
Last night, we had dinner at the Ubiquitous Chip. I thought it was really good. My mom has the palate of a small child, and I could never tell if she enjoyed anything or was just soldiering through because we’d already been seated. I had a sweet potato cannelloni and a ‘the Botanist’ gin and tonic (@ Kleiber: see how that says “gin” and not “beer” ?) both delicious. When we came home, I accidentally spilled my bottle of water on the hardwoods, and have subsequently (maybe, the jury is out) ruined the entire trip.

This morning, we headed back into the “highlands” to Glengoyne distillery. “Highlands” is in quotations because it sits on the road that divides the high and lowlands. It’s an interesting way to start a day with four tasting glasses of single malt scotch. I like scotch. I’ve been complaining about how much I miss spicy food — the burn in the back of your throat. It’s not quite the same, but different means to a similar end I suppose. We toured the distillery, and I can honestly say I don’t like alcohol enough to warrant actually making it, so these people must really have a passion. All of the copper was cool though. That’s the main thing I got out of it. We took a longer tour, and only two other people were on it with us. The guy was an english literature teacher in Shanghai, but was originally from London. His sister was there too, and they seemed really interesting. After our scotch tasting tour, we caught the bus back to Glasgow. We went to Waitrose to pick up some groceries since we’ve been eating out for every meal, and headed back to the AirBnB.


We started a load of laundry when we got back because I can’t be trusted not to drop hummus on a white shirt, or spill coffee on my jeans, or…you get the idea. My mom has been having some issues with the walking (and all the hills), but I’ve been walking at least a half marathon everyday for three weeks, so I’m having a hard time adjusting to a more laid back trip. I feel like I have to go, go, go, and use every second of daylight — which is a lot considering the sun rises at like 4am and sets around 10:30pm. So, I went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum by myself. I walked the 20 minutes to get there, and didn’t really have any directions, so I just went through the university towards the general vicinity of where I thought it was. I love the buildings here. They remind me of brownstones in New York (although I guess it’s probably the other way around). The Kelvingrove is a bustling place. I thought it was just an art gallery, but the bottom is kind of like a natural history museum, and it’s very kid friendly. This in mind, picture the sounds of a playground and the aura of a museum. It was cool, though. Their main attraction, I think, is Dalí’s Christ of St. John of the Cross. I really enjoyed the Scottish colorists gallery, and the French painters gallery.

There was also this really large hanging installation of white heads. They were all pulling super expressive faces, and were under-lit by a color changing light. Very cool. After I left, I walked around the Kelvingrove park for a little bit. Sometimes it’s nice to just walk along a river, and take in the scent of the trees, and listen to the water rush over the rocks. I sat on a bench for a minute to look at the Kelvingrove Gallery through the trees. I’m going to start walking more at home. It’s nice to experience things without any pretext, just to let things happen organically. I don’t do that enough. I think we’re going to Edinburgh tomorrow. (Oh ! as an update: the hardwoods are A-OK so i’m going to have have to find another way to ruin everything)


P.S. this must be the place
