Scotland the Brave

Julia and I left Barcelona and flew into Scotland on Friday. We had a layover at London Gatwick, and after passport control, accidentally ended up out of the secured area, so we were confused and had to go back through security once we figured out what was going on. (It was a bit unclear as to where exactly we were supposed to catch our connecting flight to Glasgow.) Our Barcelona flight had arrived late, so we had to hurry, but we made the connection. That's more than we could say for our luggage, however, as it did not arrive when we did. Being in a country where you don't speak the language makes you appreciate situations like these when you're somewhere that you do. Getting lost bags found in Barcelona would have been trickier than here in Scotland. (Although the staff at the airport speak fairly good English, but still.) We didn't see our bags until the next morning when they were delivered.

We're staying with a friend and former mission companion of Julia's. She and her husband live just outside Glasgow. They were a few minutes late picking us up to the airport (but timing worked out well, actually, since we were in the baggage office taking care of our lost bags), and when they arrived, we learned why. They had had car trouble, an important screw breaking on the accelerator. They had to pull off the side of the road and come up with a solution. After trying a few things, Luis rigged it up with his shoelace. It worked! Who knew that Mary was married to MacGyver?

Scotland is just as beautiful as I had imagined.

Saturday we went into downtown Glasgow, and saw some beautiful buildings.

We even continued to brave the rain to see the Glasgow Cathedral. It was beautiful!

I ate some fish and chips (with vinegar and a ridiculous amount of salt...though all the salt he dumped on still didn't absorb all the grease). It was a huge piece of fish.

And found some beautiful flowers.

Hopefully I will be a bit more on top of updating my blog, since I'm not sitting in talks 8 hours a day this week!