Coming full circle from our post on day one of our trip: we solve the lens problem our first day in Glasgow, because my phone has just driven me absolutely bonkers and the lens I brought Just Won’t Do in the city. And also unfortunately for my wallet, there is a camera store just 10 minutes away from our lodgings.
So, to ramp myself up for peak responsible purchasing, I uttered some of my best catchphrases, like “it’s vacation so money isn’t real” and “we’re remodeling soon so does $400 even matter?” and “money is fake anyway but happiness isn’t.”
I talked myself down from a steeply discounted fancy used lens that I didn’t need (I have so much self control) and ended up with a cheaper and lovely prime lens which would fit in nicely with the stuff I had at home. And I could also use it for nail photography. So….success.
Just look at the f/1.4 bokeh. L o o k
Tuesday was mainly travel from Skye to Glasgow airport to return Margarine You Dumb Bitch to the rental car place. However, we did make two stops: first, a detour to the very tiny town of Duirinish to see some more hairy coos.
We did not have any luck with our carrots today, but we stood outside their pasture and informed them of how cute they were (very cute). We might have chucked most of the rest of the carrots in their pen just to be rid of them. There were BABIES!!!!
Second, a stop at Eilean Donan Castle, because it had intrigued us on our way up to Skye. It’s large. It’s impossible to miss. Perfect.
The OG Eilean Donan castle was built in the 13th century to protect against the vikings. It’s located on a little island where three lochs meet – eilean means island in Gaelic. It was used primarily as a defensive location, which shrunk in size over the years. It was blown up in the 1700s during the Jacobite insurrection, and sat in ruins until the early 1900s.
Someone from the Macrae clan came along in 1910 and restored it to its 1600s glory. Now, the castle is furnished by the Macrae clan, and a private portion of it acts as their holiday home (what a life). They have rooms inside bedecked in their old glory, filled with photos from the current clan. You can’t take photos inside, but it was great to walk around and see the furnishings, gowns, and old pictures on display.
You can also get married here for the astonishingly affordable fee of just under $2k. Plus, this castle was featured in the original Highlander, as well as several James Bond films.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a really good way to break up the drive, since it was just about an hour south of our lodgings on Skye and now we have 3.5 to go. Sometimes, Margarine makes a weird burning smell if she idles at a stop after running for a while. But…she seems fine. She made it back to her home at the airport with no issues (phew!).
Our Edinburgh place is kind of ridiculous – it has 14 foot ceilings and elaborate crown molding. This was not in any photo online and we feel like peasants. Short ones.
Our dinner came from a small vegetarian restaurant up the street, Sylvan. This has been the best meal of the trip by far. They serve vegetarian small plates and tasty cocktails. We might just eat here every night from now on (except for our night at Dishoom).
Our first full day in Glasgow is mostly a lazy and laid back one. We started pretty late, after my morning lens purchasing, and decided to walk to the Cathedral and Mausoleum. I always like seeing at least one fancy church, and it’s strangely enjoyable to see old graveyards in Europe.
Glasgow also has a strong street art game, which we appreciate. Mixed in with the regular graffiti is artsy pretty graffiti, like this one on the side of a bridal shop.
There has always been a church on this site in Glasgow since the 600s, but the current structure dates back to around the 1200s, though it has been added onto and reconstructed over the years. It’s the oldest church in mainland Scotland (that’s quite specific) and the oldest building in Glasgow.
The upper level contains lots of pews, art, and artifacts, complete with high arched ceilings and lots of seals and crests from around Scotland. The wooden ceiling was particularly beautiful.
The lower cathedral contains the supposed grave of St Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow and of this cathedral. They don’t really know if most of the stuff about him was true, besides the fact that he died in 614 or 603, but for sure on Sunday, Jan 13th. And maybe in his bathtub, or maybe not.
I particularly enjoyed the translation of the new testament in Scots (which is a variant of English that unfortunately gets derided as being lesser but is in fact, as legit of a way of speaking English as any other), some of the Munich stained glass, and sparkly modern tapestries in the lower cathedral.
Ok, there was also a cool sword.
The mausoleum is up on a hill behind the cathedral. The gravestones go back to the early 1800s, and most of them include the person’s profession on the gravestone. We found one person who was a dyer – it seems they found their calling in the end. Mostly both of us were horrified thinking about having our professions on our gravestones. Please no.
We ended our evening nomadically attempting to get dinner at Ox and Finch and failing, so we ate at a nearby italian place that was prettyyyyy good. Italian food scares me, but it wasn’t salty, so I’m accepting tots and pears for my menieres behaving.
(I wrote this after dinner, it is now the next day, and I am fine.)
Next: Edinburgh!