Day 3: Onward!

Day 3 saw us leave Glasgow and pick up the car at the rental car location. From there, while getting used to the driving situation, we stopped in Paisley to see the abbey. The next stop was the Denny Ship Model Experimental Tank Museum. At first, my mom assumed we were stopping at a WWII museum for military tanks. I soon clarified and was giddy when the tour guide offered to run the carriage and wavemaker.

Nothing in Scotland is a straight line. In order to get to the Kennacraig Ferry Terminal we had to travel up to Rest and Be Thankful Viewpoint and back south again. The day finished with the ferry ride and finding our next sleeping location.

Paisley

Paisley Abbey

Paisley Abbey was established by Cluniac monks in 1163, and became an abbey in 1219, before being massively overhauled in the Victorian age. Inside the squat grey building, the elongated choir - the longest of any medieval abbey in Scotland - is illuminated by jewel-colored stained glass from a variety of ages and styles. Elsewhere, take a look inside the St Mirin chapel, whose superb, though incomplete, frieze depicts the life of the saint, to whom the original priory was dedicated. The abbey's oldest monument, meanwhile, is the tenth-century Celtic cross of St Barochan, located under the Wallace Memorial window.

~ Rough Guide to Scotland

The Denny Ship Experiment Tank Museum

The size of a football field, this tank was where ship designs were tested. You can see how in demonstrations that are offered throughout the day -- a must for anyone following the history of shipbuilding on the Clyde [or anyone that worked above a function experimental tank for 10 years].

~Fodor's Travel: Scotland

Rest and Be Thankful

Not advice for a good life in this case but the name of a beautiful point on the road to Oban.

The Ferry to Islay

Departing from Kennacraig to Port Ellen, we made our way to the Isle of Islay.