As I took the train north from Lincoln, the scenery changed from tuff grasses to short smart green grass fields with sheep and horses roaming here and there. Around 6 hours later I found my way to Glasgow, Scotland. I had a few hours to roam around the city, so I headed to its Museum of Modern Art, and onwards to the Glasgow Cathedral where St. Mungo was buried. Nearby the cathedral was a museum with a view of a Necropolis - a hilly graveyard for people who died of the smallpox. I then made my way to the hotel I was going to the SPUC International Pro-Life conference for the next few days. Throughout the weekend I found companionship with students from all over England and Scotland, I was happy to have some more good-hearted friends. I learned a lot about abortion and euthanasia and how it affects our world today and I hope to be more involved with pro-life organizations back at MSUM next year. I also tried blood pudding as well as hagis(on my fork in the picture) and I prefer the (very salty) blood pudding over hagis for sure. neither will I want to try again I believe.
After the conference I went into the city and checked into a guesthouse and strolled by a nearby park and enjoyed the Scottish families enjoying a sunny Sunday evening. The next day after a complimentary Scottish breakfast of coffee, toast, beans, ham, potato scone of some sort, and a fried egg, I took a train north to Balloch on the southern bank of Loch Lomand. There was a small castle a few minutes walk around the loch so I spent the afternoon enjoying the atmosphere. The morning started out being drizzly and overcast, but by noon it was nice and sunny. I of course listened to my music player and the Loch Lomond song half the time. It was pretty with hills and I will confess I kept a small pebble from the shoreside.
I then headed south again and saw a neat looking big town on the way back to Glasgow and I had time to kill so I hopped off at Dumbarton. I didn't have a map, but I had seen in a travel book that there was a castle here so I had lunch and asked for directions and I found myself walking up to a huge cliff/rock/volcano plug landmass. It was where Mary, Queen of Scotland sailed to France to escape when she was 6years old, and rumors have William Wallace being a prisoner there before he was sent off to be beheaded. The view from the top of that landmass was worth the climb and windiness. You could see Ben Nevis and, the Firth of Clyde as well as the small city of Dumbarton and the hills of Scotland. I was descending the castle stairway to leave right on time as the wind picked up and it started sleeting very hard for about 5 minutes. My trusty little umbrella surprisingly held out as I made my way 25 minutes to the train station to eventually make it back to Glasgow where I had time to visit the Kelingrove museum that holds Salvador Dali's "Christ of St. John of the Cross." Then I safely made it back good ol' Lincoln without trouble. Altogether a successful weekend.
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