Today we started very early in the day at our hotel in Stirling. We took all the bell cases and our suitcases downstairs to get put back on the bus and the van for transport to our next location we would be staying which is Edinburgh.

After moving all of the cases and equipment some of us checked out. Then it was time for breakfast. It was very similar to yesterday’s breakfast including eggs, traditional sausage, haggis, and much more. Then the rest of us checked out of the hotel.

Then we packed up a van that came to pick up the cases, which barely fit in the van. Then we put all of our luggage onto the bus after the van had left with the bells to head to the church we would be performing at later today. Then we all piled back into the bus bound for Glasgow.

Our bus driver drove around Glasgow while our tour guide showed us all the major sites we could see before it came time to go and practice for the concert ahead. We saw many iconic places, one famous one being the Glasgow green and we even saw buildings that were older than our country (the U.S.). We were very limited to what we could do because of construction and also the commonwealth games which were being held, blocking many roads.

We then made it to the destination of our concert for the day, which was at St. Andrew’s West Parish church. We practiced the music for the concert in concert order from 10:00-12:30. Then we ate lunch that the roadies had found while they had free time during our rehearsal.

Then we played the concert, it was a full house, there were no seats left, some were even standing. It was a small space but had amazing acoustics and made the bells sound amazing. We processed in to show something different. We finished out the concert and everyone thought that we did great.

After the concert, we piled back into the bus, and we drove to the St. Mungo’s cathedral. We walked around for about 30-40 mins, and saw all the amazing rooms (some pretty cool echoes too).

After the cathedral, we left Glasgow and went to check in to our new hotel in Edinburgh. We were surprised to find out that our hotel was directly next to the Edinburgh zoo, and we were told we may be woken up by the chatter of various animals. We then redid the painful process of bringing suitcases and bells up to our rooms and getting ourselves situated.

We then had about an hour before we had to get back on the bus to go to the spirit of Scotland show and dinner, located in the surgeons university. We were greeted at the door with a professional bagpiper who played us some tunes and we then made our way upstairs to the room where the event was held. We started dinner with some traditional Scottish foods like haggis and a smoked salmon dish. The man running the show then held a ceremony to “honor the haggis” in which he recited a sort of poem about the haggis while a video game played. We then ate our dinner which consisted of chicken, gnocchi, or a traditional Scottish fish pie. Following the main course, the show began. The show was an arrangement of traditional dancing, bagpipe and accordion playing and singing. Nearing the end of the performance, they played some American songs on bagpipes/voice including don’t stop believing by journey and wake me up by Avicii. The entire show was an amazingly fun experience and was appreciated by all.

Around 9:30 pm, we drove back to the hotel, where we then went to bed.

-Crawford and Dante