Scotland Trip Report--Day 9--Glasgow to Loch Lomond

After finally finishing the laundry around 11 pm, and with various items of clothing hanging from doorknobs, chairs, and cabinets to dry (since the dryer was useless), I actually got a decent nights sleep, waking around 8 to another decent day. I folded my laundry, ate breakfast, and packed, with plenty of time to go exploring before I had to head out to the airport.
I caught the sightseeing bus just a couple blocks from the hotel. The driver, AJ, was very friendly. He saw my Johnston pin and proudly informed me that he is from Johnstone! He told me some things about the town, but I could barely understand a word he said. The tour was great--there is so much interesting architecture in Glasgow, and the guide, Claire, pointed out many places of interest. I took tons of pictures. At one point, we had to change buses, because the ticket machine on our bus had stopped working. Never a dull moment!
Following the tour, I stopped at the Post Office to get postcard stamps, and then headed to M&S to get lunch. I enjoyed my sandwich and lemonade while sitting out on the pedestrian mall. Then I returned to the hotel and picked up my suitcase, called a taxi, and it was off to the airport. I was due to meet the group at 2:30, and I got there at 1, so I had plenty of time to read.
About 2:00 I got up to walk around and stretch my legs, and noticed some people sitting there who had the same green luggage tags that I have. I had found my tour group! The 2 couples who were there were very nice--Frank and Keets are from Washington state, and Dick and Jennifer are from Mississippi. Jennifer has a Scotland folder too!! She says she learned about trip planning from going to Disney!
We drove out to the hotel, which is right on Loch Lomond. It is a huge, beautiful place, and looks like a castle (even more so than the castle I stayed at Thursday night). But it is not. It is a Baronial Manor House. Whatever, it is just gorgeous! As we pulled up we saw that there was a wedding party gathering for photos. They lined up all the guys, about 30 or 40 of them, on the steps for a photo, in their kilts! Their was one wee lad, about 4 years old, wearing a wee kilt and he was just so cute! A slightly older boy, maybe 8 or 9, was apparently wearing his grandfather’s kilt, which is 50 years old! It made a great picture, and Jennifer and I were there snapping away along with the wedding photographer.
After checking in, I went in search of my room. It is all the way down at the end of a very long and winding corridor. The room is huge and very nice. I unpacked what I need for the next 2 days, and then went down to meet the tour director, Karen, who is from Seattle. At 6:15 we all assembled in the lobby, and went out on the front steps for a group photo. Then there was a reception where we were all given name tags, unfortunately just for tonite. I will never remember all the names of everyone!
Dinner was at 7 in a private dining room. There are 40 of us on this tour, plus Karen, so I guess we warrant a separate area. Having been told that Monday night’s dinner will be salmon, I opted instead for the chicken tonite. It came with some sort of turnip thing, which I didn’t even taste, and a potato and haggis croquette, which I LOVED! The potato cut down the peppery flavor of the haggis and it really was delicious. Dessert was some sort of mousse-like thing that looked like a pretty little package. It tasted as good as it looked!
A lot of people in the group just arrived today, and are quite tired from the travel and the time change. I am glad I had a week to adjust before having to do the tour--we have to be up early tomorrow for breakfast at 7:00!!