Glasgow

Three weekends ago Amy and I took the train to Glasgow. Even though Glasgow is on the opposite side of the country from Edinburgh it only takes an hour to get from one to the other. Our first stop in Glasgow was the cathedral. Here it is:


With me in front:

The top as seen from standing near the entrance:


The side:


The inside of the cathedral:




There was so much beautiful stained glass. It was really hard to photograph though.



This was right outside the cathedral. There were a whole lot of them. I am not sure what the fish, bell and tree represent.


The old building next door to the cathedral was called Saint Mungo's. Unfortunately it was not a hospital...


After the cathedral we went to a museum of world religions which was next door to the cathedral on the other side. Crossing the street to head back into the main part of the city (we had walked a ways to get to the cathedral) we came across an old house with a Historic Scotland sign on it. It turned out to be the oldest house in Glasgow. We went inside and took a look around. It had been fixed up to be a museum. Here is Amy in it going down the stairs:


One thing I always forget about these old buildings is that the ceilings are much lower. I am short enough that it makes no difference for me. Amy on the other hand has to watch her head. A room in the upstairs of the old house:

The garden behind the house had wonderful hedges:

Arthur's Seat

A couple weeks ago Amy and I decided to take a walk up to the top of Arthur's Seat, the tallest hill in Edinburgh. It is very close to Amy's flat. It only took us about 20 minutes to walk there. I had been up there before towards the beginning of term. I went with my flatmates and a large group of other international students. Unfortunately though I had forgotten my camera.

The view from the top is beautiful. Unfortunately the day we went up it was very, very windy. I felt like I was going to be blown off when we got to the top. We could barely move because of the wind. Consequently I didn't manage to take too many pictures.

It rained on and off while we climbed up to the top. By the time we had reached the top a rainbow had come out. You can kind of see it here:



The coast:




Amy coming up to the top:


The city as seen from the top:



The path we took to get up to the top. It was pretty steep.



The entire hill:

Scottish Borders - I have never been so cold!

Last weekend Amy and I took a trip to the Scottish Borders with Arcadia (her study abroad program). Unfortunately I forgot my camera. Amy had hers though and we traded off using it. Half the pictures are mine, half are hers.

Our first stop was Tarquair house, the oldest inhabited house in Scotland. It has been lived in since 1107. We got a tour of it and were served tea, coffee and shortbread.


The wrought iron of the entrance gate as we walked in:


Part of the house:


More of the gates:


After the tour we had about half an hour to look around. Amy and I looked at more of the inside of the house first as there was a lot we had not seen during the tour. Afterward we wanted to go look at the grounds. We walked around to the back of the house.

The side of the house:


A courtyard on the side of the house, lots of barrels:

There was a hedge maze behind the house. We wanted to go in. However we met the lady running the tour just as we were about to. She told us we only had 5 minutes.


Since we had so little time we cheated. Amy took a picture of the map so we would not get lost:


We did end up getting to the middle, or at least Amy did, I never rounded the last corner. I was afraid we were going to be way too late. Here are Amy's feet on the logs marking the center:


It turned out there were two other people from our group in the maze. The four of us were the last people back to the bus but we were barely late. On our way back we saw these swans in the lake:

The countryside around Tarquair:



Our next stop was Melrose Abby. I have never been so cold in my life as I became at the Abby. Tarquair was really, really cold but not near as bad. It was beautiful though. I just wish it had been warmer so that we could have properly enjoyed it. There was ice on the ground and as the Abby is a ruin there was no indoors or heat.

The visitors center on the way in:


The front:

The back:


From the side:



There were the bases of stone walls that used to be other buildings in the back:




Information sign with the original layout:


A statue or maybe a tomb inside the Abby (and my shoulder). I am not sure what it is exactly:


I was trying to take a picture of the ceiling here. Unfortunately the light made ittoo dark:


Inside the Abby, It must have been amazing when it was in use:


Amy looking around:



We climbed up to the roof. Here is the view:








Me on the roof:


There are a lot of fun gargoyles at Melrose Abby. One of the most interesting is the bagpiping pig.


Another picture of the pig , this time from the front:



More views from inside:



Me inside:


Another gargoyle:



More side of the Abby:


The graveyard outside it:



The Abby from the otherside:




We were not sure what this was:


Or this:

Laterine trench:


More outside:



Our final stop was at Rosslyn chapel. It was amazing! Unfortunately in the 1950s people thought that the best way to preserve the building was to paint the inside with cement. Doing this sealed the inside. Therefore when it rained and the stone was saturated the building became way too heavy and started to almost collapse. Therefore an umbrella-like structure was erected above it. That is what all the scaffolding is for: to hold up the umbrella. It does make the outside of the chapel look less impressive. However, there is one plus, the scaffolding allows you to walk around the roof and see the top.

The outside as we were coming in:


Pictures from around the roof. Unfortunately by this time it was very dark so they did not come out very well.




The borders were a lot of fun. The only problem was the cold. I could not feel my feet at all for the entire day. Everyone was cold even though we all had dressed very, very warmly. It was around 30 F I think.