Off to Glasgow!

 The second half of our week in Scotland was spent in Glasgow. We took the train there from Edinburgh. I liked Glasgow, though not as much as Edinburgh—it was more industrial and less charming and historic-feeling, but it was a cool city to see and stay in, with nice places that were definitely worth seeing. We also visited some beautiful locations in other parts of Scotland during our stay in Glasgow. 

I saw this in a shop and wondered if David would like it if I called him "My wee honey bee"? 😆

We spent some time in Waterstones, which I think is the English equivalent of Barnes & Noble. It was a great bookstore; I loved it!

Yes to both of these! (If only I had the luggage space!)

Apparently, it's called "Cluedo" in the U.K. This is one of my family's favorite games to play. 

Agatha Christie puzzles

More cool puzzles...

A table of "Scottish Crime" books

This is one of my favorite mystery books by one of my favorite modern mystery authors (who I've also met twice!). I'd never seen it with this cover before.

The U.K. loves their Agatha Christie! As they should.

My hotel room was nice, although my view was mostly of some exciting construction scaffolding. 

Bee things remind me of David. I snap shots and send them to him.

Check out this amazing painting on the side of this building!

We did a fun ghost tour with a great guide that I highly recommend. I liked it and the guide better than the one in Edinburgh.

We met and started outside of Glasgow Cathedral. (I'll do a separate post about that amazing edifice soon!)

Pictures I took on the ghost tour...

That's Nate and Kat in the center there as we walked to a massive graveyard.

Glasgow Cathedral is getting its spire worked on. This building is so beautiful, inside and out.

This is a famous sight in Glasgow. I don't really get the meaning behind it, but it's amusing.

Europe is so neat!

Next up: an awesome day trip to my favorite royal location of the whole trip!

My First Royal Palace

 My first-ever visit to a royal palace was the beautiful and elegant Falkland Palace, located in the lovely countryside of Scotland. The royal family can still use this palace, although I don't think they really do anymore. This palace has been well-maintained (built in the 1500s!) and was a true pleasure to visit.

A cozy window seat

Family pictures. Royal family, that is.

Stained glass, of course.

Getting in touch with my inner princess 👸

I love a good twisty staircase, especially when it's in a historic palace that I happen to be visiting!

Out on the "back deck"

Mary, Queen of Scots spent a lot of time here. She loved this palace and its surroundings.

Here was a fun find in the gift shop. Hi there! 😄

Out in the "backyard" again, this time with an owl statue. My owl luck was in full force on this trip!

Palace selfies with Mom

Another princess (or rather, queen?) moment 👸

The palace grounds were so peaceful.

The little village up the street was really cute. 

I'm so glad we stopped at Falkland Palace. It was one of my favorite places on the whole trip.  
On the drive back into Edinburgh, we stopped near the bridges to take in the views and take some pictures.

Two different types of bridges. You're welcome for that astute observation.

It was such a fun day exploring the fishing village of Anstruther, St. Andrews, and Falkland Palace. I truly love traveling and being a tourist of the world!

A Charming Fishing Village and a Crumbling Castle

While we were staying in Edinburgh, my mom and I took a lovely day trip to the fishing villages of Fife and the beautiful coastal town of St. Andrews. We met a tour group at the bus station and spent a lovely day seeing new (to us) areas of Scotland. Of course, all of Scotland was new to us at that point except for Edinburgh! 😄 It was fun to get out into the literal countryside and see more of this beautiful country.

The fishing village we visited was Anstruther. It was really cute. I imagine the seafood here would be so fresh and delicious.

The equipment/detritus of the fishing/lobstering life.

I had bought these super-soft lambswool earmuffs at a shop in Edinburgh the day before, and they were so nice and warm.

Here I am approaching this old lighthouse at the end of the pier.

Caught in the middle of saying something. Classic.

Another Scottish library!

This was a box of fudge I bought. The fudge was dee-lish. 😋 

Our next stop was the ancient town of St. Andrews. This is where we explored the ruins of a crumbling castle, walked through a vast historic graveyard with the remains of a once-soaring cathedral, and ate some really good fish and chips for lunch. St. Andrews is also famous for its historic and majestic golf course and for the University of St. Andrews, Scotland's oldest university and the third-oldest in the English-speaking world. Many well-off Europeans go to college there, including Prince William and Kate Middleton. It's where they met!

These were some of the university buildings we walked by.

St. Andrews Castle was really neat to explore, even though there wasn't too much left of the interior of it.

Classic castle features.

It's neat to think of all the things that took place over the centuries between these walls and on these grounds.

These stairs once led to the castle's chapel.

What it used to look like, a long time ago...

A few interior areas still remain.

I actually did get a creepy feeling inside the Bottle Dungeon.

I liked standing at one of the windows and looking down the cliff and out to sea, imagining living back in the Middle Ages. I'm thankful that I didn't live then, but I hope someday we can see what life was really like in the times before our own.

A woman's home is her castle! 😄

This is a view of the castle as we were walking away from it. 

Down the street is the (former) cathedral and its massive graveyard. This was neat to explore as well. We missed the tour, but we'll just have to get it next time!

(This would be a cool place to do a ghost tour!)

We had lunch at Cromars. The fish and chips did not disappoint!

Here are some pictures of the St. Andrews golf course and the beach just beyond it. Here on the "Old Course" is where the game of golf was first established. 

Scenes from Chariots of Fire were filmed on this beach.

As if Anstruther and St. Andrews weren't enough, our day trip wasn't over yet. Stay tuned for my first royal palace! (I loved it!)