July 28, 2012
LONDON CALLING (DAY 5)
Glasgow, I hardly knew ye

The graveyard outside of my hotel in Glasgow. Photo by Michael Lewis

By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor

GLASGOW -- Saturday was my final full day in this marvelous Scottish city.

So, just where did the time go?

Unfortunately, I never had an opportunity to see the sights. I could have walked past a famous church or structure or missed a museum by a block and I would have not known.

That's why happens when you are at the Olympics. Covering the games and in this case, the team -- the USA women -- takes precedence over everything else and that includes being a tourist.

Before catching a train for Manchester on Sunday morning, I will look back on my experience here with smiles.

My hotel was not the Ritz, but it did the job, with a bed, a decent-sized room, relatively inexpensive internet (something like $10 for a week, which is like getting it for free compared to some hotels in the United States and around the world).

My room faced a rather unusual setting -- an old grave yard behind a church (could be a famous one, but I would not know it). So, except for landscapers mowing the lawn one morning, it was a relatively quiet setting. No complaints here.

And oh yes, I continued a Michael Lewis tradition at every country that I visit -- sampling the local McDonald's, much to the chagrin of my wife, Joy. On Friday, I had lunch there and confirmed what I have learned at McDonald's in Argentina, Italy, Samoa, Canada, Japan and England -- all the hamburgers taste the same.

With that item on my bucket (eating) list out of the way, I will concentrate on some more important things as we get toward the final week -- the London bookstores.

As astonishing as this might sound to friends, family and wife, I have avoided all bookstores here. Nothing against them at all, but I have enough stuff to haul around (if the U.S. plays up to its potential, I could be heading for Newcastle for the quarterfinals, back to Manchester for the semifinals and finally to London for the gold-medal match).

I figure I would have plenty of time to peruse the book shops -- new and antiquarian -- of London the first week of August.

Except for a backpack given to all journalists, I have not acquired anything new. If anything, I have jettisoned the newspapers I brought over from the U.S. If you're traveling a lot, you have to travel as light as possible.

On to Manchester.