Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Mossy, Stony, and Jonny...in Scotland

The wee Scottish lad dancing in the rain. 
I was giddy to be in a beautiful English-speaking country.

The Royal Mile, as seen during the madness of Fringe Festival.

An American singer in Glasgow.
Nothing to write home about.

Jonny is studying here for the semester and probably getting an unfair advantage --
simply existing on this campus makes a person smarter.
 

You're looking at the fish that should have lemon juice on it,
but the lemon juice squirted everywhere but on the fish,
including the faces of people at three of my surrounding tables.

Happy to be eating gluten-free food without cutting into retirement savings.

Castle at Edinburgh! We didn't tour, we just stood outside
and took this picture so it would look like we toured.

The dark and mysterious Glasgow.

The lovely Scottish horse of my dreams. We're soulmates.
He saw me coming and stopped eating -- yes, stopped eating -- to come say hello.

Our luxurious accommodations for the week. I got the bed. 

Jonny turned 21 in Glasgow, so I took him to the
Ubiquitous Chip for some out-of-this-world eats.

Ashton Lane, my favorite street in Glasgow,
full of fantastic restaurants.

Walking to Captain's Rest to see some good live music
 and thought this was purty.

So did he, so he posed for a picture.

He was very bold this night, testing out the world of gluten.
It turned out okay for him.

I went nuts when I saw this SAIL-THRU restaurant.
On the other side of that little rail is a canal, and
I considered buying a boat just so I could sail thru
and order some fish and chips.

Most of our marathon bike ride was along this canal.

Pedaling.


This is the part of the bike ride where the flowers hide the canal.


These charming gents were having the time of their lives at the bowling club.

Biked 13 miles for this moment.
The view from our booth. This was at Grosvenor Cafe,
one of the restaurants on Ashton Lane.

The view of our booth from Grosvenor Cafe. 

The view of our meal at Grosvenor Cafe.
I loved that they served everything on wooden cutting boards.
I had a delicious cottage pie and Jonny had slimy mussels.
I'm glad I can eat gluten.

Blending right in to his environment at University of Glasgow.

Angels were singing.

Shouldn't this door lead to Narnia or something?

The chapel on campus. Not too shabby.

Cool church, and Jonny had to sneak his face into the corner of my shot.

Basically I liked the modern building next to all the old ones.

We hadn't been there three days and he'd already purchased some vintage Euro shorts.
It's a shame there aren't many sunny days in Scotland, because his
American thighs aren't quite accustomed to being out in public.
Or is it the public that isn't accustomed to his American thighs? 

As wonderful as he is, Jonny and I needed a little breather.
We spent an afternoon in separate cafes,
and as you can see, it was heavenly.

The best looking picnic table I've ever seen.
Ironically, it's also the one I'd least like to sit at. 

Loch Lomond 

Considering jumping into Loch Lomond
after the outrageous time we had getting there.

Moss looks a lot like carpet.

These are real-life taxis, and they make our
 big yellow taxis seem so...well...ordinary.

All in all, Scotland was grand.




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