Glasgow, Scotland

It’s 4am, my typical rise-time back home…and I’m at my usual table in the Lido. We dock in Belfast, Northern Ireland at 8:00 this morning.

Our replacement port yesterday of Glasgow, Scotland was very enjoyable, though it rained incessantly all day. Our berth was a combination passenger/container port in Greenock, an otherwise sleepy little city several miles removed. We arrived at 10am, and were greeted by a traditional group of…you guessed it…Scottish bagpipers. Those poor guys – out in the pouring rain with kilts puffing in the wind! I was cold in long underwear…I can just imagine!

Once inside the small terminal building, we were then greeted by a very friendly gal with a tray of Irish whiskey shots. Neither of us have a taste for it, so we passed but thanked her just the same. Cheryl’s the navigator in the family as most of you know. I gave her the day off as after inquiring at the information booth, I knew exactly where we needed to go to catch a local train for the 1-hour trip into Glasgow. To digress for a moment, Holland America wanted $180 per couple for a roundtrip bus ticket – the local high-speed train, $12.80…TOTAL. The choice was obvious.

So, we’re off walking toward the train station…pouring rain. After a couple miles, we stop and I ask three ladies waiting for a city bus if we were getting close to the train station. Well, one said with a thick Scottish accent…” the train’s about 5 miles back the opposite direction”. I knew I was in trouble at that point. Quick thinking, I suggested to Cheryl we just hop on the city bus with these nice ladies as eventually, the last stop was to be Glasgow…about 90 minutes later. We paid less than $10 for our two tickets, hopped on the bus and off we went. I was hoping to get a few countryside photos, but all the windows fogged and the pouring rain continued. Then the bus got hot & very sultry. Lovingly, Cheryl just looked at me and smiled, but I knew I was getting in deeper!

Shortly before noon we arrived at what appeared to be where we should be getting off for the center of the city. Out in the rain we go…wrong again! I was having a helluva day – batting 1,000! Eventually, we found Grand Central Station and I relinquished my navigation duties to Cheryl at that point. She got a map and we started our walking tour, umbrellas overhead, and my mouth shut. Obviously, it would have been much more enjoyable without the rain as the more we walked, both our shoes were filling with cold water. Stocking hats and long underwear don’t help with that – we needed hip boots! We hit Buchanan Street – a main pedestrian walkway lined with not only very nice and unique shops, but laced with beautiful architecture – old & new. Quite an interesting city, and we discovered quite a bit of it over the course of about 3 hours. The local folks, at every turn, were extremely pleasant!

Back at beautiful Grand Central Station about 4pm, Cheryl gets our train tickets and within minutes, we’re on platform #15 heading back toward Greenock & the ship terminal. It was a good 2 miles to the ship – we made one stop to buy Cheryl a new umbrella – hers snapped in the high winds. Between my poor course-plotting and a broken umbrella, I was really stretching her tolerance for the day!

Once we dock in Belfast this morning, our main objective is to find the Titanic Museum – we’re told by several passengers it’s well worth the visit. The weather forecast for today is a high of 67 with a chance of rain – so maybe…just maybe, we can venture out today (and for the first time) without multiple layers of clothing!

And…yes…Cheryl’s back in charge of routing & navigation!