Our bus pulled into Glasgow and we decided to take a cab to our last hotel, rather than walk. Good thing too, because Glasgow is way more hilly than I anticipated and I’m fairly certain we would have needed to walk uphill most of the way.
Once we checked into the hotel, Natasha announced that she wasn’t feeling all that well and asked if we could just have dinner in the hotel restaurant. I was tired from a long day of fun in the highlands (followed by a long bus ride) and quickly agreed.
The next day, the weather was phenomenal, sunny and close to 80 Fahrenheit (27 Celsius). I wanted to get an early start so I could wander the city but Natasha was still not doing so well. Despite my urging to stay at the hotel and rest, she ended up coming with me. The doorman gave us better instructions on walking to the Cathedral than Google Maps and we set off. We wandered down the pedestrian shopping district and checked out George Square before making our way to the Cathedral. When we arrived, Natasha announced that she wasn’t interested in going inside so I headed in solo to traipse around.
When I got outside, she was looking worse for wear. I scanned the neighboring streets for a taxi, but none were to be found. We finally managed to snag one but I practically had to carry her out of the car when we got to the hotel. I put her right to bed. In an effort to let her sleep, I grabbed my day pack and set out wandering again. This time, I headed towards Kelvingrove Park and then the Art Museum, which I just missed the last admittance for the day. I did more wandering, this time over by the University and then made my way back towards the hotel. When I returned, she was still in bed; so I grabbed my Kindle and went outside to find a spot on the 39 Steps outside of the hotel to read and soak in the gorgeous weather. I reluctantly went inside only when it was too dark to read any further. We ended up skipping dinner that evening and went to bed early.
The next day, it was overcast and raining. Natasha decided she wanted to take a taxi to a park that had some highland cows (which are adorably shaggy) but now I opted to stay in bed. It was nice to have some breaks in the “togetherness” and allow each one of us to do our own thing for a bit. With the weather, I really didn’t even want to leave the cozy confines of the hotel. When she returned, we went down to the bar to have a snack and one last dram of whisky. In the early morning, I was leaving to catch a flight to Amsterdam where I was going to spend one night before catching the flights that would take me all the way back to Austin.
We said our goodbyes then because I was getting up at 4:30am to catch a bus to the Edinburgh Airport. It seemed like this adventure was coming to an end too soon. I wasn’t ready to return home to normal life. I was glad I had one more day but it felt like I could have continued exploring the U.K. I really enjoyed my time there and I can’t wait to plan a return trip. And as always, it was really nice to experience portions of the trip with someone who has become a very close friend. I don’t know what it says about me that the closest people in my life don’t live in the same time zone as I do, but…
I’m glad that melanoma didn’t rob me of this adventure and the opportunity to share some of it with a really good friend. I’m hoping that there’s a lot more of this type of experience in my future – a future that remains cancer-free.