May 26th -- Sterling Castle and Glasgow

We hadn't read that much that made Glasgow seem interesting, so we only planned 2 nights and really just one day there.  And, on top of that, we knew that the other big castle in Scotland (after Edinburgh) was midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  So, that was our first stop for the Glasgow day, to drive 45 minutes east to Sterling Castle.

Which gave our GPS a bit of amusement.  We haven't updated the European maps on it in 2 years, during which time they've added to the major highway between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  We drove it, despite our GPS warning us that we were somehow just driving through fields.

Sterling IS a big castle.  If you're nearby, go see it.  We didn't go to the William Wallace Monument, although we did drive into the parking lot (that's what we get for not trusting the GPS!)  There is a Braveheart/Wallace connection to the castle.  History....!

We were back in Glasgow by early afternoon for what we'd conceived of as the other thing to do while based here, to check out Charles Rennie Macintosh's designs.  We did.  Honestly, not really worth it as a reason to be in Glasgow.  So, we walked around the city some and bought some food from Marks & Spencer for dinner.  Back at the hotel, it was looking just too gorgeous to stay in the room. 6 or 7 at night, the sun was still high in the sky and the river looked inviting.  The hotel has an outdoor restaurant along the river, so we found a shady table to enjoy the end of the day.  I had local beers (of course): Caledonian Brewing's Twisted & Bitter, and Unicorn Brewing's Cheshire Chocolate Porter.  We had some snacks and enjoyed our last evening in Scotland.

One more story about nice Scottish people.  When I asked the waitress for the beer her reply was, "Of course you can!".  Difficult to explain in print, but it was just a nice attitude.

Various pictures from Sterling Castle below...