Subsequent Musings: just a wee blog post

I've discovered that it doesn't matter where I am, I will have troubles with the accents of every person I meet. Scottish, English, Spanish - it doesn't matter.

Anyways, Scotland has been quite the adventure since I got here! I made it to Stirling on Tuesday and I have done quite a bit of exploring. Not just exploring, I've even been hiking! Me! Hiking!

I met up with my good friend Brian here who manages the hostel I am staying in. It's appropriately named the Willy Wallace Hostel. I've been told that if I put Braveheart on it will be the end of me. Apparently they must watch it quite a lot.

I set out with a motley crew of fellow hostelers to see the William Wallace Monument. It was a neat experience. It details the battle of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, and I went to it the day it happened (albeit several hundred years later). We walked for about three hours and I was sure we had walked at least 10 km like that day I went to Coombe Abbey but it turns out it was only 6km. 6km UPHILL. And then we hit the stairs of the monument. I believe it was 226 stairs until the top. My legs are going to be AMAZING by the time I get home.

my fellow explorers

in an old abbey

the monument we would hike up to

the one thing Brian told me I HAD to do while I was here was come to this pub with some live music. To be honest, it sounded okay but nothing special.

Well, I was wrong.

It was so awesome! Basically, there were 25 or so musicians all sitting together playing traditional Scottish music. Guitars, a banjo, egg shakers, singers, flute players, accordions.. And there was no set, they all just took turns playing songs and everyone joined in! By far, one of the highlights of this trip. I took a bunch of pictures but they don't really do it justice. If you see me, I took some videos of the night and of the music that are pretty good!

music!

Other adventures include exploring Glasgow (basically all the pubs) where I drank my very first beer (and potentially very last beer). I still prefer margaritas it is fair to say.

But we did manage to check out Glasgow Cathedral with a new friend, Hugo. He is a history student who was able to point out small details in the Cathedral that I would never have known. I wish I had that kind of knowledge about Edmonton but alas, there just isn't that much to say as we didn't go through the Reformation or have Cathedrals.