cool architecture, and the city center is a nice area to walk around (just don't go far past that point if you're not looking to get stabbed in the Murder Capital of Europe.)

["Boo! Shut up and show us some pictures!"]

Ok, fine.

Glasgow Cathedral

The Glasgow Necropolis

I wandered around for several hours, and passed the imposing Glasgow Cathedral and the surprisingly beautiful Glasgow Necropolis (which unfortunately closed shortly before I got there - it looked like a fascinating place to walk around.)

I also passed a giant hospital complex and the "Royal Infirmary" - both of which looked like they had seen better days. In fact, the latter was actually rather frightening, and I kind of worry for those who have to stay there. I'm pretty sure it was haunted. (But alas, I didn't take any pictures.)

A bridge over the River Clyde

The view from my hostel room.

On my second day in the city, I took off in a different direction and ended up walking through a very nice park and passing Glasgow University on my way to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, where I got a chance to view some Scottish art (and artifacts.)

The Kelvingrove Museum/Gallery

Yes, this dignified old horseman does in fact have a construction cone on his head.

On my last morning there I took a (free) tour of the City Chambers - one of the most distinctive and architecturally impressive buildings in the downtown area.

The exterior was nice - but I loved the arches and marble stairways of the inside. The geometric layers of arches reminded me of some of the Moorish architecture of southern Spain (though someone who actually knows anything about architecture may find that comparison ridiculous.)

They even let us visit the Council Chambers, where the Glasgow city councillors and Lord Provost meet to discuss and vote on very important matters (like whether or not The Proclaimers really were the best Scottish band.)

Sitting in the Lord Provost's chair

Of course, no trip to Scotland would be complete without visiting some lochs and the Highlands - but you'll have to wait until my next post to read about that. 

In Which I Travel to Yet Another World-Famous Site

There's too much to see in Europe. Unless you live there - which I hope to do some day - you've kind of gotta stick with the highlights.

So upon arriving in England, I immediately headed to Stonehenge.

Yes, Stonehenge. The site beloved by modern-day druids, practitioners of "The Mystical Arts," and woomeisters - and millions of tourists.

Stonehenge is so famous that even this random, isolated rock right next to the path has a name - the Heel Stone.

Due to the massive amount of tourism, you're no longer allowed to wander around and among the sarsens (to, uh, absorb their energies, or something.) Rather, visitors are kept at a safe distance of at least dozens of meters from the megalithic structure. This is allegedly to protect the fragile, un-excavated artifacts underfoot - but I know that it's really to keep people from discovering the Truth of the aliens who built the site and left their signature right there on the stones.

(clears throat)

Umm, so, uh, yeah.

What do you say about Stonehenge?

It's cool.

The rocks are totally big and stuff.

The surrounding scenery was very nice - big, green, open fields dotted with ancient burial mounds and who knows how many graves and ruins, many of which still haven't been excavated to this day. (In fact, even after hundreds of years of practically unceasing scientific investigation, they're still discovering new things in the area to this day.)

Oh, and there are lots of pigs. You can't forget about the pigs.*

*Pigs not pictured here.

After we left Stonehenge, we followed the signs to a place called Old Sarum - which turned out to be (in my opinion) just as cool as the much more famous site nearby.

It's an old defensive settlement - and house of royalty? - from the Middle Ages built on a hill above the modern day town of Salisbury.

The place is worn down to its foundations, but quite distinctive nonetheless.

And the view in all directions is spectacular.

Over the Mountains and Across the Lakes

Switzerland is an amazing place, ladies and gentlemen. It's too bad about the super high prices and the impossibility of getting a visa and the [mumble mumble mumble], otherwise I kind of think I could spend my life there. 

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We left Füssen and bade Neuschwanstein and its sister castle, Hohenschwangau, a fond goodbye. 

Then it was back over the mountains of Austria and Switzerland and Italy to Milan, where we would be flying to England. 

Unbeknownst to us, our route ended up taking us through the roof of the Alps. 

The road kept going higher and higher from the relatively flat farmland of the Bavarian towns until we found ourselves here:

At the highest elevations, the snow was piled higher than our car on the sides of the road - but the roads themselves were clear and well maintained. The views were breathtaking.

Eventually we made it through the highest passes and ended up in the gorgeous (I've been using that word a lot, I know) town of Breno, Italy. 

The town - of course - has its own castle. It was also the site of our last AirBNB lodging - the top floor of someone's mountain villa. 

I don't have many pictures of this area, so I'll just skip ahead to the next day.

Except... I do have these two pictures that we took while trying to figure out how to get to our lodging. I feel like sharing them here, just because.

And, also, this happened to be my birthday - so here's a picture of my birthday dinner. It may not look fancy, but it tasted great - and the fact that I was eating it in Breno, Italy made it even better. 

Sulzano, Lake Iseo, and Monte Isola

We took off the next morning for our last touristic destination of this part of the trip - Lake Iseo.

The lake is nestled in the mountains and surrounded by old towns and settlements. In the middle of the lake is the prominent island and town of Monte Isola - which we proceeded to visit by ferry.

We walked along the shore of the island and took in the sights.

It's a charming settlement that seemed to have more mopeds and scooters than cars. (Which sort of makes sense, since it's a relatively small island.) 

There wasn't much in the way of wildlife, but there were some donkeys and ducks. 

My favorite part was the "Cat Colony" - which appeared to house several dozen cats.

"Warning: Possible Cat Crossing"

There are several cats in this picture. 

There were several other smaller islands in the lake - I was quite taken with this one. It seems like it'd be a nice place to spend a holiday weekend relaxing, reading, and eating pasta:

After getting our fill of the island, we took a ferry back to the mainland and headed on towards the Milan Airport. 

And there we have it. Another section of my trip is completed, and another is set to begin. For my next blog post, I'll take you to one of the most famous ancient sites in the world.