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.

Oxford, England

September 23, 2017 -  Day 12 – Oxford, England

Outside of London, where we spent 6 days, we spent more time in Oxford (3 days) than any of the other 9 cities we visited. We weren't particularly more drawn to this city than the others, but it was the halfway point of our trip, and we felt a three night layover would be good for recharging our batteries. There weren’t specific sites we wanted to explore, just more a matter of Oxford being a well-known city, with its prestigious, world renown university, and of course, “all that history”. 

Oxford revolves around the University which was established in the 12th century, and consists of 38 colleges spread throughout the city. The city is known worldwide as the home of the University of Oxford, and the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Since this is an actual working University, and classes were in session, many of the college buildings had “Closed” signs on them, with explanations. It made me realize how disruptive it would have been to have all these tourists trying to wander about in these settings. 

We took the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour, combined with lots of walking through the streets, parks, and along the River Thames. We really enjoyed Oxford’s Covered Market, which officially opened on November 1, 1774 in response to a general wish to clear “untidy, messy, and unsavoury stalls” from the main streets of the city. In those early days the market had stalls for garden produce, pig meat, dairy products, and fish. Today you are more likely to see food retailers, greengrocers, butchers (including some who produce the distinctive, local Oxford sausage), gift shops, bakeries, and sandwich shops.

Christ Church was along the route of one of our walks. From their website, “Christ Church is one of the colleges of Oxford University and sits in the heart of the city. Founded in 1546, today it is a key part of a very modern university, offering a home, undergraduate teaching and graduate supervision to over six hundred students. Its academic staff cover almost all subjects taught at Oxford. It stands out for its size, the beauty of its buildings, and its welcoming atmosphere, as well as the distinguished research and teaching that goes on within its walls. It is unique in another way too: it is a cathedral as well as a college.”

We walked around the peripheral of a botanical garden which included a beautiful rose garden. It had rained just before we arrived, and there were still droplets of rain clinging to many of the flowers and roses.

We stepped inside The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, or just St. Mary’s for short. It is the center from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of university and college buildings.

I thought a lot of the architecture in Oxford was kind of eerie, especially all the carved heads, with some of them sporting the most maniacal expressions. On the other hand, even though Oxford boasts of having a wide variety of architectural styles, the almost homogeneous golden stone that seems to define the architecture became almost monotonous at times.

Below is a montage of the many sites of Oxford.