Although we had visited Edinburgh as part of a trip to London in 1991, 2003 was our first full trip to Scotland. We were joining a tour in Glasgow in the evening and had arrived that morning. We had booked a Hop-On/Hop-Off city tour which originated in George Square – not far from our hotel. We got checked in just fine and then walked over to George Square.
There was a marathon going on, so some of the places we wanted to see would be difficult to get to until the marathon ended. The route of the tour bus was altered until then. We were apparently on the wrong side of the marathon route as most of the locations we planned to visit would be unreachable by the tour bus for a few hours. So we decided to make do with what we could see, then have some lunch and reassess.
The commentary on the bus was live and provided by a fella who was on the upper deck (it was a double-decker, open on top). Everyone was given earbuds to be able to hear what was said clearly. The bus took off, the guy began to talk, and Mom and I looked at each other in horror. We couldn’t understand a word he said. It wasn’t a technical malfunction. It was a very strong Glaswegian accent being experienced for the first time by two Americans who had never heard a Scottish accent stronger than Billy Connolly or Sean Connery before. We thought that perhaps we had made an enormous mistake. What were we going to do if we couldn’t understand anybody the entire trip?
Fortunately the first stop we got to was a tall ship in the harbor that we wanted to explore. We got off of the bus there, took our time at the ship (which had everything written on placards, so no needing to understand what anybody was saying) and got on the next tour bus that came along once we were ready to go. This time, we were mighty relieved to be able to understand the fella doing the commentary with very little difficulty. Whew! One of the topics he talked about was explaining that, in Scotland, a jury can vote one of three ways: 1) guilty, 2) not guilty, and 3) not proven. The last one means that the jury thinks the person is likely guilty, but it wasn’t proven by the prosecution. The defendant gets to go free just the same as if they were not guilty. This is where the expression, “Getting off Scot free” comes from.
The Kelvingrove Museum, which was another place we wanted to see (and would have provided us with a couple of hours of time for exploring before the marathon ended) was closed for a major facelift. So we got off at Glasgow University to look around for a bit, then rode back to George Square. We had some lunch while I studied a map to figure out if there was a way we might be able to walk over to the Cathedral. A lovely person at the café where we were eating told us that the runners will have already been by a place where we could cross (which she pointed out on the map) by the time we would finish our lunch. Now we had a plan. Happy day! We took our time eating and visiting the WC before striking off on our way to the Cathedral.
It turned out to be a bit of a hike, but it was that or return to our hotel room or just sit and stare in George Square. The area where the Cathedral was located also included Provand’s Lordship and St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art.
Nobody is sure when St Mungo (also known as Kentigern) was born. But he died in 614. He built his first church where Glasgow Cathedral now stands. This is also the location where he was buried. His shrine can be seen down in the crypt. The Cathedral was built about 1136 and is considered to be a superb example of Scottish Gothic architecture. We were very disappointed that the crypt was closed (this seemed to be one of those bad timing days) and we couldn’t go down and see St Mungo’s tomb.
St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art was designed to blend in with Provand’s Lordship, which is right across the street from it. It was an interesting place to visit and contained some beautiful art from various periods. We especially liked the medieval art they had on display. It reminded us of some of the art we had seen at The Cloisters in Upper Manhattan in New York City.
Provand’s Lordship is the oldest house in Glasgow and was built in 1471. It is a museum of medieval life and furnished with authentic 17th century furniture. A 15th century garden has been recreated behind the building.
After leaving Provand’s Lordship, we continued on the rest of the route until we were back in George Square again. Heading back to the hotel, a couple women from Edinburgh stopped us and asked for directions. I actually knew how to get to where they wanted to go and explained it to them. The one woman was highly amused that she had actually asked “a Yank” for directions in Glasgow. I tend to memorize maps, so I don’t have to walk around with my face in one. I always have it handy, should I need it, however. The bag that I use for my maps and cameras also doesn’t look like a camera bag. So I sometimes fool people into thinking that I likely live there as opposed to being a tourist.
One of our discoveries regarding understanding the Scots accent is that it is stronger in some areas than others and Glasgow has one of the strongest. I noticed that, some Scots, when speaking among themselves were very difficult to understand. But, if they spoke to me, I had no trouble understanding them at all. They would vary the accent according to the listener, speaking more distinctly when the listener wasn’t Scottish. There is a running joke in the UK, however, that nobody can understand a Scot but another Scot.
To further complicate matters, there are three languages can are spoken around Scotland – English, Scots and Scots Gaelic. Scots Gaelic is spoken more frequently out in the western isles than on the mainland (except in the Highlands) and is a totally different language. It is one of the Celtic languages, along with Irish Gaelic, Welsh, and Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man). One phrase that I know in Scots Gaelic is “Nollaig Chridheil” – meaning “Merry Christmas”. I know this because I have a plaid Christmas ornament I bought in Scotland with that on it.
Scots is a variant of Old English that is mainly spoken in the Lowlands. If you have ever sung “Auld Lang Syne” (which was written by Robert Burns in 1788), then you have sung a song in Scots. “Merry Christmas” in Scots is “Blithe Yule”. The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” ends up with the following gifts having been received: one capercailzie, two bubblyjocks, three clockin hens, fower roaster dyeuks, five ingen rings, six clootie dumplins, seven trifles reemin, echt robins cheepin, nine clarsachs strumming, ten pipers piping, eleven fiddlers bowing and twai haggis puddins. A bubblyjock is a turkey.
That night we met up with our tour director, driver, and fellow travelers. The next morning we headed out on our nine day Scottish adventure where we both fell in love with the country and people of Scotland.
