I barely remember the brief Glasgow trip, though it was only a week ago. I came down with a terrible cold just in time for my flight back to the UK after Thanksgiving (thanks, tin can of recycled air! Ah, air travel…) and spent the entire flight with my ears *killing* me thanks to the congestion and pressure. I flew through Amsterdam and got to Glasgow around noon on Sunday, but was feeling so wretched that I didn’t get to explore as much as I hoped. I did brave the rain for a couple hours to go find a drugstore and buy a travel alarm clock, so I passed along Buchanan St. and saw some young bagpipers (in kilts), which convinced me I was in the right city.

Glasgow presented an impressive but rather forbidding face to me:

But the people were lovely and the square where we were working summoned up all sorts of scenes from Victorian novels. (Especially in The Little Princess, when Sarah Crewe is watching The Big Family unload from their carriage across the square.)

After muddling through work despite the extremely congested head, my colleague and I ate a couple good dinners. Monday we ate at Two Fat Ladies, a seafood restaurant nearby that had recently won a Best of Glasgow award. I had a spicy tomato soup (good for the congestion!) and a delicious bowl of mussels. Tanya had an amazing plate of grilled sardines (they were enormous, about 5-6 inches long) and seared scallops. Yum! And a great little dining room, very friendly service, etc.

Our second night we went across town to the famous Ubiquitous Chip, an enormous place with several different dining options. We opted for the brasserie menu, and sat upstairs on a kind of catwalk overlooking the dining room.

I experimented, starting with rabbit liver (served with french toast and mushrooms):

…..Eh. Not a great texture. I’m used to the silkiness of fowl livers, and was a bit put off by how tough this was. May have been overcooked, though? Tanya had scallops again, which were excellent.

I followed that with an appetizer (but still enormous) portion of the house specialty, Vegetarian Haggis served with neeps and tatties:

The haggis was a little bland (it’s mostly lentils) but it grew on me. The turnips and potatoes were *delicious* and the whole thing was very good.

And that was that! A very quick visit, but I definitely want to go back to Scotland soon, with Ben. I want to see Edinburgh! I want to explore the countryside!