In a Big Country

Dreams stay with you like a lovers voice from the mountain side. Or so says my favorite (and only one I know) Scottish band. I knew Thursday would be early, I just wasn't prepared for the degree to which it turned out to be. I woke up to a pink sky on the horizon, and checked my phone for the time. It was dead. Shoot. I knew then that I needed to get out of bed before I fell asleep again. I got ready and noticed the time on the thermostat in the bathroom said six. About an hour before I was planing to leave, but I was thanking my lucky stars for a good internal clock. I decided to leave early and enjoy the sunrise on my walk. It only took twenty minutes or so to get to the square (meeting point) So I circled it for awhile to keep warm and entertain myself. At seven fifty I was a bit worried, the agency told me to be there at eight so I figured the bus would be a bit earlier. At eight twenty I was very worried. We were supposed to leave at eight twenty, I asked a woman what time it was, thinking maybe the square clock was fast: seven twenty. I didn't wake up at six, I woke up at five. I had now been outside since six, and it was chilly. Transition to cursing my internal clock. Luckily a breakfast place/bakery opened at seven thirty so I bought a cheese and onion pasty (yum!) and a coconut doughnut that turned out to have a cream and jelly filling. I used the pasty as a hand warmer before seeing other people carrying hot drinks out of the bakery. I went back in and bought a large hot tea thinking I would take it onto he bus with me. The bus arrived ten minutes later (while my tea was still much too hot to drink) The driver announced that no hot drink were allowed. I had to throw away my untouched tea, but at least my fingers were warm now. On the bus (when I say bus I really mean over sized van with big windows) I sat next to Anika from Germany who was working as an au pair for a few months in Scotland. Very cool. She was studying to be an engineer as well. Very smart. We chatted and laughed at the bus drivers dry humor and jokes. He was pretty funny. Our first stop was Loch Lomond, and I was already in love. Forty minutes from the city center was the wildest place I had ever been. I've never seen such beautiful colors in nature. It was beyond incredible. It was a fifteen minute stop and I probably took as many pictures. I only took a few pictures from the bus, so I can't share some of the most amazing parts of the tour. The pictures I do have don't even begin to cover the beauty that is the highlands. Seeing this landscape made me want to leave society forever a la Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild. I can't emphasize enough the rugged grand scale beauty of the highlands. We had a quick picture stop at the three sisters (mountains) before a longer lunch stop at Fort William. I bought butterscotch candies, cherry coke(which they don't have in Italy), and pecan biscuits (yes all junk food) We continued on along loch ness all the while our driver provided commentary factual, informative and funny. He did this from eight until five basically which was impressive. For driving this route for nine years it didn't come off as over rehearsed, but conversational instead. It was an excellent tour. we made one more stop at castle ruins before the loch ness visitor center. I am a firm believer in Nessie and was excited for the boat tour. (laugh if you will, but sometimes its fun to believe in monsters.)For the price, the boat tour was a bit disappointing, very little commentary. I did get to actually drink tea on it though, and that was nice. I had my picture taken with Nessie (or at least her plaster counterpart)before the journey home. We stopped once more for supper and I bought a cheddar cheese and apple chutney sandwich. It was just as delicious as it sounded. Anika and I also hung out with Joel for most of the day. He's studying at M.I.T. for a masters (or something) in Neuroscience. Very smart, I wasn't even sure how to spell Neuroscience. Overall a good day with phenomenal sights and great company. We arrived in Glasgow at eight thirtyish, and I headed to the hostel to charge my phone, take a nice long hot shower and just hang out in the lounge with the awesome people I met the day before. I turned in around midnight with a fully functional alarm clock to rely on.