I forgot to mention yesterday the odd electrical arrangement in our room at the hotel. When we got to the room, we discovered we had no electricity. That made using our windowless bathroom interesting!  We spent quite a while pushing switches on and off in different combinations. I finally noticed a slot near the front door that looked like it would accept a card of some kind. Fearlessly I inserted our room key card, and the lights came on! I also discovered that if I pulled the card out, the lights went back out in about 30 seconds, so you just have to leave your key card in the slot while in your room. I guess this is to keep you from wasting electricity when out of the room (because of course you take your key with you when you leave).

We got up early to have breakfast and make sure we would be there when Peggy and Don arrived from the airport. Breakfast was the full monty – a Full Scottish Breakfast. It consisted of a poached egg, bacon (ham), banger, sauted mushrooms, baked beans, and a potato scone (sort of like a slice of thick fried lefse).

Despite flying all night, Peggy and Don had their second wind, so we decided to take a walk into town. Mike had scouted things out the evening before, so he knew where there was a soccer shoe store for Tami and a bike store for himself. We tried not to bore P&D too much, but Tami did find a bright neon green pair of soccer shoes. Women’s turf shoes are harder to find at home, but the last time we were in the UK we found a good selection. The pair that she needed to replace was purchased when we were in Cork. Mike meanwhile managed to find a tartan bike jersey!

For lunch Mike decided NOT to have fish and chips for the third meal in a row (excluding breakfast). He DID decide to try some haggis, the Scottish national dish. Having heard lots of stories about how haggis is made up of various animal organs chopped up and mixed with oats, everyone waited to watch Mike’s face as he took his first bite and to hear what it might taste like. Mike took a bite, looked thoughtful, and said “meatloaf”. With that reassurance, everyone else tried some as well and thought it just fine, especially with some whiskey sauce on top.

P&D were fading quickly after lunch, so we went back to the hotel. After a bit of a nap we headed out for a walk in the park. The park near Glasgow University really is an impressively nice place, with many paths and a river running through the middle.

Later we ended up at a pub, the Islay Inn (foreshadowing our trip the next day). Again Mike was the designated taster, this time for some black pudding. Black pudding is a form of blood sausage. Tami remembered it from a previous trip as tasting like “a swamp”. However, Mike pronounced it fine, so everyone again tried a bite (though small bites to be sure).

While we were eating, we noticed a couple of musicians at a neighboring table pulling out their ukeleles. Soon several more joined. About the time the group had grown to six ukelele players, they started playing, reading the music off of their ipads propped up on the table. We were enjoying listening to them, so ordered a second round of beers to give us an excuse to stay at our table a bit longer. The group continued to grow, with the addition of a few more ukeleles, several guitars, and a number of fiddles. The music continued to get better and better as they played many selections of traditional music. By the time we left (we needed to be on the road in the morning by 6 am to catch the ferry to Islay), we counted 17 musicians in the group. It was very hard to tear ourselves away from the swirling sounds

Mike goes to work

of the music, but it was a very fine and unexpected treat!

An amazing group of musicians