Yay! Day one has arrived and we finally get to visit Stevenson College. We used our nifty new bus passes to ride the bus to college (and anywhere else in the city, for free!) and had 2 sessions in the morning, with Hamish and Dorothy. Hamish was really funny, discussing myths and perceptions about Scotland. One thing he told us was that Scots fought with short swords, rather than the long swords we see depicted in Braveheart. He said they tried to wound opponents instead of kill them, striking at their legs or arms. Otherwise, as he said, they'd "be there all day" with such a small weapon.

Next, we took a trip to New Lanark, a World Heritage site and a really interesting former mill town. Robert Owen created a town well ahead of its time, with social welfare, insistence on cleanliness, and education for even the poorest orphans and millworkers. The site is beautiful, as you can see from the "New Lanark" photo album. It also contains pictures of the beautiful scenery I saw on the way there.

We finished off our time in the city with a trip through Mary King's Close, a supposedly haunted area of underground streets near the center of the city. The tour weaved history in with great showmanship and was very spooky. We took the scenic route home from there and picked up some pizza on the way. Yummy!