On the morning of the third day, we had to change rooms. In order for us to stay during the dates we wanted, we had to move to accommodate a previous reservation. The new room actually had a better shower, but unfortunately had two single beds. Larry and I pushed them together, but there was an uncomfortable spot in the middle.

            At breakfast I saw a red fox running across a green field. It was pretty. One of the afternoons in the lounge, I came across a magazine article concerning the potential ban of fox hunting. I was always against fox hunting, but never realized the practicalities of those who are in favor of it. I am always on the side of the animal. However, it was eye opening to see another point on view on the subject.

            Elsie came in to see what we wanted for breakfast. In the course of conversation, it came up that Larry and I were interested in researching Larry's Scottish ancestry. Elsie helped us out quite a bit. She showed us how to use some of the books she had listing clan names and their relation to one another. We'd had trouble finding anything in the past because we didn't know where or how to look.

            Linlithgow is best known as the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots (1542). However, the first known reference to the palace dates back to November 1301. The English did hold the palace for a time, but it returned to Scottish hands in 1314 after the battle of Bannockburn. All of the Stuart kings resided there, and many renovations were made as each king had his own personal preferences for the construction of the palace.

            Larry and I enjoyed exploring the ruins. It's strange, but Linlithgow in some ways felt very alive to me.

            From there we drove over to Glasgow. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a "queue," or as those in the U.S. would say, traffic jam. We eventually did get to Glasgow and parked at the Buchanan Galleries, a mall parking structure, or "car park" as they are called here. We walked over to the tourist info. center at George Square and discovered there were no walking tours of the city. Worse yet, no ghost tours! We had really wanted to take a ghost tour while we were in Scotland. It seemed that we were there just a little too early in the season.

            I was getting really irritable because my plan of a walking tour fell through, we were cranky from being stuck in traffic, and to top it all off we were getting hungry. We decided to try to find somewhere to eat. In the course of our wanderings, I took my first picture in Glasgow. Apparently it's a local tradition to keep the traffic cones on this particular statue. Originally someone put them there as a joke. Now it's a joke to remove them! If someone removes them, they are almost immediately replaced.

            I was getting hungrier and moodier trying to decide where to eat. Finally Larry said, "Look." Behold, there was a Starbucks! Light shone down and a choir of angles sang! I hadn't been to a Starbucks since I'd left the States to live in Germany. We went right over there and got beverages and sandwiches. It felt good to be in a Starbucks again.

            It just so happened that there was a Borders bookstore next door. After our lunch we went over there and spent a while browsing. I bought a book called, Memoirs of a Highland Lady by Elizabeth Grant and Larry bought a book on the Gaelic language.

            I know we were there to experience Scotland, but the similarities to the U.S. (Starbucks and Borders) were comforting. I truly admire the early immigrants and anyone else who leaves their homeland permanently. I can only imagine. I live in little America on the post in Germany and it's hard. Maybe it's easier if one is fully immersed in the country and culture they're in, rather than living with one foot in and one out the way we do in Germany.

            We walked around Glasgow a bit. It was a Saturday afternoon and the town was crowded and bustling. It was a nice day out. At one point there was a big, inflated NFL Europe sign. Members of the league were throwing footballs to kids who would try to throw them back at a particular target. We watched on the edge for a bit.

            We walked back to George Square to catch a bus for a city tour. There were flowers in and all along the square that smelled wonderful. Their scent wafted on the air with surprising strength. I could smell them from the bus.

           After the bus tour we hustled over to Glasgow Cathedral to see it before it closed. It is built in pre-Reformation, medieval Scottish style, but is not nearly as ornate as the Rococo catherals we've seen in Germany. The cathedral reminded me of a museum. It had a lot of interesting things in it, such as memorial plaques honoring individuals and families. There were also tapestries and historical displays. It had several different sections, and plenty of beautiful stained glass.

            We caught the bus back to George Square and had dinner at TGIFriday's. We happened to be seated near several members of the NFL Europe team, the Scottish Claymores. (I was a little surprised that many of the team members were American.) They wound up providing us with quite a bit of entertainment. They bet one of their teammates that he couldn't go outside and get a woman off the street to kiss him within five minutes. (I don't remember what the stakes were. Nothing too serious, though.) The guy went outside and the entertainment began. There was much egging on from the inside and much balking from the outside. Eventually a woman that was sitting behind the Claymores went outside and kissed him. The teammates of course said it didn't count. A good time was had by all.