I Hear Bagpipes from My Window

No, really... I swear! I don't know what's going on outside, but I am not planning on following the intermittent sound of bagpipes in the distance. Why not? Because once is enough for getting lost in a day.

As a young woman traveling alone, my main priority above all else is to be safe. Yesterday that meant being too jet lagged and afraid to step outside the building. I did not like that feeling at all, so I resolved to get some much needed sleep, wake up early and force myself to go anywhere at all, as long as it was outside. It was not unlike tugging on a resistant little dog's leash, but I did it. (Okay, it was really more like me telling myself not to be a p****, but I thought the simile was a bit nicer.)

I made my way to the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum because it was free, because I was dying to see it, and because Google Maps said it was a minute's walk away. (Brave girl!) It didn't take long to realize that I was in a really good part of town, and there was nothing at all to fear. Just when I thought I had missed a turn, I saw the beginning of a large building so beautiful and with such a strong, graceful presence that it could only house great works of art. My heart was doing cartwheels in my chest; it was all I could do to stop myself from crossing the street full of cars to get to it.

I stumbled right into the featured exhibition, Glasgow Boys, about some of the city's most influential artists and their work at the turn of the twentieth century. Each piece really was more beautiful than the one before, and I was delighted to find that I completely identified with the aesthetic. It made me so incredibly happy to be here, that all the stress of flat hunting, not really knowing where I am, and all that other nonsense just washed away. I am so lucky to be right on the little piece of earth that I want to be on. That is, somewhere I can see Sir John Lavery's painting of Anna Pavlova, and literally have my breath taken away.

I had my first meal here at the museum's cafe': a small pasta salad and some organic pear flavored biscuits dipped in dark chocolate that were so good I wish I could buy a crate and send some to everyone I know. (My sister will just be happy to know I ate.)

Buzzing from my successful trip, I wandered into Kelvingrove Park. All I knew of it before was that sometimes, when it gets dark, some people can get a little stabby, as people sometimes do. Walking around the kempt park with the joggers, the tourists, the families, couples, and dog walkers, it was very hard to imagine. Still, this knowledge prevented me from going into the slightly darkened pathways that I was really curious about, and made me curse being a small young woman.

On my alternate route, I found the mini skate park and relished in the fact that I can just sit and watch kids skate and bike without having to be someone's parent so as not to look creepy. Once I had my fill of smoking teenagers with tattoos on their necks, and the children who were much more talented than they were, I made my way back, but not without getting pretty lost first. Still, it was all worth it to find myself in a very posh neighborhood, getting passed by a small, slightly gruff, Scottish man in full-on traditional highland dress. I'm willing to bet that doesn't happen everyday, but it could only happen to me here.