We ventured up into Scotland while we were in Lancashire. We spent a day in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. Each took 2 1/2 - 3 hours to get to, each way, so they were long days but worth it.
We were in Scotland prior to the Scottish vote on independence from the UK. The only English speaking station we got in France was British news and it was very much the hot topic in England up until the vote, so we heard a lot about it for over 2 weeks. Scotland can only vote on the independence issue once a generation, every 25 years, and it was a pretty close split per the polls. It turned out not to be as close as anticipated but still within 10 points so there is a pretty strong independence movement in Scotland. What I found interesting was that they lowered the voting age to include 16 and 17 year-olds for this special election because it would impact them so much. There were some forums specifically for that age group that we saw and I was impressed with how seriously they took the issue and how thoughtful their questions were. They showed a sense of maturity that I sometimes find lacking in this country. Maybe I'm jaded. Glasgow was particularly for independence, the YES people, but couldn't quite carry the country. We passed a YES rally on our way back to the car park to get our car.
Glasgow is a pretty modern city. There aren't a lot of "old" buildings left. We went to the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis near it. Glasgow grew quickly in the early 1800's to the 2nd largest city in the UK, from 70,000 to over 200,000 people. There were immigrants from Ireland and the Highlands looking for work and the city couldn't keep up with the speed of its' growth. Conditions were bad with many poor ghettos, disease, and deaths. They didn't have room to bury all of the people so they had to make rules about how they could be buried to help with sanitation.
Those that could afford to were buried on the highest hill in Glasgow, which became the Necropolis. It is something to see. It is a high hill that is wound with paths of headstones and mausoleums. We saw necropolises in other cities but this one was the biggest. People take their lunch to the top to eat while they look down on Glasgow. The views are the best in town.
We spent another day in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Castle. It is another complex up on top of a hill looking out over the city. It is literally built on rock and it is interesting to see how the buildings seem to just grow out of the stone foundation. It was the official residence of the Scottish monarchy and houses the Scottish crown jewels. Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned there when she was 9 mths old and had her son there. She was housed there while under arrest by Queen Elizabeth I, too, so she spent a long time in that castle.
We also went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is the official Scottish residence of the British Queen, but we got there too late to go inside. Drove around the city a little, had dinner, and then headed back.
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