Advertisement
Published: January 20th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Glasgow
Out and about in Glasgow Howdy everybody!
Just starting out the new week with a new blog entry. This weekend me and 5 other exchange students went to the industrial city of Glasgow. We (3 guys 3 girls all but 1 are American :-D) took a coach bus to Glasgow early Saturday morning. The trip took about an hour and a half. Upon arriving in the city, I immediately realized what everybody meant that Glasgow isn't as architecturally stimulating as Edinburgh. It's very... simple.... and kinda boring to look at.
We left the bus station and headed to the hostels to drop off our bags. The one I stayed at was called the Blue Sky Hostel. It was my first time staying in a hostel and it wasn't that bad. I had no expectations going into the place, which helped. The room I stayed in was just a big room with bunk beds all over the place.
After dropping off our stuff, we headed down to the main part of town-a.k.a.- the shopping/tourist district. Glasgow is known in the UK for being the second largest shopping city (London is #1.) We headed to Buchanan Street which was completely dedicated to shopping/sightseeing. We ate lunch at a
Glasgow
Out and about in glasgow. famous tea room known as the Willow Tea Room. It was a nice light lunch.
After lunch we headed over to the Royal Theatre to watch some of the Celtic Music Festival. We watched some really amazing performances by celtic bands from all over the place. There were guys from the Highlands, a girl from Brooklyn, and the coolest was definitely a father/daughter duo where the daughter is ranked as the number one fiddle player in scotland and the UK. The music was really peppy and it was cool to hear a variety of instruments, the bagpipes are possibly one of my favorite instruments now.
After the concert, we ate at a pub. It was a cliche British dinner, nothing outstanding, but it did its job.
After dinner we went to a Student bar for a while, it was an interesting place. It featured lots of good Indie rock music. The coolest feature of the bar was that while we were there, they turned on some black light spotlights towards the walls and all of these previously invisible designs emerged. The coolest was this mural of various animals.
Then we went back to the Royal Theatre to go to see
Liz.
Planing what we were going to do, since she was the only one who brought a guidebook. this band: Sensational Jimi Shandrix. It is a ceilidh (pronounced: Kaley) band. We arrived at the Theatre and were shocked to see everyone in formal attire waiting to get into the hall (this meant Kilts and Dresses.) It was extremely awkward to us only wearing jeans and sweatshirts, but since we had already paid for it, we felt compelled to go in. Once the band started up and people started dancing, we were able to see some other people wearing jeans, so we didn't feel as awkward. After a few drinks, we were all out there doing the traditional Scottish ceilidh dances.
Around 1 o'clock in the morning, the band stopped and we went back to the Hostels and slept.
The next day (Sunday) we went early to the bus station and dropped off our backpacks in a locker and headed to the Glasgow museum of modern art. There were a lot of cool sculptures and interesting pieces of artwork. The coolest thing at the museum was the kids area. There were various displays and toys that encouraged kids to make their own artwork, so, of course, we sat down and started making our own masterpieces... which was hilarious.
After
Glasgow
Interesting fountain. the Museum, we ate at a pub and headed to the "Movement and Shadows: the magic of Sharmanka Theatre" or known as the kinetic theatre in the tour books. This place was unbelievable. It was basically one room filled with metal sculptures that had mechanical moving parts. The whole thing was whimsical/terrifying/amazing all at the same time. The machines were made out of old metal objects like bicycles and strollers, but I couldn't recognize anything that even resembled a bike in these things. Each piece had it's own story connected to the hardships that the people went through during the Russian Revolution and during communism. The whole thing was eerie, but really cool.
After the show, we returned to the bus station, picked up our bags, and headed back to Edinburgh.
The weekend was really nice. The weather was amazing (believe it or not, no rain at all) and it wasn't that windy. Upon arriving back in Edinburgh we concluded that Edinburgh was by far the more distinctive of the two cities. Glasgow may have more shopping, but Edinburgh just gives off more of that Middle Ages aura that you'd expect in Scotland.
So that was my trip this weekend,
Glasgow
Out and about. I hope you all enjoyed the tale of my travels.
Cheers!
Max
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0451s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
mom
non-member comment
Wow!
What a great weekend. We here in Ohio all enjoyed reading your travelogue. Glad the hostel wasn't like anything in those teen horror movies. Seems like fun. Perhaps your celtic dancing skills will improve over the next 5-6 months! Great pictures. Did you buy the CD of your favorite celtic music so you can share it with all of us? Glad Edinburgh is so pretty and that you like it better. Looking forward to seeing you next weekend!!!!!