Glasgow, Scotland

UK Trip, Days 21-22, Glasgow, Scotland, 10/2 – 10/3, 2017

The last two days of our United Kingdom trip were spent in Glasgow, Scotland, which is the city we flew out of to come back home. Although I hear about European vacations squeezing in much more than we did, at times, our 22 days did feel rather whirlwind and ambitious. Along the way there were times when I truly just wanted to take a couple of days to kick back, but knowing we had a limited amount of time to be here kept me going, and my enthusiasm alive, to see as much as possible in these three short weeks.

Our train ride from Edinburgh to Glasgow was quite short, thankfully! Our hotel allowed early check in, so we settled in to our room before 11:00 a.m., and headed out immediately to the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour of the city.

Initially I wasn’t too pleased with Glasgow, for a number of reasons. For one, I was really ready to come home at this point; tired and suffering from hotel, museum and Cathedral fatigue. My first impression of the city was one of a rundown, grungy, working class city, less vibrant and dynamic than Edinburgh, and freezing cold with nonstop wind and rain. But as we immersed ourselves into the environment, I warmed up to the city (even if the city didn’t warm up!), and found some delightful places and experiences after all.

As was the case in most everywhere we stayed on this trip, the hub of the tourist areas, the old towns, or the city centers were within walking distance from our hotels; this was the case in Glasgow, and we enjoyed walking around, taking in the sights, and taking pictures of our surroundings.

We learned from our bus tour guide that Glasgow has emerged from a history of deep poverty, underemployment, and tenement housing, all of which led to crowded living conditions, lack of water, undernutrition, crime, and illness. Some of the housing we saw in the outskirts of the city are remnants from those times. As we rode around the city, our tour guide also pointed out the impressive murals spanning entire sides of high buildings throughout Glasgow. He explained to us that Glasgow “supports street art by local artists to promote the city center, reduce the negative visual impact of land and unit vacancies due to the current economic circumstances, and provide features that will attract more visitors”.

We spent a couple of hours inside the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. It really did have some interesting exhibits. The museum opened in 1901 and is a favorite with local people and visitors. It has stunning architecture and a family friendly atmosphere, with 22 galleries covering everything from art to animals, to Ancient Egypt, and more. We also spent time at the Riverside Museum, which houses the Glasgow Museum of Transport. These exhibits covered every form of transport, from prams, to bicycles, cars and trains, airplanes and hang gliders, subways, and RV’s.

The Doulton Fountain was another worthy stop recommended to us by our bus tour guide. This fountain, known as a Terrace Fountain, is the largest fountain ever constructed in ceramic (terra cotta). It sits in front of the People’s Palace on the Glasgow Green. It really was beautiful with intricate design and detail. It was made for display at the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888, had fallen into disrepair by the 1990’s, but was restored again by the early 2000’s.

Below is a montage of our Glasgow pictures, in no particular order, capturing our very quick visit of this, our final city.

We celebrated our farewell to the UK with a final pint of Guinness at The Horseshoe Bar.

Edinburgh, Scotland

UK Trip, Days 19-20, Edinburgh, Scotland, 9/30 – 10/1, 2018

Plaid, plaid, everywhere – we must be in Scotland. We even saw a plaid bus!

We left Stratford-Upon-Avon and had another 4-hour train ride to Edinburgh. Another long trip, seems the trains here don’t agree with me so much. I find myself getting a bit queasy, and I’m always so ready to light. We used Google Maps to find our way from the train station to the hotel, and it took us up a long, long, and fairly steep, flight of stairs that served as a sort of alleyway between two streets.  These types of alleys are known as a “close” or a “wynd”, rather than “road”, and are quite common here.  That wasn’t the easiest thing to manage with suitcases and backpacks, but we did it. Of course, the next time we were out, we discovered a much easier way to the hotel.

I really liked Edinburgh (which I learned is pronounced “Edin-Burra”). I liked the boisterous, less reserved people, who always seemed to be having a party; all the plaid just cracked me up, although I do think much of it in the tourist areas was indeed, for the tourist; I loved running into people playing bagpipes around every corner; it reminded me a lot of Ireland, in many ways, including the green, green, green countryside; and I totally loved the accent. I could have stayed a couple more days here, I didn’t feel ready to leave after just two days. We did a lot of walking, in between rain showers, and also took the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour. Everywhere there seemed to be a blending of the ancient and the modern, with high rise offices and urban housing developments nestled between beautiful parks, centuries old churches and historic monuments.

We spent about an hour on Calton Hill, a historic hill set right in the city center. The National Monument, or Athenian acropolis, is an unfinished monument which was supposed to be a replica of the Parthenon in Athens, and serve as a memorial to those who died in the Napoleonic Wars. It was never finished, due to a lack of funds, but remains a popular landmark. The  views from the hill were fantastic, and well worth the short climb to the top.

Holyrood Park is a 650-acre royal park with an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, and basalt cliffs, providing a wild piece of highland landscape. The park is associated with the Royal Palace of Holyrood, but we didn’t take the time to tour the interior.

The Royal Mile in Edinburgh is a one-mile long thoroughfare that runs between two significant locations in the history of Scotland, namely Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. The Royal Mile is the busiest tourist street in the Old Town, which much activity, energy, shops, pubs, pipers, and tourist buses. We had fun walking it up and down a few times while we were there.

St. Giles’ Cathedral was situated in the middle of The Royal Mile. It was a prominent building along this stretch of road, and you couldn’t help but admire the famed crown spire and stately beauty. Also known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, it is the Mother Church of Presbyterianism.

So much to see, not nearly enough time, but here are some of the highlights we caught on camera.