February Adventures: Part II

Okay! So! It may be a week late, but here’s February Adventures Part 2! Unfortunately, we come up with words of the week throughout the week and then promptly forget them when it’s time to write the blog. No worries though, we’ll have a few for the beginning of March adventures (appearing later today). And, of course, Tom traded off doing pictures (uploading, lightening, posting to facebook (CHECK OUT THE LINKS TO THE RIGHT OF THIS PAGE)) for blog writing today, so you’re stuck with Sandra’s writing!

So our last weekend in February, what did we do?! Well, my friend Kaylie came to visit, of course! Kaylie and I know each other from Camp O, and she’s currently studying abroad in the freezing tundra of Sweden! On her trip through Scotland, she was nice enough to stop and see us in Glasgow and stay with us for a few days. We managed to find our way through the ridiculously huge Central Station to meet her Thursday and then we all ventured to our Piping lecture together.

Since we ended up getting to Piping so early, we wandered around the Museum of Piping, and that was fascinating. Bagpipes actually weren’t created in Scotland, it is believed that they were first seen somewhere around Egypt. And so, there are actually bagpipes from all around the world, and a lot of them are on display in the Museum of Piping. They’re all slightly different and very interesting to see; there were even some bagpipes with chanters that  had keys on them – like a clarinet!

In lecture that day we learned about Canterach, which is a collection of different ‘words’ that are used to sing the notes in Piping music (it’s basically solfeg for pipes). We also learned more about Piobreachd, which is traditional Piping  Competition music. As a class, we learned (and sang) the Canterach for one particular Piobreachd song. It’s sort of awkward to sing as a class, but it was pretty fun. And Finlay started teaching us a Taorluath, which is this really complicated move, but he broke it down into really simple steps for us. We’re going to be Pipe Majors soon, I’m sure of it.

After an enlightening Piping lesson, we headed back to the flat only to discover that our lovely Chinese flatmates were in the kitchen. They’re really not bad people, it’s only an issue because when they make dinner, they cook an entire huge meal from scratch, taking up all the counter space, the stove, the sink, and sometimes the oven. And so we decided to go out! We went to the Inn down the road that we’ve been dying to try. Really, it’s a cute little place with a nice pub-like atmosphere and a kind bartender. So! Tom got Bangers and Mash (because he’s in love with that dish), and Kaylie and Sandra got the Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties! And of course, we had to order a drink, so I finally got my taste of Scotch Whisky, it wasn’t great, but it was okay, better with the food than by itself. Their food was great though, great presentation with the haggis, as they layered it with the Neeps and Tatties (mashed turnips and mashed potatoes), and gave a little pitcher of sweet whisky sauce to pour over it. Our only fright of the night was when the Rangers (football) scored a goal to tie up the game and a cheer erupted unexpectedly from quite a few people at once. And to top off a lovely day, we stopped to get a few tubs of Scottish ice cream on the way home, one regular and one honeycomb. We also saw this pre-packaged bag of mini-panqueques at Tesco, so we bought them!

The strange Tesco mini-pancakes were actually pretty okay, they were infused with maple syrup, so they were good for breakfast. After class that morning, we took off to explore the greater Glasgow! We went down/over to the City Centre and explored! We had baguette express for lunch, and proceeded to wander. The City Centre itself has a town hall (or the equivalent, really), and a big square with a whole bunch of statues, that you will be able to see pictures of on facebook. We then explored the Cathedral and Necropolis. And let me tell you, those were awesome. St. Mungo’s Cathedral is huge and beautiful, with crazy old architecture and fantastic stained glass windows. The Necropolis is something to see also, an enormous cemetery set on a hill overlooking the city with huge monuments.

We also visited St. Mungo’s Museum of Religion and Life, and that was pretty interesting. And then we crossed the street to see the Oldest House in Glasgow! It was built in 1471! It’s all stone and pretty cramped. The doorframes were absolutely tiny (see picture of Tom standing behind one, his head is completely obscured), even Kaylie and I had to duck a little to go through! And after that, we were completely exhausted and headed back to the flat for a nap, spaghetti, and some card games and ice cream with a crazy Irishman !

Unfortunately, Kaylie was on her way to Inverness Saturday (well, not unfortunate for her, but unfortunate for us and the beautiful weather she brought). So after a walk through the Kelvingrove, we wound our way from Central Station through the ridiculous crowds to Queen St. Station and said farewell to Kaylie. But we had a great time with her and would like to thank her again for visiting! : )

But of course, Tom became overjoyed on the way home from Queen St, as we found Forbidden Planet – a comic book store! It was actually a really big and awesome comic book store, but the crowds made it slightly less desirable. We vowed to go back and look around again soon. After a quick stop at a candy store to buy chocolate-covered banana candy (they weren’t real bananas, but they were good), we made our way back home. And of course, as soon as we stepped out of the subway, we knew Kaylie must be gone because it started to rain.

And then there was Sunday! Sunday I (meaning Sandra only) went to church. I chose to go to the church that is just down the road, about a five-minute walk. And, it was a little scary, because I’d never been and all, but the people were all very nice. And the building itself was absolutely beautiful; they have huge white cloisters and awesome stained glass windows. In fact, there was a big stained glass window behind the pulpit that, because of its position, the time of day and the sunshine, shone brightly throughout the service, which was awesome. They didn’t have hymnals, though, which bothered me a bit, they had books with the words in them, and then big projector screens up front to show the words to the hymns, but no music to look at! That was a bit unnerving. But all in all, it was a nice place and a nice service, though a bit too intense for me. It remains to be seen whether or not I will return, but I did get invited to lunch with George and Nan last time! And those were the second part of our February adventures! Photos via facebook. Cheers!

 

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