Day 8: Oban -> Glasgow via Stirling

This day was very special indeed. We had the opportunity to visit a Scottish icon. His name is Hamish, and he is the most famous cow in Scotland. But he's not just any cow! He is a highland cow, which is a breed of cows that can only be found in the Scottish highlands and has a special adaptation for the cold weather. This special feature is the root for the local name of these cows : hairy coo! (Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed yelling "hairy coo!" everywhere)

Then it was off to the city of Stirling and the National Wallace Monument. This city is where William Wallace battled the English in the war for Scotland's freedom. This historic battle took place just outside of the city and was one of the only major battles that the Scots won. (For a horribly inaccurate portrayal of the story of William Wallace you can watch Braveheart with Mel Gibson. We watched it on the bus and even with the inaccuracies it is still a good movie!) Nowadays this city is home to the National Wallace Monument. A tower up on a hill that you can climb 246 steps to the top of to see Wallace's actual sword and to get amazing views of battlefield and the surrounding area. It was very hard to climb up that tower, not only because there were so many steps and my calves were burning on the way up, but because it was a tiny spiral staircase that served as both the way up and the way down, so to say the least it was a bit cramped. But I made it to the top and boy was it windy up there!!

Then it was down into the city for lunch and little bit of wandering around in this hilly little city.

We then loaded back onto the bus and headed for Glasgow, where we had a quick driving tour of the city from our driver, Derek, who is a Glaswegian. After the tour, the rest of the day was ours to explore the city. We wandered all over. From the shopping areas to the cathedral across town. It was really exciting to see this city all decked out for the XX Commonwealth Games, which they were going to host.

 We also had a very exciting encounter for our little Whovian hearts! We love the British tv show Doctor Who (if you don't know what it is, first of all: shame on you, second of all: look it up!) so finding a blue police public call box was beyond thrilling!

Later that night, everyone met up for a pub crawl across the city. We started at a pub called the Counting House which was a converted bank. It made it look very high class!

Then came Waxy O'Connor's. Quite a woodsy and whimsical place that was partially underground!

Next was Kushion. It was more of a laid back club, but it was a lot of fun with great music. A bit too much pink though, heehee.

We ended the night at a place called Campus, which was supposed to be an American themed pub. It was a bit over the top on the "American" stuff if you ask me, but I may be biased due to the fact that I am American. (forgot to take pictures inside)

Overall it was a fantastic day in Glasgow!