August, thanks Glasgow!

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Hey guys, after hot July, it was the turn to the rain to show up!
I am always telling you, it rains more in August than in July (in R’dam), but you don’t listen L! Check the numbers then:


But what saved my August was Glasgow!
I was so tired of rainy R’dam that I thought ‘I have to get out of here’, and decided to visit Glasgow (yes, I like to challenge the statistics, and it worked: it turned out to be sunny!)

Of course I didn’t know that in the moment of booking, but I had such a good feeling about it that I started telling everyone:

I am going to Glasgow

;

I am going to Glasgow

;

a whole wkd away

;

lara-la-la-ra-la ...

I saw a lot of puzzled faces, and in all his politeness, an English acquaintance inquired

What is going on in Glasgow?

(that translated to current language, it means: ‘What the hell are you going to do in Glasgow?!’ )

Ah! What is GOING ON in Glasgow?

Let’s go back a little in history to gain perspective:

It became eventually a world city trader in the 18th century thanks to the colonies in North America and West India, one of many metamorphoses, after being in the ‘wrong side’ of Scotland for centuries (unfavorable to trade with Continental Europe). It became heavily industrialized in the 19th century, living a golden age…

You can guess what happened next: the 20th century brought industrial decline, and Glasgow was again in ‘the wrong side’ of history … but what is amazing, what is beautiful, is that was able to invent a ‘rebirth from the ashes,’ a metamorphosis via a cultural renaissance …

See below my not-to-miss list in Glasgow
If you go there, don’t expect glamour, but you will find style and authenticity!
Glasgow is a fighter! An amazing one… Which other reason do I need?

What IS GOING ON in Glasgow?
What HAS always BEEN GOING ON for centuries:

Metamorphosis, and a very beautiful one…

A transformation, as by magic...

... but not really.

Hugs,
Marisa

So, not to miss in Glasgow:

• Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, the most popular UK art collection outside London! It’s really huge! It just opened after a 3-year refurbishment and it talks to you. It really made me wanting to have a little kid with me to show him or her around (ok, it’s also the biological clock, but really, the collection was so well organized, with an interactive education component, that made me wonder …and ‘cause I didn’t have one I played the kid J; One of the ‘must-see’ is Dali's 'Christ of Saint John on the Cross,’ which is strategically placed at the end of a corridor, and as you walk to it, you become part of the scene, and when you come close enough, the cross is on top of you, threating to crash you…
  
• Kelvingrove park: try to spot the fox. I did!
  
  
• GOMA, the Gallery of Modern Art, (there, a glass trampolin really made me question how all is a matter of perspective, and how we put things at use… or cities …)
  
• Merchant city of course! (Glsgow’s history heart)
  
  
• The University, the 4th oldest of UK (after Cambridge, Oxford and …. what was the other one?-3rd places dont count? At least not in my memory, so it seems - the biological clock, again!?)
  
  
• Tea at ‘ The Willow Tea Room’ designed by Mackintosh (the Dudok of Glagow, but not exactly)
  
• A cocktail at The Arches, a ‘cavernous space underneath Glasgow’s Central Station’ reflecting ‘the identity of the entire city’
  http://www.thearches.co.uk/
  
  

P.S. A few more notes on:

• Books (2 from South America):
  
  - Budapest from Chico Buarque ;
  - ‘Andamios’ from Mario Beneditti (thanks Guillermo for the gift!)
  
  In the two of them, a tension between two worlds, less or more seriously …
  
  
• Films: Jean de Florette (1986) with Gerard Depardieu in the main role and Jean de Florette 2e partie- ‘Manon des Sources’), La Provence in the beginning of the century and how some dreams can blind us …
  
  
• There were some days of sunshine in R’dam (in between the clouds and the drops of rain) like in the Day of the Romantic Music in ‘Het Park.’.
  
  The event is getting broader and more romanticized, (where every dreamer as a place!) as we could notice in the peripheral podiums with the musicians being in the early steep of the learning curve ...
  

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Comments

[Catia]

We miss September!
Hello marisa! How is life ?? I was wondering what have you done in September, we kind of get used to hear from you :) We will be back in NL this weekend, maybe we can have a drink in Loos! Abraco Catia