We stopped very briefly in Glasgow to visit with family. We have a number of cousins that live near Glasgow. While my dad had emigrated from Ireland to Canada, his older brother had emigrated to Scotland. I have so many great memories of our Scottish cousins from back in my teen years when I visited Scotland a couple of times and they had visited us in Canada. It had been almost 30 years since I’d seen them.
We first met up with my cousin Marlene and her husband George. It hardly seemed like any time had passed since we’d last seen each other. Probably part of the magic of Facebook that we have been able to keep up with photos in recent years. The last time I had seen their daughters they were children and it was so special to get to meet them again as adults with their own wonderful families. Great also to introduce them all to Brett and our kids.
The first day was a trip out to Loch Lomond for a picnic. The plan was to have a picnic but the rain had started during the drive. Thankfully we waited because we ended up having a nice reprieve from the rain. We had our picnic, had a chance to catch up a bit, and watched the kids have fun with each other. Riley had a great time with two of her cousins – two sweet girls that are about her age. She is so starved for the company of girls. It was so nice to see her make friends and have fun.
After the picnic we drove a short drive to Luss, another small village on Loch Lomond. It was so beautiful and picturesque.
As we were walking the pier we were approached by someone offering offering a private 30 minute tour on a speedboat. We piled on; our family (except Ronan who is not a fan of speedboats) as well as our two ‘wee’ cousins and their uncle David. At first, the 4 kids got up front in the boat and were having the time of their lives until we hit the wake of other boats and it became too rough for them. Once one started to panic and cry, they all did.
After a brief stop to re-fuel, our kids found their courage again and returned to the front of the boat (with Brett and I). Such a great memory of watching them enjoy that ride.
We finished the day off with a family dinner, 20 of us in all.
The second day we took the train to Edinburgh to visit the castle. The train was so easy to navigate and cost us about $35 for the five of us to travel from our suburb of Glasgow to the center of Edinburgh. When we arrived, it was raining…hard. We walked out of train station and were in complete awe of the city.
At first the rain added to the overall atmosphere of the city – very somber and austere. We were so awestruck as we left the train station that we barely noticed the rain. The fringe festival was also in full swing and people were out singing in the streets with beer at 2pm.
By the time we walked up to the castle, the rain was starting to get heavier. It was progressively getting colder and colder. It was starting to rain so hard that streets were getting flooded and we were becoming chilled to the bone. We did not pack any pants on our trip – we were definitely the only family wandering around Edinburgh castle in shorts.
Despite the weather, we loved the castle. So beautiful and so much history. As North Americans it’s hard to grasp the amount of history here. Brett and I both left feeling like we should watch Braveheart again :).
There was an exhibition of armor and weapons on loan from the Tower of London. Riley saw this armor and asked whether this was what the girl knights wore. Such an innocent question.
By the time we left we were completely soaked and we just kept our heads down trying to get back to the train station. We got back to Glasgow at 8:15pm and all of the stores and restaurants in our area had closed (it was Sunday) except for one take-out chicken place. We got an awesome dinner for < $25 for all of us from a wonderful Portuguese family that had just started up this business. They were officially closed but stayed open to make our food. It was delicious.
The following day we met up with our cousins again and went to Briarwood farm – an operating farm with many activities for families and children. We spent a few hours letting the kids have some fun while we had some time to talk and relax. Afterwards, we raced directly to the airport to catch our flight to Belfast.
It was a whirlwind weekend but so much fun. Scotland is absolutely beautiful. We were so touched at the hospitality and friendliness of our Scottish family. We feel so lucky to be connected to such wonderful people in such a beautiful part of the world.
Onward to Belfast!