A Quiet Day

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Geo: 55.8656, -4.25722

Today we set out to explore Glasgow. We drove into the city centre and found a car park at the Buchanan Galleries. This is a large shopping complex in the middle of Glasgow. There are two streets that have been turned into malls here, Sauchiehall St and Buchanan Street. The latter is the more attractive as it is lined with elegant 19th century buildings which have been largely occupied by modern stores like Borders. We wandered along, browsing through the shops. We were still looking for a McEwen scarf which had proved elusive. We found one in a kiltmaker's shop, Hector Russell's. I was pleased.
We had lunch just off George Square in a Cafe Uno which is a chain restaurant but inexpensive and good food. In George Square they were holding the Glasgow Piping Festival. As we had been walking along Buchanan Street I had encountered bagpipes for the first time since we had come to Scotland. Here was a celebration of the pipes. We stopped to listen to a group which included Irish bagpipes who were playing a combination of Scottish and irish airs. Great music.
We drove along the shores of the River Clyde and saw the convention building they call the armadillo. There is much construction going on here, a lead up no doubt to the Commonwealth Games in 2014 which will be held here.
Having driven around for a bit we returned to the hotel and spent the afternoon repacking and just relaxing as we have had a relentless schedule and we needed a rest.
Tomorrow we fly to Warsaw for the European leg of our tour.

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