Sightseeing in Glasgow

May 20-21:  We and the rest of the gang have been walking around Glasgow for two days seeing the top 'tourist' sites - Buchanan St., George Square, City Hall, Glasgow Cathedral, Necropolis, Doulton Fountain, People's Hall, along the Clyde, Macintosh House at the University of Glasgow, the Hunterian and Kelvingrove Museums, and the Botanic Garden.

Friday, we began developing the rhythms for 8 people living in a single apartment with two showers. There are 3 bedrooms on the upper floor, while Jan & Ron have been using the fold-down sofa in the main floor sitting room.  The main floor also has a large living room, a dining room with room for 8 and a spacious kitchen.  There are also terraces on both floors with views of the River Clyde and south.  We can sit outside if/when the weather gets warmer and dryer.

After breakfast we walked up Buchanan Street to the Visitor Information Centre.  This street has been restricted to pedestrians and contains most of the normal big city shops, along with a variety of local specialities.  We checked at the information center for private tours or guides for our group, but the staff couldn't suggest any.  After getting a few brochures and maps, we stopped for coffee to go at Cafe Nero (British 'Starbucks') and walked to the east side of the city center.  We went through George Square with its statues of famous Scotsmen such as James Watt and Robert Burns, decorated with pigeon droppings.

James Watt, inventor/improver of the steam engine

Adjoining the square was City Hall, which has such a nice ornate interior that there are regular tours (we skipped the tour after hearing the introduction and taking many photos). We moved back outside and uphill toward the Cathedral.

Inside City Hall

The exteriors of the most of the buildings in the city are built of red sandstone with lots of ornamentation, a very distinctive look.  They range from 5 to 8 stories tall; surprisingly, there seem to be no modern skyscrapers (or I have missed seeing them).

Typical city building

The Cathedral is quite grand, sitting high in 15th century Gothic splendor.  The interior is completely accessible and we walked all around.  The front half, in front of the choir screen, was bare of pews. The back or eastern half had two levels with a standard "pewed" worship area over the catacombs.  There were small side chapels and a robing room attached at the ends.  In the catacombs was the tomb of St. Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow.  Betsy was tickled by the Sacristy with 'walking' mottos set in the floor:  "He that walketh upright walkest surely."  "Let us run with patience the path that is set before us."

The Cathedral from the Necropolis

Roof of the Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral

From there, we walked further uphill to the Necropolis where the rich folk of Glasgow got planted in the 19th century.  The monuments were tall, fairly plain, but with great views.

Necropolis

We then walked downhill to a brewery, Drygate,  that offered excellent food, including disassembled sandwiches.  The chefs arranged all the tasty, fresh ingredients on a serving  board, and you built your own sandwich.  After lunch, we walked through People's Park, a big green space along the River Clyde.  

Inside the People's Palace

Doulton Fountain

There was a tall terra cotta fountain commemorating the British empire and the late 19th century People's Palace, which includes a glasshouse and a museum about Glasgow social history from the prosperous19th century to the crowded, depressing tenements of the first half of the 20th century.  Among other exhibits, there was a "steamie" where women went to wash clothes and socialize.  Dinner that night was at a very good restaurant called Gondolfi-Fish.

Saturday we walked into the northwest area of the city and visited some splendid museums.  We went past the shopping district and then along some gated parks into the public park of Kelvingrove with flower gardens, sports fields and play areas.  The  whole area is named after Lord Kelvin, one of the great thinkers of the Scottish Industrial Revolution.  The University of Glasgow campus sits at the top of the hill.  The main buildings include a great neo-Gothic complex with two quadrangles, towers, and a tall chapel.  As we went by, Glaswegians in kilts and party dresses were walking to a wedding in the chapel.

We went into the Hunterian Art Gallery which was also the access point for the
Rennie Mackintosh House.  We walked through the eclectic art collection of the museum while waiting to tour the house.  Mackintosh and his wife were noted designers of the early 20th century who specialized in art deco style.  The house they lived in was demolished years ago, but their furnishings were stored away until the university constructed a "surrogate" building that matched the original layout.  We had a 30 minute guided tour and were thrilled with the grace and elegance and brightness of the decor.

Macintosh House (reconstructed with actual furnishings)

We then crossed in the University quadrangle, watched the wedding party being photographed, and explored the Hunterian Museum.  This museum contains the wide-ranging collection of a former student at the University who was interested in everything in the known world, from fossils to medical devices to engineering technology.  There were exhibits describing the accomplishments of Lord Kelvin who determined the absolute temperature scale and various other scientific principles and Lord Lister who pioneered sanitary practices in medicine.

East Quad of Glasgow University

By this point, the group was feeling peckish, so we walked downhill to Mother's Indian Cafe and had a wonderful, relaxed lunch of Indian food.  We then crossed the street into the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, another great neo-Gothic building with widely varied exhibits - more Mackintosh, Scottish animals (including midges), and Scottish paintings.  We had only a little time before the museum closed at 5 pm so didn't cover the full gamut.

Kelvingrove Museum

Kathy encouraged us to do one more exploration, uphill again, to the Botanic Garden.  It was a pretty public space with a series of great glasshouses, which are always fun.  There were rooms of desert plants, ferns, tropical trees, orchids, begonias and food plants from around the world.  (Surprising fact - vanilla comes from an orchid.)

Botanic Garden Glasshouse

By the time we left the garden, our energies had totally flagged so we caught the local underground back to the city center.  Since we had eaten a late lunch, we opted for a DIY chef salad supper back in the flat.  As we ate, we compared impressions about the various museums and our favorite exhibits.  Several of the guys liked a wonderful Rubens portrait of an old man with a flowing beard, at the Hunterian Art Gallery.  Betsy liked the Whistler paintings of tall elegant women, also at the Hunterian, and the displays of how birds construct their nests, at the Hunterian Museum.