Monday, March 24, 2014

Back in the Land of William Wallace

     On February 18, 2014, I flew from Bristol to Glasgow where my friend Susanna is attending Glasgow University.  We met last year in Vietnam and when I went to the UK, she came to be a tourist with me in London.  About a month later, I stayed with her and the rest of the Foster Family in Salisbury, England.  We met back up in Rome later in the summer and now Glasgow!  It is pretty exciting to have seen one another in 4 countries in less than a year span!

     Susanna met me at the bus station when I first arrived and we headed towards my hotel.  The first evening, we just had dinner and caught up.  There isn't much to do in Glasgow and so we decided that we could squeeze in a movie in the morning.  We went and saw Monument's Men and both really enjoyed it.  This movie is about a group of men from all over the world joining with the United States Army to go out and rescue famous pieces of art that Hitler had stolen and hid.  It was special to watch since we both had traveled through Europe recently and have been to several museums, even seeing the Sistine Chapel together.  I definitely recommend this movie!

     After the movie, we walked around the center of Glasgow, George's Square and then Glasgow University campus.  The campus is very beautiful and by the words of Susanna, "very Harry Potteresque".  They have a great museum called the Hunterian where we saw a Salvador Dali original.  Can't say it enough, LOVE all the free museums in the United Kingdom!  







 George's Square





 Glasgow University 





 Hunterian Museum




 Dali original




     Later that evening, Susanna and I met up with my friend Daniel and his friend Benjamin.  Daniel and I met on a sailboat in the Whitsundays, Australia.  He is from Switzerland and when he heard I was coming back to Europe, he booked a flight to meet me.  How amazing to have such great friends willing to do that!  We all had a wonderful time hanging out.





     On February 20th, I said goodbye to Susanna.  It was so wonderful to see her and I look forward to meeting somewhere else in the world in the future!  Daniel and I made plans to see one another again in Edinburgh.  After helping the boys get set up with a rental car to drive around Scotland, I hopped on a train to head that way.  I couldn't have been more excited!

     Last year, I came to Edinburgh and met Manuel.  We became such great friends that I ended up staying in Edinburgh for 2 weeks.  A month later, he and his friend Anita were doing a trip and we all met up in Amsterdam.  Manuel and I carried on traveling to Brussels afterwards.  Manuel and I always have a great time together and I never laugh harder.  I was really looking forward to catching up and meeting his girlfriend Mar.  

     I had already seen a lot of Edinburgh, so this trip was purely a visiting friends trip rather than a tourist one.  The first day I arrived, Manuel, Patrick, Mar and I hung out and played games at the flat.  It was a lot of fun, just like old times.  Patrick took me to watch rugby one of the days and I must say I enjoyed watching the sport.  Manuel's friends from Rome happened to be coming for a visit the same weekend.  We spent the rest of our time together just hanging out and showing the Roman boys Federico, Ricardo and Davide around.  We all had such a wonderful time wandering around, trying traditional foods such as Haggis and fried Mar's Bars, walking around the cemetery at night and more.   Such a pleasure to be with great company!









On top of Calton Hill








 Manuel's creation for all of us!  Future famous chef without a doubt!

Mar made me a delicious traditional Spanish breakfast!


 Classic Manuel...


Last night in Edinburgh with the boys!

     I will be interested to see the results of the referendum in Scotland this September.  Will they be an independent nation or will they continue to be a part of the United Kingdom?  I would love to see Scotland stand alone in terms of having their own very unique culture, but economically, I think it is safer for them to stay a part of the United Kingdom as the pound remains so strong.  We shall see!

     What an incredible trip!  Only 2 and a half weeks in Portugal, England and Scotland and I was able to meet up with so many of my friends.  It was very special to me to spend time with all of them and to meet the people that are important in their lives.  Phenomenal trip and I can't say thank you enough to everyone!

"Every man dies, not every man truly lives." -William Wallace, Braveheart

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