Glasgow

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Sunday, September 8, 2019

Mike here.

Our B&B made sure we got coffee and a continental breakfast at 5:30AM for our 6AM taxi pickup. I was glad we flew United on both legs, Glasgow to Newark, Newark to Chicago because even as we were waking up the delays started. When our 9AM flight was delayed 40 minutes, United rebooked the Newark to Ohare flight for us. In Newark we had two gin and tonics ($45), boarded the plane and everything seemed to be going fine until we had to return to the gate to move a freight package to a different part of the plane’s storage. We encountered some medium turbulence on the flight from Glasgow and got even more on the flight into Chicago. The pilot sent the stewards to their seats 80% through the beverage service and of course we were in the last 20%. Nothing to drink for us. The pilot came on the intercom to say he was trying to minimize the jostling and said that the other planes around us were reporting even worse bumps. But we made it into Ohare (with our bags), grabbed an Uber and were home.

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Mike here.

We had deliberately left Saturday unplanned to let us sleep in a little, add anything we neglected to see, and to get everything packed for our early Sunday run to the airport. Two things we pushed to Saturday were the Riverside (Transportation) museum and the Clydeside Distillery. The Riverside museum was a good look at the growth of Glasgow industry and life in the city, lots of buses, trains, ships, autos and bicycles and a recreated street of shops. We made a pilgrimage to eat lunch at Ranjit’s Kitchen. It had been very highly recommended by a friend from Church. And it’s vegan/vegetarian menu did not disappoint. Small venue with great food. We put off the distillery until after lunch and they did a nice tour. For some reason, families bring their toddlers to this tour. As you would expect, there is nothing that interests a toddler in a tour except for the steel grates and heights. Bored yelling kids and their nervous parents overriding the accent of the tour guide gave us around 50% of the verbal tour content. We did learn the right way to do a scotch tasting. Resisted the impulse to buy any. Our last dinner was at a local second floor Italian restaurant. Margaret ordered two starters as her meal but I also ordered spaghetti with clams. I ate all the clams but left about half the noodles. That got me a concerned look from the waiter as he assumed that I didn’t like the spaghetti.

As a contingency I had brought a REI “duffle in a pouch” in case we needed it and of course, we needed it. We timed our laundry and clean clothes just about perfectly and the spare duffle was nicely filled with our dirty clothes. United charged us $100 for the extra bag but we easily managed to get everything else packed in our original bags.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Margaret here.

Friday, a bus tour again. This time not so far north, the primary objective was to visit Stirling Castle. The group was smaller this time, with only seven passengers. We did get to visit several castles, which is what Margaret was hoping for. We also made several stops to take photos. Stopping in Luss, we were able to visit the church there, which is quite beautiful. We had lunch in Callander, sampling a Bridie (pronounced with a long “i”) pie. There was a nice shop there, and we bought a couple of sweaters. You should look at the photos of the castles. It’s just too hard to explain how awesome they are. Our driver, Andrew, was gracious enough to drop us off at our hotel.

Here’s what we saw:

Dumbarton Castle
Luss, and the Church
Callander for lunch and shopping
Doune Castle.
Stirling Castle.

Mike Here.

Margaret and I keep close track on how many steps we take each day. We were amused that our bouncing at the back of the small tour buses confused our cell phones and credited us with two days of 20,000 and 15,000 steps. We ate dinner close to our B&B in a converted church. Upstairs was a loud music and bar venue, while the lower level was a quiet brassiere.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Margaret Here.

Thursday was our tour to the Highlands. It was a long day, beginning when our bus picked us up at 7:15 am and ended dropping us off at George’s Square after 7 pm. It was a full bus of 16 people plus a lively tour guide, Callum, dressed in a kilt. The tour took us to the southern part of the Highlands where we saw mountains and lochs (lakes) for miles and miles. There are 731,000 lochs in Scotland. Besides the sightseeing, our main goal was to ride the Jacobite Train, otherwise known as the “Harry Potter” train, along the viaduct as in the movie. Yes, it was really fun!

Here’s what all we saw:

Loch Lomond
Luss
West Highland Way, a 94-mile walk
Harry Potter film sites
Glencoe
3 sisters mountains (Munros)
Loch Linnhe
Caledonian Canal
Neptune’s Staircase
Ft. William
Ben Nevis Distillery
Glenfinnan. Stop/photo bridge and viaduct
Island where Dumbledore is buried
Silversands of Morar beaches
Mallaig

Mike here.

Back too late for a normal dinner, we found a tapas restaurant near our drop off point and got a bite to eat and then went back to the B&B to get ready for Friday’s tour. What I had not expected was the beautiful green desolation of the highlands. 700 years of clan and English wars and economic and ethnic cleansing have depopulated most of the highlands. By English wars, I also mean the subsequent use of the Scots as the cannon fodder for the British empire.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Margaret here.

High on our to-see list was the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery. It was just a short walk from our B&B. Again, we were not disappointed. The artifacts in this museum and unique, very well displayed. I’ll let Mike talk about them.

We then headed back to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, since we had not seen everything there the previous day. They have a nice display of work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a notable Scottish architect. We had made a reservation for tea at the Mackintosh at the Willow tea room for 3:00 p.m., so it was fitting that we spent some time learning about his work.

We hopped back on the bus and got off at a stop near the Mackintosh at the Willow. We were a little early and ducked in to their gift shop and I found a beautiful scarf. Tea was delightful. Be sure to look at the photos to give you an idea of the architecture.

Back on the bus, we rode around the city again, and got off near our B&B.

So, we’ve been in Scotland for over two weeks now. Here are some of my takes:

Rain. It rains all the time. When it’s not raining, it’s pouring. For the Scots, it’s just a way of life, and they pretty much ignore it.
Hats. No one wears hats, except tourists.
Food. The Scots like it steaming hot. And very salty.
Driving. Never drive in Scotland. It’s like Rome, except on the wrong side of the road.
Taxi Drivers. They love to talk about their city and country. Each driver we’ve had was a free tour guide. And they all know that Chicago is the Windy City.
Smokers. Lots of people here smoke. It seems to be more acceptable here than in other countries we’ve visited.
Dogs. Everybody has at least one dog. And dogs are welcome at most restaurants.
Peas. Peas are served with almost every meal, even if you don’t ask for it.
Potato and Leek soup. Was on most restaurants’ menus, and often was the soup of the day.
Scotch. Fondly referred to as a “wee dram”, there are hundreds of different variations.
Cars idling. Well, they don’t, at least the newer ones. When they come to a stop, the car actually shuts down. This “feature” is related to #12.
Environmentally conscious. The Scots are very sensitive to the environment. Windmills and water sources generate all of Scotland’s electricity. We saw many homes with solar panels on the roof … wondering if there is enough sun to justify the cost. And just try to find paper towels – not an option there.
Tattoos. A common sight is a man covered in tattoos pushing a baby stroller.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Margaret Here.

We had a two-day ticket for the hop-on hop-off bus. These buses have proven to be very informative and helpful in getting us familiar with a city. We were not disappointed, (although the first bus had a live commentator who seemed to be very knowledgeable, but we couldn’t understand a word she said).

Our first hop-off was the Glasgow Cathedral, first built in 883 AD, then a shrine to St. Mungo was built in the 12th century. Today’s cathedral was built during the 13th-15th centuries. St. Mungo’s grave is in the lower part of the church.

On the main floor, near the middle of the first nave, we found the Ewing family crest on a stained glass window. Both Mike and I froze for a few minutes, taking in the reality of seeing this crest.

The beauty of this building and the historic significance kept us there for several hours.

Hungry, we set out on foot to find food. We found a cute pub, had beers and sandwiches, and headed back to the bus stop.

Our next stop was the botanic gardens. Being Scotland, many of the plants are in greenhouses, which, by the time we arrived, were closed. We did walk around for a short while, taking in the beautiful landscaping.

We stopped at a pharmacy to pick up something for Mike’s cough, found a gelato shop, and headed home for the day.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Mike here.

As Margaret has said we do like the hop-on, hop-off buses in new cities. Glasgow has only one circular route and some buses had live commentators and some only had the typical recorded comments. Over the two days we took the entire route twice (with breaks) and had several live commentators with varying scripts. As we got more knowledgeable, we would raise our eyebrows as either the live or recorded comments ignored a landmark we had heard mentioned previously. Not as polished, uniform or comprehensive a performance as we expected.

The Glasgow Cathedral was interesting because it did not feel like a preserved moment in time. Rather, it felt like a living building drawing together all the elements of Glasgow’s past as a symbol of their city. Our Ewing group had told us about the Ewing crest in a window and roughly where to find it but it still felt electrifying to see it all alone on its own triple church window. The existence of the basement church plus the two distinct worship areas on the main floor was very unique.

The search for a lunch spot was strange. Google kept showing us little in the way of options but finally on the third or fourth attempt showed us a couple of local pubs.

I had developed a cough and we stopped in at Boots Pharmacy to see what my options were. When I asked the pharmacist, she stepped over to the cough rack and pulled out a box of herbal lozenges based on Thyme for my “chesty cough”. My cough is not getting worse and I’m breathing better. I’ll bring a box of these back to Chicago to show our Oriental Medicine Doctor daughter. Who knew.

The two museums we have focused on, Hunterian Museum and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, were interesting eclectic collections of some great stuff. I can’t even begin to describe their collections but there are a couple of things that grabbed me. Margaret and I had made a point of taking a day trip down south from Edinburgh to explore Hadrian’s Wall. We did not realize there was another wall built by Emperor Antonine (adopted son of Hadrian) in 120 AD much further north that marked the waxing and waning of the Roman presence in Scotland. Antonine’s Wall only lasted for 20 or so years before the Romans moved back south to the earlier Hadrian’s Wall. As the Romans left Antonine’s Wall they leveled it and buried the Legion building markers. These were unearthed in the 1800s and preserved in the Hunterian. Having seen the Roman exhibits in Edinburgh, I thought these were more interesting. But Hadrian’s Wall was a whole different level of Roman engineering. The other thing that the Hunterian impressed on me was how for moment in time in the Industrial Revolution everything was new and discoverable. Lord Kelvin worked his entire life at the University of Glasgow and collaborated with other European scientists to make huge leaps in basic knowledge. The Hunterian exhibits show this progression and the variety of instruments they used. I did a doubletake, however, when I saw Kelvin’s quote at the Hunterian, “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement”. Oops.

Our tour on Wednesday coincided with the University’s Open day and the grounds were full of chattering students and bagpipes as the students were shown around the various buildings.

The Mackintosh at the Willow tea room was quite the period piece especially the upstairs Salon. The Salon was the ladies tea room and they had a ladies toilet directly outside the Salon while I had to go two floors to the basement for the gents.

Tomorrow is an early day as we catch a 7:20 tour that goes up to the Jacobite steam train and the Harry Potter bridge to Hogwarts.

Wednesday, September 3, 2019

Margaret Here.

We had a two-day ticket for the hop-on hop-off bus. These buses have proven to be very informative and helpful in getting us familiar with a city. We were not disappointed, (although the first bus had a live commentator who seemed to be very knowledgeable, but we couldn’t understand a word she said).

Our first hop-off was the Glasgow Cathedral, first built in 883 AD, then a shrine to St. Mungo (the patron saint of Glasgow) was built in the 12th century. Today’s cathedral was built during the 13th-15th centuries. St. Mungo’s grave is in the lower part of the church.