Kayaking, Glasgow and Edinburgh...oh my!

So I realize I have not written in a while, but would you want to be typing on your computer, indoors, in an 8 x 5 foot cell while beautiful Scotland is right outside your window?  Obvious answer: bloody "heck" no!  I am very sorry to keep you all waiting but I've got some good stuff now to entertain you.  

So I have joined kayaking club.  Yes, kayaking.  You might think to yourself "Christine, you do not go into an ocean or any other body of water that you cannot see the bottom of because you are afraid to get eaten."  While this is true, I have yet to actually kayak in anything besides the pool. Thus, I have not yet dealt with that fear.   I do imagine it will arise when say we kayak on the loch next Wednesday, but I have faith that my incredible balance and practice of gymnastics gracefulness will keep my kayak steady. (Note: first practice I tipped my kayak 6 times, and my kayak ended up with too much water in it for me to tip it back over.  My Kayak proceeded to sink to the bottom of the pool.)  But all that aside, I am very excited to say I kayaked in Scotland...if only in a pool. 

Also, I went to Glasgow this past weekend and thought it was pretty cool.  I'm not going to lie, I like Stirling better.  Stirling is a little more quaint and historical.  Glasgow is more of a business area...but it had a ton of shopping!  Being the tourists we are though, we decided the first time we were there we had to see all the sites and monuments.  We went to the National Piping Center (very cool to hear bagpipes!) and the Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis.  The Cathedral was amazing with all the stained glass and old architecture.  Again, I was in awe of how old the Cathedral was.  The tomb of St. Mungo was constructed in 607 AD.  That still seems unreal to me.  The fact that I had walked in the same place as people did hundreds of years ago is very very cool.   But what I loved more than the Cathedral was the Glasgow Necropolis (yes another cemetery, and no I do not have a weird obsession with them.)  At home, I thought graveyards were sort of creepy and haunted, but here they are just peaceful and reiterate the idea that there such little time to leave an impact on this earth (so keep it clean and go green please).  I can't explain the feeling too well, but I do know that there is just so much to do and so little time to do it. After the cemetery, we walked (I navigated!) to the museum of modern art.  blah.  I seriously do not get modern art.  I wish I could have taken a picture of some of the exhibits, but no that would take away from the artistic beauty of it...so let me paint you a picture (haha so funny) of what one of the exhibits was.  You walked into a room with white walls and white floors.  In the room there were fluorescent  light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, in two clumps of three in sort of a shape of a tree?  In the middle of the room was a black wire cot.  That is it.  If anybody has a good idea as to what this is, please enLIGHTen me (oh I am just so clever today.) After viewing what they call "art," we went to a cute fish/seafood restaurant called the Grand Fish and Chip Co.  Right outside the door they had a sample of the fish they serve on ice on display.  Oh Dear Lord. Seeing that fish was totally not a good for my kayaking career.  One word: monkfish.  Those teeth, eyes,  and entire being is the freakiest thing and pretty much what I imagine being at the bottom of our Loch.  But the best part of this story is that I tried: Calamari (not bad...actually quite good besides the fact that it's a poor baby squid) Sweet corn and potato soup (really really good) and I had a hamburger for dinner (for those of you who don't know this, I don't eat hamburgers.  Hot dogs only thank you.)  

Tomorrow I leave for Edinburgh where I'm going to meet my friend Kelley who is studying in Spain but has a week off.  I'm really excited to see Edinburgh as I have heard great things, and I'm excited to see a little piece of home.  

So as you can see, I've been trying new things, pushing myself and really really trying to keep an open mind (Haggis is still not something I'm looking forward to trying any time soon).  But Scotland is amazing and I know this was a great choice for me.  

...now I have to get back to Glasgow and shop... CHEERS!