Aug. 28, Glasgow

Saturday dawned cold and windy with a chance of rain. Somehow our Irish or Scottish luck continues to hold out - we are still dry. Many of our friends from Cruise Critic have chosen to go to the Tattoo from Glasgow. Since we saw that pre-cruise, we have booked a private tour for 6 with George Martin. What a great guide. I highly recommend him. He met us dockside with gifts a plenty. He had maps, pamphlets and articles on Robert Burns in prep for our visit to Burns Cottage. We left the port and headed south down the coast via the town of Largs. George is from there and very proud of his city he is. The city was in the middle of the Viking festival celebrating their defeat of the Vikings many a long year ago.

Our first stop after Largs was at the famous Scottish golf course, Royal Troon. Beautiful seaside links course. Of course, no time to play, but they did not mind us spending our money in the pro shop!!

Then we proceeded on to Burns country with a stop at the cottage where he was born. This was a let down - not much to see or do here. Think it could have been skipped.

Our journey continued to the Culzean castle - home of the Scottish Kennedy clan. The castle is in remarkable condition. It was built in two different centuries - 1500's and then refurbished in the 1700's. In 1945 it was given to the National Trust for Scotland. The castle itself sits atop a cliff overlooking the Firth of Clyde.

No photos were allowed indoors. But the castle is fully furnished in period decor. It is most famous for its 3 floor oval staircase. Another interesting room was the armory room with very old muskets and swords. And just before we exited, we came to the surprising Eisenhower room. This is dedicated to Ike for his service as the Supreme commander in WWII. The Kennedy clan gave him his own suite of rooms and Ike returned 4 times to relax in this beautiful setting post WWII.

After leaving the castle we went to our last stop - a visit to Turnberry Golf course. Another stop in a pro shop. If any of you are wondering - you can play either of these courses for the cheap price of 190 GBP!!! (150 if you are a guest in the adjacent hotel to Turnberry) For our friends who are from HS who think we play in a lot of wind, it was blowing at 30 mph with gusts up to 45 the day we visited. One of the pros informed me they have to suspend play all the time due to high winds and the balls on the greens just don't want to stay still.

We had a leisurely drive back to the city. It was a great day!!!