One of the highlights of our day was a visit to the Glasgow Cathedral. Being Presbyterians, Bruce and I felt obligated to visit one of the motherships, so to speak, as our Protestant faith evolved out of the Scottish Reformation.
Glasgow Cathedral kept the title of "Cathedral" even though it became Protestant after the Reformation, so it is more of an honorary reference. The church served as the seat for the Bishop of Glasgow during the Roman Catholic era. It is one of the few medieval cathedrals to survive the Reformation. I guess those passionate protestants were keen with demolishing a lot of the catholic buildings. While still ornate, a lot of the icons and catholic imagery were plundered during this era.
We had a nice guide, decked out in a kilt, named Cameron who gave us a little tour of the church. He explained that we lucked out because there was supposed to be a large group of Dutch school kids, but they never showed, so it was relatively quiet. We enjoyed talking with him and hearing how the government of the Presbyterian Church (referred to as the Church of Scotland in the UK) functions and the differences and similarities between UK and American branches.
We were going to visit the cemetery, which looked old and distinguished, until we saw how steep the hill was. It also wasn't as old as we thought.... with the oldest grave going back a to the 1800's. Brucie's leg was giving him some trouble (side note: Bruce was seriously injured at a USF football game several years ago and shattered his ankle and came within an inch of losing his lower foot.... subsequently, he has to take it "slow" when walking as his ankle mobility is limited... but it's a good excuse to rest and enjoy a drink at a pub). We were going to make our way back to the city center when it started raining, so we ran into a museum and enjoyed some leek soup which was quite tasty and wasted a pound on a visit to the museum, which was rather cheesy, but still provided a nice view of the steep cemetery we declined to hike.
After the rain abated, we headed back into town, which was a rather surprisingly steep downhill walk. We walked thru the University of Glasgow thinking we would encounter a pub to rest at.... I mean, what college isn't surrounded by bars?.... apparently the University of Glasgow, because we couldn't find anything until we got back to St. George Square. It was so steep I had visions of Bruce losing his footing and rolling down the street. But he was a trooper and we finally encountered a bar with cheap beer and free wi-fi, and settled down for what turned into a couple of hours of drinking (and I have a vague memory of us drinking and dialing our friend Jonathan). We met a friendly Scottish bloke who I could not really understand as he was also filled to the brim with drink, but he engaged us in conversation. I think he told us he worked in construction. I of course was very comfortable with the locals being the blue color laborer that I am. I think Bruce was a bit on edge since he is more upper class elite (remember, he has Hilton Diamond Status, like he would let you forget!).
We ventured across the square to Jamie's Italian Kitchen for dinner. It was a new place that was opened by the famous chef Jamie Oliver. The drink selection was somewhat poor so we ended up drinking girl drinks (we had Belinis). But the food of was good, and the portions were huge!
Finally full, we took the underground back to our hotel. We would have an early departure the next day for our sightseeing in the countryside.
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