Backtracking to Thursday - Another "Choose Your Own Adventure" Day!

Hello lovelies...

Greetings from rainy Glasgow! Of course it has been mostly raining since we got back "home" - only brief patches of sun have come our way. No matter - we still have much to do!

Today was one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" days. This morning we went to coffee and caught up with Santino. Then we separated paths.

Jenna will start off with her adventure, followed by Cindy, who will share her wonderful day with Diana (also known as MommaRam!) A quick note before we start: the girls, Kristin & Tracy, were supposed to arrive this evening around 11pm, however, they are delayed in London due to flooding! So at this point we do not even know if they have departed, or if their train has been canceled until tomorrow. More to come on that soon...

So... Jenna, Brandon & Luna celebrated a belated Father's Day today and headed out to Buchanan Street. We had a wonderful lunch at Di Maggio's in the "Merchant City" section of Glasgow.

:: View from our table ::

:: Brandon & Luna at lunch ::

:: A most excellent ending ::

Another amazing restaurant in Glasgow! We are planning on going back one day with the girls when they arrive. (Just got a message from Tres while writing this that they are on the train, but that there is a landslide that needs to be cleared that is presently being working on. Good Lord, we're sending out positive energy & prayers to the girls for a safe journey!)

After our delicious lunch we walked by All Saints (remember, Jenna's favorite store?!) and they were having a HUGE sale so we popped in for some spontaneous shopping. Brandon got a few awesome pieces and let me tell you... Jenna made out like a bandit as well. We're talking a new leather jacket that is simply amazing as well as many other fantastic pieces. Perhaps we'll do a fashion show blog entry later. Who knows? But I'm sure you'll see some pieces pop up soon in photos so let's all look forward to that. Ha ha...

We then relied on our old friend, The City Bus Tour, to show Brandon around Glasgow a bit and also to get us on over to the Science Museum. This was FUN! We showed up pretty late, due to the shopping excursion, so our tickets were reduced. And it ended up being a great time to go as it wasn't so crowded. This seems to be a pretty popular place to take the kids!

:: At the Science Center - Sideways Room ::

:: Sideways Luna ::

:: Luna in the Alice in Wonderland Section ::

:: This made me laugh... reminiscent of our Amsterdam experience! ::

:: Awesome prospective room - Luna's taller than Daddy! ::

:: Brandon & Luna - the Expansive Science Center ::

:: Brandon's sand art ::

:: Luna & Brandon ::

:: Brandon's Theremin Experience ::

That last one was the highlight of Brandon's Science Museum experience - the Theremin. It has been used by Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin in a musical nature (for example, in "Whole Lotta Love"), however, it is most commonly found in sound effects in movies & TV. He was thrilled. We had to drag him away. Seriously.

Splendid. So we had a marvelous time at the museum and then headed back home. We enjoyed some leftovers from Di Maggio's, Jenna did a fashion show for everyone, and we spent the evening talking and hanging around. 

On to Choose Your Own Adventure Two... Cindy & Diana's Story...

Diana and I began with familiar territory taking the subway to the Buchanan Street exit and then a block over to Cathedral Street.  It was a short jaunt towards the Glasgow Cathedral.  

Before touring the Cathedral, we toured Provand's Lordship, the Oldest House in Glasgow.   While the original function was somewhat uncertain, it is a medieval building and a very rare example of 15th century Scottish domestic architecture.  There are far too many details to cover in a paragraph or ten however it is worth the time and effort to Google the site to learn more about its historic relivance and function.  

 

Behind the home through what I refer to as the "wee" door (we see Diana peeking through as she exits the house...)

And we approach the lovely St Nicholas Garden, which reflects the buildings possible links with the Chapel and Hospital of St. Nicolas.  On the outer edge of the garden there is a physic garden containing plants which were in common use for medical purposes in the 15th century, while the center of the garden is based on a Celtic design, illustrating the development of more formal gardens which occurred in the Renaissance.  The garden was officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal in 1995. 

Note from Jenna: we are stopping here and publishing this unfinished, just so you have something to read! We have to obtain photos from Diana's iPad but we have been split up, again, today and haven't had the chance to all get together to work on this so forgive the sudden end - we will post this and then add to it later.

Quick update: The girls arrived very early this morning (close to 3am!) after a very crazy journey but are well. We all rested this morning and Cindy & Bonnie headed out to Edinburgh for the day. The rest of us spent time in Glasgow, shopping, eating, site seeing, and more eating. It was great! Didn't take many photos but will update tomorrow...

Happy evening, lovelies!