For the next forty-five minutes, Tom drove and we regaled him with our stories from the Highlands. Before we knew it, we had arrived at the front stairs of the Blythswood Kimpton Hotel in downtown Glasgow. This 5-star boutique hotel was a welcome respite. We ascended the steep stairs and entered the recently remodeled lobby. One final goodbye to our driver Tom and off we went to our very close-by rooms. Just a right turn, left turn with a short stair set in between, we entered our gorgeous room with an ornate en suite. In short order, this pristine room was suddenly transformed into a drying room as we hung out our wet clothes and raingear, and set out the damp towels, clubs, and umbrellas!
After a hot shower – ahhhh – then off to meet Janis and Erika at the classy restaurant near the lobby. We tried a couple of different beverages – a Thistly Cross Cider and Schiehallion Craft Lager. Our dinners were exquisite, and we shared lavish desserts! There was so much to talk about after our day at Gleneagles.
What a wonderful place to relax for two nights. I could now fully appreciate the plan to allow one extra day to breathe and enjoy before heading home. We looked forward to taking in the sights of Glasgow on our final full day!
We awoke refreshed and started the day with breakfast at our hotel that turned out to be our favorite breakfast of the trip. One could order from the menu as Val did – getting the eggs benedict – or as we did, self-serving the eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, chocolate croissants, granola, fresh fruits, and specialty coffees!
Hard to believe we were not playing golf today – nope, we had plans to walk off this breakfast, and we set out for a stroll about town! Glasgow sits on a high hill above the River Clyde, making for a terraced city terrain, and streets as steep as those in San Francisco. The walk down the hill is easy, we found several interesting shops including an authorized Kilt clothier, the Marks & Spencer department store, and it was recommended that we stop into the Police Museum, which we did! After a quick stop at the Beer Café, we toured the Lighthouse, ascended the Glasgow Herald Building, and Val and I stopped for tea and a strawberry tart at the tiny Willow Tea Room.
Janis, with her big camera, and the rest of us with our little ones had taken thousands of photos from around this beautiful country on every stop. So we shopped, toured, and photographed this stately capital city on this gorgeous final day of our trip. Our watches counted thousands of steps as we all traversed several miles of this thriving metropolis. We got a real feel for the city, its squares and churches, and appreciated the large painted murals covering entire sides of buildings. It was a great day, and oh yes, getting back to the hotel was ALL UPHILL!
We began the process of packing our clothes and gear (now all dry!) and getting our clubs into their flight bags for tomorrow’s early departure.
But one last special treat was in store for us tonight – Janis made dinner reservations at ‘Two Fat Ladies’ at The Buttery. Apparently, quite well-known in Scotland, and not too far away, we decided to catch a cab for this 5-minute, downhill ride!
That was fast – we arrived directly in front of The Buttery – recipient of the SquareMeal Review Silver Award: “With its baronial Brigadoon vibe, swathes of mahogany, stained glass and tartan carpets, The Buttery is a Glasgow institution that has been feeding the city for decades. Seafood queens, The Two Fat Ladies pitched up here in 2007 and have made the place their own since then, overlaying the venue’s luxurious demeanour with their trademark fish cookery.”
Wow, what a place – we were seated and first enjoyed a pomegranate seed and honeydew melon starter. We chose dinners of steak with peppercorn and brandy sauce; fish of the day – bass; scallops; and basmati rice with cauliflower, chick-pea curry, and toasted pine nuts.
That was truly a decadent “last supper”.
Since we had taken a cab there, it crossed our mind to return the same way. However, as full as we were, we decided to walk it off, and return on foot – through the cage over the busy highway, and back up the three levels of steep terraces – fifteen minutes later, we arrived. Maybe it would have been wiser to walk-then-cab, rather than cab-then-walk!
Time for the final pack and some attempt to sleep. As we had every day, we filled this one up too. What a vacation – so many highlights – so much to comprehend – we hoped we could remember the details!
Upon reflection, we are so grateful to Janis and Erika for the amazing and terrific coordination of every aspect of our trip – two expert ‘travel agents’ who managed to pull off seventeen days with very few hitches, making for memories that we never want to fade!
1) The Flights – who knows how many times Janis must have spoken to Air Canada and Aer Lingus to get this all correct using four passports from two countries: Toronto-Dublin-Edinburgh / Glasgow-Dublin-Toronto
2) The Hotels – Choosing and booking these incredible first-class hotels and sequencing them so that we could stay in four sections of Scotland: Edinburgh (Dalmahoy), St. Andrews (Macdonald Rusacks), the Highlands / Nairn (Clubhouse), and Glasgow (Blythswood Kimpton)
3) The Transportation – from start to finish, Erika had arranged for top-notch drivers and vehicles to act as our ‘magic carpet’ through Scotland. None of us would have been able to drive on the “wrong” side of those narrow roads while chatting and relaxing like we did each trip!
4) The Golf – Thanks too for fitting these amazing courses into the puzzle so perfectly – Dalmahoy, North Berwick, Crail, Kittocks, Kingsbarns, Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart, Nairn, Gleneagles – 162 holes, and we walked 18 more touring the Old Course at St. Andrews too!
5) The Solheim Cup – Fun to have started with this idea, and have it come to fruition as the centerpiece of our trip. Perfect planning – from ordering the event tickets, the train tickets and transfers, and arranging to play our final round on the tournament course exactly one week later!
Restaurants, caddies, castles, scotch, roundabouts—my head is spinning, I may never sleep!!!!!!
Once again, Glen arrived early on Tuesday to take us to the Glasgow airport. Our bags were packed and the van fully loaded – hopefully leaving nothing behind, we left the hotel and ten minutes later, the four of us were checking our luggage and heading for home.
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