Day 14, Monday, August 3rd, Glasgow, Scotland

So after my over excitement of hiking up Arthur's Seat yesterday, today I was in pain, these shoes were not made for going up hills like that. Oops. So I decided the cost of a taxi would be worth it, the train station wasn't far, but it was up hill twice, ugg. So 5 pounds later, at the train station, easy as pie, whoo hoo. I found out that today was a bank holiday and I had purchased a ticket that would allow me to travel at any time because of this holiday!! So since I was at the station 1 hour early, I took advantage of this and hopped on the next train out. I wrote in my journal a bit, then slept some more, not a lot to see from trains I found out, lots of visual blockers. Once in Glasgow, I realized I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to leave Edinburgh, Glasgow was really nothing to write home about, haha.

I got directions to the hostel, got on a sub train and stepped out to find a guy staring at the map looking for the exact same hostel. So we went in search together, but again, it was all up hill and I was in pain. It was a rainy day here, luckily not raining while we walked and we slowly found our way. He was from Switzerland and this was his 1st of holiday, so he had fresh legs, I felt bad that he was being slowed by me, but we were both looking for the same thing, so why not go it together. Found it, it was at the top of a hill, the highest point you could go to in the area, yikes! I decided that since I couldn't check in for 2 hours, I was going to rest, so I just hung out and got caught up on my Blog. This place did have internet, unlike the last, but it was 1 pound per hour. Oh well, better then nothing. I was continuing to have issues with up loading pictures and got very frustrated with that, so don't expect many more pics before I get home. I'll edit the blog posting with pics for each place, so you'll have to check back on those. Well, once I checked in, guess where my room way.... THE TOP FLOOR! 76 stairs! Holy shit!!!!! So I did the small bag and sheets 1st, to make the bed up before I put stuff on it. When I got into the room, I heard a voice, "Hello, I'm from New Zealand, where are you from?" I answered and also gave info on where I'd been and where I was going. I also explained that I had been to New Zealand before and she was a bit disgusted that I only went to the South island and not her beloved Auckland. She then proceeded to explain to me that I was traveling wrong and that I really should pick 1 city and stay there for 4 weeks each year instead of this rubbish. Screw you lady!!! I just nodded, then ignored the rest of her babbling. When I finally got back to the room with my big bag, she announced herself the same way. I just said it was me again. She then decided that my bag was too big and that she was to old to carry things on her back... WHO CARES!!! I continued to ignore her, maybe I learned something from the French in Paris, just be rude and they will stop talking to you! I was still feeling pretty crappy, with a headache and tired muscles, so I just napped for a while.

As much as I wanted to just call Glasgow a bad idea and skip it, I decided I needed to head to the city center to take a look at least, I was sorely disappointed. It was a big city trying to push the old stuff out. There were still some cool buildings, but they were full of shops like footlocker and Guess, not really exciting for a non-shopper. I didn't even go into a single store in Vienna or Paris, I wasn't going to start here. And it was a bit after 6 and most of the stores were closed. I did however stop in a grocery store and pick up some food for dinner and a big bottle of water. The cashier asked if I was from the states and where. After I answered, he said that he loves the Broncos and Avs, but hates basketball, haha, funny. Well I walked back to the hostel, still very disappointed with the place I really wanted to see. But I guess, when there is a bad stop, you do laundry and this place had a dryer too... sweet.

So while I started laundry, I ate in the family dinning room and then sat in the Lounge (big family room) and listened to my ipod and played solitaire on it. A group of people from Spain sat next to me and the girl of the group asked if I was listening to country, it was Eric Tessmer Band, southern blues, so pretty close. We then started chatting and after quite a while, we all went down the street to a local pub for a beer. Regina, Antonio, Fernando and Manuel were there names and I liken them to the group of Me, Andrew, Nick and Eric, it was really funny to see the similarities of the 2 groups in my mind. We met Peterrrrrr, the Smeigle looking bar tender and I was able to translate for him the Spanish accent (she was speaking English, but he couldn't understand) and the Scottish accent for her! It was funny. We had beer and Peter gave us some free Scotch, not horrible and then promptly kicked us out at midnight. We then hung out in the lounge at the hostel until 1 and made our ways up the stairs. One of my bunk mates made some kind of mumbled remark about me waking everyone up, but I didn't care, in a hostel you have to deal with other people's schedules.