A Quickie in Glasgow

And by that we mean a quick trip.  What were you thinking??

A couple of weekends ago, the Scottish Exchange Teachers arranged a day out in Glasgow for the few of us available.  Although the plans started around 9am, we decided to join the group for lunch and an activity about which you will read later.

After breakfast and walking the dog, we headed off to our local train station, Haymarket, which is about 3 blocks away, so we really do mean local.  As it was Saturday, it was an off-peak day, so the train fare was reasonable and we were allowed to hop on any train heading for Glasgow.  As luck would have it, one was about to leave, so there was no waiting around for us!  It was a lovely trip and we were in a very sparcely populated car, so it was nice and quiet.  We arrived in Glasgow just as shops were opening up and Rick bought a great wool scarf which looks good with his brown jacket - he looks very British.  We strolled up Buchanan Street, the main shopping thoroughfare, and Bob found a store that sold things by his favourite designer, Vivienne Westwood, although he was too stupid to buy anything and now regrets it.

We met up with the rest of the crowd on Sauchiehall Street at the Willows Tea Rooms, which was designed by one of Glasgow's best known native sons, Charles Rennie Macintosh.  If you aren't familiar with his very distinctive design sense, give Google a spin.  The tea room is actually looking a bit dowdy, and we think because it is now such a popular tourist spot, they have crowded in too many tables, as manouvering through them isn't easy at all.  Not all of us were able to enjoy tea though, as a young couple who are new to the UK on exhange from Australia had their wee baby with them, and the tea room had no place for a stroller.  They said they didn't mind waiting for us outside, but it was unfortunate that they had to miss it.  They also missed the fact that the tea room only has one toilet - literally one toilet for all those people.  How odd.  In all honesty, we would advise aneyone visiting Glasgow to give this place a miss, although we did have a lovely chatty time because of the company.

After tea (ain't we just posh!), we headed over to a tenement building that features a flat in which lived a single woman who did as little as possible to change anything in it, so it is very close to original from early in the previous century as can be.  She lived pretty much as you see in the photos up until the 1960s, when she vacated the place.  We learned a few things. One is that, contrary to our obviously uninformed opinion, the term "tenement" isn't synonymous with "slum."  In the UK, a tenement is a building with comprises several flats, so technically our condo at home would be a tenement.  Some tenement buildings are quite upscale.  We also learned that, rather than having more than one bedroom, they had sleeping nooks - one off the sitting room and one off the kitchen.  The kitchen one was probably very popular in the winter time, as the stove would help keep it warm.  In one of the kitchen drawers, Bob found some knives that were identical to the ones at the cottage at Regina Beach that was lived in by his great-grandparents.  Oh, and Rick found out that, if you so much as touch a chair, you will be "corrected."  By the way, you are NOT allowed to take photos inside the tenement flat, so the ones that miraculously appeared on Bob's camera may not be always well composed or exposed!!  :-)

By this time in the day, it was getting late, so we said our farewells to eveyrone and caught the train back.  This was a slightly different route, so it took a bit longer, but it gave us time to nod off along the way.

All in all, a lovely day, and we came away from Glasgow quite liking it.  We had visited before, but now that we are more familiar with everything over here, we can really see what is on offer, and Glasgow has a lot.

Our train car to Glasgow.  If you count the heads peeking out above the seat backs, you will get an idea of just how uncrowded it was.  Coming home was much more crowded!

Rick riding the rails again!

Inside Glasgow Central Station.  People are staring at the big boards that will tell them which platform to use for their train.

A building.  Duh!  A lovely one, though.

We wandered down this narrow street, Morrisons Court, where people were just setting up for a market.

Sloans Bar, which is the oldest in Glasgow - 1797 - along Morrisons Court,

Argyll Arcade, inside which you can buy very, very expensive jewellry.  We saw many a watch we would have liked.

Princes Square shopping centre, which is quite fancy indeed, and is home to Bob's favourite designer.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glaswegians galore!

Looking back along Buchanan Street, which is pedestrians only and shopping heaven.

Willow Tea Rooms, with Rick waiting outside.  Across the street was a busker who was very talented, so Bob tossed quid his way.

The tenement building we visited.  Ironically, it was built "outside" of the center of Glasgow because the air was much fresher and healthier.  Now, just to the right of this photo, there runs a motorway, so the quality of air may have changed just a bit.

A diagram of some of the floor plans, on which you can see the sleeping closets.

A view of the bedroom.  Keep in mind that all this furniture is original to the owner, who only left in the 1960s.

Another bedroom view.

We aren't really sure why there is what looks like a mattress of hay under the bed.  Bob's camera may have been hiding behind a wardrobe for this photo.

Finally, an answer to why these places have a cupboard beside the fireplace!  They were used to store good china, which was a valuable commodity in those days.  That was definitely not one of our guesses!  In the foreground you can see a bit of a chair that was not to be touched!!

Parlour fireplace.

The parlour bed closet.  It is only the size of the bed.

We were quite surprised to find such a lavish bathroom sink.

An interesting display of bottles in the bathroom.  They are probably medicines that the owner took at one time or another.

A rather nice tub as well, although the bathroom was probably very chilly in the winter, so the tub probably saw limited use then!

A view of the kitchen.  It is hard to believe that she lived like this until the 1960s.

Everything including the kitchen sink.  It looks like laundery would have been done here as well, or else she liked to flatten her dishes.

Bob was struck by the quality of the wood used in the coal bin, as it reminded him of the one that used to be out behind the cottage at the beach.

The amazing stove, which is built in to the kitchen - not free standing as might be expected.  Toward the bottom is a small drawer that pulls out into which you place your irons to be heated up.  Very clever indeed!

The kitchen bed closet.

The flat still have gas lighting.  When you walk under the fixtures, you can feel the heat on the top of your head, or at least you can if you have a bald spot!  We were told that it is getting harder to find the filaments for these lights.

A quick peek at the parlour, complete with the untouchable chairs.

Bob and Rick, Bob and Rick, Where have you been?

We've been to London to visit the queen!
Once again, she snubbed us.  Who does she think she is - royalty?  Oh yeah.

We did go down to London a few weeks ago, and enjoyed our short visit - for the most part.  More of that later.  We flew into Heathrow and caught the tube to our hotel, but along the way, the line was being repaired, so for the first time in all our visits we had to use the replacement bus service that they bring in to ferry all of us to where the line begins again.  At least we had the opportunity to see more of the surrounding area of our hotel, and it wasn't that inconvenient, so we weren't delayed too badly.  At the hotel, they didn't seem to have our reservation, but it turned out they had put it in my name, which is odd as the club card, the payment card and the reservation was made in Rick's name - I was there, so I know.  I was only supposed to be the other occupant.  Things were straightened out, we dropped out stuff, and headed into central London.

Our evening consisted of wandering some familiar and some new streets, as there is always something to see and somewhere to go.  For some reason, we often end up at Trafalgar Square, where the people watching can't be beaten.

Our first full day started off with a trip to the Science Museum, where there was a photo exhibit that I wanted to see.  Now, something that we hadn't counted on was that the English schools were out for the week we were in London.  Edingburgh Council's schools had the week off, but no other schools in Scotland were out, so we assumed, incorrectly, that England wouldn't be out.  The tube station we used was South Kensington, from which you proceed underground to both the Science Museum, but also the Victoria and Albert and the Natural History Museum.  This created a perfect storm of holiday makers heading through the tunnel as well as a long line to enter the museum.  Fortunately, the line moved very quickly and in no time we were inside, along with what felt like thousands of other people.  I headed up to the exhibit and Rick hunted for a coffee shop that was open inside the museum, as it was opening time and not everything was ready.  The exhibit, for photo geeks, was "Drawn by Light," from the collection of the Royal Photographic Society, and comprised a wonderful overview of photography from its inception (photos from the 1820s) to much more modern, with some very famous photographers represented.  Needless to say, I enjoyed it immensely.

Leaving the museum brought a new problem - many more people were arriving at the tube station, so we were very much like salmon heading upstream.  By the time we reached the station, it was literally wall to wall people crowding the stairs and at least half the platform.  We were very glad to leave all that behind and headed east to Southwark for a quick visit to the Maritime Museum and then a great pub lunch, after which we headed over to the Docklands area, from which my great-grandparents lived and worked and then left for Canada.  The weather began to be disagreeable, but we found the Dockland's Museum, so headed in, which was a fortuitous find, as it was very interesting and gave a lot of insight into life in that area.  Not an easy life, it turns out.  Still, it was certainly a colourful part of the city!

And then I got sick.  I had not been feeling great since arriving, but it really took hold that day, so we headed back for a quick supper and then settled in for the evening in our hotel room.

The next day I felt just ok, but we still headed out, this time for me to see another photo exhibit.  This was at the Tate Modern, one of my favourite galleries and a former power station. Once again, poor Rick had to find a coffee shop and pass the time as I hunted out where to buy a ticket (most museums and galleries are free, but for special shows there is usually a charge), I was treated to an exhibit titled "Conflict. Time. Photography.," which showed photos of some major conflicts, such as the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but displayed all the photos together that were taken at the moments the events occurred, and then we followed photos of these events and areas taken a week after, a month after, a year after, a decade after and so on, until you reach the end showing these places as they are now.  Viewing the show is a slow process, but what I found odd was that, as I walked quickly out of the exhibition, I was aware of the compression of time shown by the photos which seemed to almost spiral into those moments that ignited the conflict.  It was actually disorienting.

We then wandered over to St. Paul's and off to the British Museum where we had to clear security to enter, which is a first.  By this time I was feeling rotten, so we headed back to the hotel and I slept while Rick read.  The visit didn't end up as we had hoped, but when we were out and about, we enjoyed ourselves as we always do.  Oh, and I was sick for about 3 weeks after this, so I wasn't just being a wimp!! 

Rick rides the rails. For those in Saskatchewan, you may recognize the name of this area, although they really don't have a lot in common.

We spent a lovely afternoon refreshment break, as one does, while watching a 6 Nations rugby match.  Our bartender was very entertaining.

Just a photo of some original achitecture.  It often pays to look up - look waaaaaay up!

Trafalgar Square, featuring a very large, blue rooster.  This is on the Fourth Plynth, which never had an official monument place upon it so is now used for installations, which means that you may never see the same thing twice.  Keeps things interesting.

Trafalgar Square again, this time featuring a crowd of people on a Sunday evening.

The National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar Square.  You can be sure that CCTV is operating almost everywhere you go in London, so we try to always look our best!

A lion looks toward Big Ben.

Big Ben at twilight.

Across the Thames from our restaurant for the evening.

One of the many bridges over the Thames.

Notting Hill Gate Station.

Rick blissfully unaware of the thundering hoards we would soon encounter!

This is a Circle Line train to...pandemonium.  Just a bit crowded - we've ridden on worse.  One fun fact of the tube lines is that the colour of the rails inside the cars matches the colour of the line on the tube maps. 

The crowd we had to fight to get back to the station. 

Lunch at a local pub where...

...Rick was all aglow at being able to have fish and chips!

Family life in the Docklands area of London around the time Bob's great-grandparents lived there.

Much more posh living.  Hope this is how they lived!!

An amusing story from the World War II.

The Tate Modern Gallery, with the recreated Shakespeare Globe Theatre in the foreground.  Contrast and compare!

The Shard, London's tallest building.

The Thames from the Tate.  St. Paul's is on the left, with the Mellennium Bridge crossing the river.

Londoners do love to nickname their buildings.  The one in the middle is known as the Cheese Grater, and the one on the right with the curved front is the Walkie Talkie.  It is this one that focusses all the sunlight off its panels at certain times of the year and melts things like cars parked across from it!!

Walking the Millennium Bridge toward St. Paul's.

We have no idea what this building is, but we did like the architecture.

Some of older London still exists, fortunately.

The British Museum, after clearing security.  The entire world is represented here.

The main foyer of the British Museum, which is comprised of several buildings all connected under this spectacular glass roof.

No visit is complete without popping in to Covent Gardens.

Bob and the Volcano

 Hi everyone.

Sorry for the delay in postings.  I would like to blame the after-holiday blahs rather than my laziness.  I would like to, but I can't.  Still, onward and upward!!

We have been having lovely weather lately, so on one particularly bright and warm morning I went out to scale the heights of Calton Hill, which is one of the many extinct volcanos that make up this fair town of ours.  I'll have you know that this was no small feat of derring-do that involved great personal risk - I could have slipped or tripped or, well, gotten a sunburn while walking up some sloped, paved roads and/or climbing some stairs.  But hey, that is just the kind of guy I am - no risk too great!

My first stop was at Old Calton Burial Ground, as I am never one to miss an opportunity to visit an old cemetery, and this does qualify as an oldie.  Loved it.  Next, the climb up Calton Hill, which affords you what the brochure tells you are the best views of the city, and who am I to dispute that?  As the day was clear, the views really were quite outstanding.  The top of the hill is strewn with an odd assortment of buildings and monuments, most of which don't seem to relate to each other.  Still, it makes for an interesting experience.  Ah, but could the views get better?  Oh yes they could!  On the hill sits the Nelson Memorial, inside which, after you pay £4, you can climb a spiral staircase to the top and, from there, all of Lothian is yours to behold!  This is not for the the faint of heart nor the weak of heart, as the climb up is a bit taxing, but worth it in my humble opinion.

I hope you enjoy the following photos of my adventure.

Cheers.

Ah, crypts and plots and monuments, oh my.

I told you Old Calton Burying Ground was old!

And it gets even older!

The monument to Dugald Stewart, philosopher.

The Nelson Monument, inside which is a stairway to heart attack!  There is a large zinc ball at the top that is raised and then dropped at exactly 1pm every day, except Sunday, as  a visual signal to sailors of the time.  A canon is also fired at 1pm from the Castle, which helps on those foggy days when the ball isn't visible.

National Monument of Scotland, which was built to honour those who fought and died in the Napolionic Wars.  A wee bit of Greek architecture in Edinburgh.

Looking down on the Queen!  This is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the Queen stays when she is in town (our offer of our extra bedroom being turned down constantly!).  You can visit the palace when she isn't at home, but please wipe your feet and feed the cat.

Looking over the city toward Leith, across the Firth of Forth, with the Kingdom of Fife on the far shore.  The Royal Yacht Brittania is docked near the taller buildings you can see on our shore.

Looking westerly where, just peaking behind the hills on the left, you can see the Forth Rail Bridge, a rather spectacular construction over which we have travelled.

The biggest and showiest of the volcanic domes in town - Arthur's Seat, with Salisbury Crags in the foreground.

From the top of the Nelson Monument.  If you look very carefully, you may see another volcanic dome on the far horizon.  That is the North Berwick Law that was mentioned in an earlier post.  So yes, the views are very far reaching!!

A view down Princes Street, the main shopping street in town.  On the left, you can see the edge of the castle on the hill.  In the foreground and left is the wee bit of green that is the Old Calton Burying Ground.

The castle, and some of Old Town that sprawls along the ridgeline. 

The Pentland Hills dressed in their winter finery. 

The roofs of Waverly Station, the main train station in town

Ah yes, the half way point of the staircase inside the Nelson Monument.  What they don't tell you is that there are 143 steps to get to the top!  Trust me, 143 windy stairs take their toll.  At least they have encouraging signs along the way telling you that you are doing well and almost there.  Oh, but it was worth it!