We Meet the Expedition Team

Hello friends,
Joe and had a wonderful dinner last night at a restaurant called the Mussel Inn. Thank you again, Peter at the Glasgow Marriott, for the recommendation. We completely enjoyed last night's mussels from Shetland, with blush tomatoes and pesto:

Because it was the day before the longest day of the year, it was light until very late. Here's a photo outside the restaurant, around 10:30pm:

Glaswegians are a funny bunch. There is a strange tradition of putting traffic cones on the heads of statues:

Perhaps we should bring this to central Maine?

Glaswegians also clearly enjoy messing around with language and titles, like the "Purrple Cat Cafe," "Lettuce Eat," "Kilts and Kocktails" and, of course, the "Mussel Inn." Ha ha ha.

We got up bright and early this morning, and by bright and early, I mean really mean bright and early. There wasn't much in the way of "night" last night. We had an early breakfast, packed up our stuff and headed to the lobby for the Adventure Canada orientation meeting. We survived that meeting, along with about 170 other passengers (which means the cruise is not quite full). We then put our luggage where we were told, and now we await our bus. And wait.

The bus will stop at Stirling Castle on our way to Oban. Joe and I visited Stirling in 2004, when we traveled to Scotland with the kiddos, when Joe was teaching in the Colby, Bates and Bowdoin program in London. We have a lovely photo of Margaret from the top of Stirling, with the Highlands in the background. I think Stirling was one of those castles that fed John's early obsession with castles, knights and armor-- an obsession he has outgrown. Alas. I think.

We are looking forward to getting settled on the ship, and learning more about tomorrow's adventure, on Islay. Joe and I have signed up for an Islay whisky tour. Although Islay whiskys are generally not on the top of my list of favorite whiskies, we are looking forward to a tour of a distillery, or two or three.

For now, Slainte!
Susan