Medieval Glasgow Walking Tour and the HoHo

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We woke up refreshed after our day of vacation from the vacation. My stomach seemed to suddenly be fine so we looked forward to a good day (and it was.) We found our way to the breakfast room; it was in the subbasement and very small for a hotel with at least 800 rooms. As a follow up to my comment earlier regarding certain types of travelers; if there is one thing we learned in our years and miles of travel, that no matter where we are in the world one thing always remains the same, people no matter where they are from have zero elevator etiquette. As we were going down to breakfast, we first let the man in a wheelchair on, then made sure he was comfortable with us also riding down with him, as the elevator was not that big. He was fine and the three of us fit comfortably. At the next floor there was a family of four that needed to cram into the same elevator, there was just no room but they could care less and just proceeded to cram their bodies in. This was just to much for me, and so I just said, “this is not going to happen,” gave them a dirty look and got off. We then walked down the stairs.

That same morning on our way out, when we got to the ground floor the doors opened and standing directly in front of the door was a man with a walking stick. He didn’t even bother to move to the side, but just proceeded to come in before we even got out. We almost had to push him aside to get out, but instead his walking stick almost tripped Jerry.

Ok, back to breakfast, it was your standard full English/Scottish/Irish Buffet. I have decided that there is just something about the sausage here that is not for me, it is just mealy and pretty bland. We both just stayed simple scrambled eggs and croissant.

It was again an incredible sunny day. If nothing else we definitely had the luck of the Irish or I guess Scottish regarding the weather on this trip. Our first stop was the Glasgow Cross marking the crossroads of the center of the medieval city. In center of the roundabout is the Mercat Cross, if you recall from Aberdeen, this is the official symbol that the village market can be held here. Also in this square is the Tolbooth clock tower, what remains of the 5-story tollbooth where taxes were paid and executions occurred.

A bit further up a slight hill we came to the original center of the medieval village of Glasgow and the Cathedral. This is the most complete of Scotland’s cathedrals, surviving some 19^th century vandals that pulled down the two towers. The church was built by the patron saint of Glasgow St. Mungo, whose tomb is now in the church. Many of the catholic cathedrals and churches were destroyed during the reformation, this survives mostly in tact and is the oldest building in Glasgow (or at least from this period.)

There are several things surrounding the cathedral that we did not visit and were closed because it was a Monday. This includes the Provand’s Lordship House. This is Glasgow’s oldest house and one of only four medieval buildings surviving in the city. It was built in 1471. It is now a museum and can be toured on a day it is open.

From there it was a walk down George Street back to the center of town and George’s Square. Lunch was schedule at Browns brassiere. We finished our walking tour a bit early, so Jerry walked around the square looking at the various statutes and I relaxed on a park bench and watched the people, mostly students, enjoying the sunny day. On one end of the square is the City Chambers (current seat of government in the city) there are free tours twice a day at 10:30 and 2:30, you can get tickets a half hour before. They are limited to 12 and are a first come first serve basis. We had planned on visiting after lunch but didn’t really want to rush lunch in order to get the tickets.

Lunch was nice and simple. Brown’s Brassiere is right on George Square on the corner across from the City Chambers. It was not very busy, but I imagine on weekends it is quite busy on weekends and holidays. I broke tradition and had a cocktail before lunch, the best cocktail I have ever had. Rhubarb & Strawberry Gin Fizz. How could it have been bad, rhubarb, strawberries and Tanqueray 10, with a splash of prosecco over ice. Refreshing and potentially dangerous. I did limit myself to one. Starters were light and tasting. Jerry had a chicken & tarragon terrine with apricot chutney. I had Devon Crab & Avocado Toast; both were very tasty. I have to say, I really don’t understand the things Jerry’s orders sometimes, for example, today in Scotland he orders chicken schnitzel (not a Scottish Dish) and as expected it was pretty average. I on the underhand had a great twist on a niçoise salad, instead of tuna it was chicken. It was really good and the dressing had a touch of curry.

Since we opted out of the City Chambers tour, we opted in to the HoHo since we had time and had done what was on our list for the day. This was pounds well spent, and I got a freaking senior discount because I am now 60. Discount is nice, but admitting your 60, takes some more time to get use too. The entire loop is about 90-minutes and covers pretty much everything you want to see in Glasgow. In fact, you couldn’t possibly see it all on foot in the first place. There are 21 stops in all taking you by the medieval center, Glasgow Green (the people’s Park) the river, the museums, west end and on and on. With the headset you also get a nice history of the city.

We did the entire loop with out getting off and then returned to our room. Earlier in the day we went back to the room for a quick pit stop and when we walked in, it smelled as if something had died in our room, and they just cleaned it. Fortunately, there was a housekeeper near buy and they took care of it quickly. They even brought in an air purifier to cleanse the room while we were out for the rest of the day. When we walked in at the end of the day, it was much better.

Before going up to the room, we did stop and have a bottle of champagne in the champagne bar that over looks the train station. It was nice and relaxing and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Dinner was at the Anchor Line, which is inside the original home of the Anchor Line Cruise ships. During the early 1900’s daily ships for New York and other ports left the river Clyde on the ships built by this company. Now it is a restaurant and offices above. The pictures inside represent the various advertisements and pictures of the cruise ships inside and out.

This was our last dinner in Glasgow, and if we would have known I was going to be sick the night of the Buttery we would have switched the night we at there to this night, but since my crystal ball is on my desk at home, I could not predict the future.

We started with champagne cocktails, very old school and traditional. Bread for the table with salted butter. We split a fairly decent king prawn (nothing really king about them) cocktail with rose maire sauce (a glorified thousand island). We each had a Caesar salad, good but way too many anchovies, even if they were the unsalted version.

Again, Jerry made an odd choice for an entrée, Beef Stroganoff, tasty but had much better, including of course mine. I had Scottish rack of lamb, cooked perfectly but way to fatty for lamb. It did have a good sauce.

Then it was back to the room and off to sleep as the train for London leaves at 7:37. The dish of the day is not a dish at all, but a cocktail, that Rhubarb, Strawberry Gin Fizz was just way too good.

Tomorrow, we leave for London and the final days of our Ireland/Scotland journey.

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