Highland Fling - Day 1

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Day 1 - Glasgow



Smooth quick flight through Dublin brought us to sunny Glasgow. Our coach dropped us off for a bit to grab a cup of coffee. Our hotel is located on the River Clyde and in the heart of the shopping and restaurant area. We found a small bookstore, W, that also served coffee and had coffee and scones sitting among a wonderful display of books from all over the world. Stopped at the ATM, then back on the coach for our first stop, the cathedral.



Allister is our driver and well be with us until the airport in Edinburgh; our guide for the day was Compton who arrived in green tartan slacks with a tie to match. We drove slowly through the city, actually we had no other choice, and I admired the facades of the old buildings. They are built of red or blond sandstone and many have statues carved in them. We circled the square where statues to famous Scots have been erected along with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, young and slim astride their horses. There is a statue of Robert Peeler, founder of the police (hence the nickname Bobbies). The seat of government is open to the public and if we had more time I would have liked to take their free guided tour.



This is one wonderful thing about Scotland; most public buildings, all museums and libraries are free to the public.



We stopped at the Cathedral, an immense structure that escaped destruction during the Reformation. The ceilings are timbered since it was built before the concept of vaults and columns and buttresses were developed. It even smelled ancient, the damp Scottish air has been absorbed by the stone. There were some new and modest stained glass windows and a few older, more elaborate ones as well. There are still seats near the alter roped off and reserved for the Queen and Prince Philip should they show up.



Overlooking the Cathedral is the "Land of the Dead", a cemetery ridge where the tomb of John Knox is located. He was a driving force in the Reformation and watches over the cathedral area. I enjoyed the ornate lampposts. Each was decorated with the same motif, a tree, a bell, a bird and a salmon with a ring in it's mouth. We passed the oldest house in Glasgow and the hospital where Lister developed the idea of antiseptics.



This is all in the area of the Universities. Ancient buildings sit alongside student housing and classroom buildings. But more about that later.



Our next stop and my personal favorite was the Riverside Museum. It is dedicated to transportation and had the most amazing collection of 1) baby carriages, 2) bicycles, 3) motor bikes and motorcycles, 4) cars, 5) streetcars, 6) busses, 7) trains (immense trains), and a sailing cargo ship lovingly restored and open to view. All for free! The views of the Clyde were great and we saw the remnants of the shipbuilding tradition, now all but gone from Glasgow. There is still one shipyard where six destroyers were built, the last one now in sea trials but that is the last of a tradition that went back centuries.



Our final stop was the University. On the way we passed the most beautiful set of bowls greens I have ever seen. They must cut the grass with manicure scissors. We headed into the parkland area which boasts the more open space of any city in the UK. This building is incredibly ornate with turrets and spires and statues and arches and must be immensely expensive to maintain. All around the area were student from all around the world, bookstores, cafes, bars and shops.



By this time we were rather exhausted so we napped for an hour and then headed out for an early dinner. Just down the block was the Crystal Palace, a roomy pub were we had fish and chips and a full pint of beer for 7 pounds each or about $11.00. By now we had been up more than 24 hours so we headed back to the hotel for a wonderful night's sleep.

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