Scotland (1)Arriving in Glasgow; Scouting the city

Hi guys! I’m back. I hope the Sergeant has been truthful in his account of all the happenings here and made at least an effort to stick to the facts. Oh well. With me you’re certain to get the 100% honest account, apart from some editing done to preserve peoples’ privacy.

After a nice day of board gaming ended with Katie watching Cap America: the Winter Soldier I left for Glasgow on the 23.45 bus. Writing this a song suddenly pops in my head: ♫ Leaving on that midnight train to Georgia ♫, but then I of course hear my own adaption: ♫ Leaving on that midnight bus to Glasgow ♫. On that bus I made my first acquaintance with field beds in bunk bed form or any type of bed on a bus. Regrettably it was also a double decker bus, which meant that it felt like I had about half a meter of space above my head when I was on my back. Yes, I had the top bunk and what made it worse was the fact that the person that had the bottom was moving around a lot so I got poked, prodded and hit in the back, my legs and occasionally even my bum whenever he moved around.

Thankfully I did manage to catch a few Z’s before I arrived at Glasgow, although regrettably it was the last few hours. This meant that waking up properly to get off the bus was very difficult. Still I managed not to look so much like a zombie when Ellen the lovely sister of my equally lovely housemate Jenny picked me up from the bus station. She graciously allowed me to make use of her couch for the time I was in Glasgow and recommended a lot of nice places to visit for the time I was in Glasgow. After making use of her shower to wash the journey off (I really smelt of the road) and recovering from the journey (eating breakfast and passing out for 2.5 hours) I got ready to go into town. I charted my course using the maps available, grabbed my backpack, supplies and camera and started walking.

That first day I visited Provand’s Lordship, St Mungo Museum, Glasgow Cathedral & Necropolis and George square (location of the City Chambers) and quite a few nice statues.

At Provand’s Lordship, the oldest building of Glasgow, I got quite an interesting display of how a 17th century building would be furnished. The house also contained a few portraits of monarchs and outside there was a nice garden with a few plants that could cure ailments varying from headaches, stomachaches to fevers, etc. Now according to written records this house had been an inn in past times.

St Mungo’s museum didn’t have a really interesting display on. It was about religions in the world. Granted some artifacts I saw were beautiful and I have learned a few new things, but any detailed and accurate information about religions have to be learned directly from the source otherwise westerners’ interpretation will influence the message greatly.
The Glasgow Cathedral took me by surprise. Most of the topics on stained windows seemed memorials to fallen soldiers, platoons that had fought in wars and also political figures of the past instead of the usual depictions of the scriptures. There were also a lot of graves and monuments to fallen soldiers in the church.

Glasgow’s Necropolis was the first I had ever visited. Imagine a very large graveyard with not only the ordinary graves but also big monuments set up by wealthy families to honor their deceased family members. The necropolis was mostly located on and around a hill with a beautiful view on the city. From there I took some nice pictures of the city (and cathedral) below.

I ended that day’s sightseeing in the city center on and around George square. Marveling at the beautiful architecture of the city Chambers and looking at statues of a few Scottish scientists (like James Watt), literary artists, military figures and monarchs that were placed on the square.
After a nice dinner (thank you Ellen), some reading and a good nights’ sleep I went through a similar routine (without the sleeping in between) before setting out again to see the other half of the points of interest on my list. Today I would visit Tenement house, Kelvingrove park, Kelvingrove art gallery and museum, the University main building and the botanical garden.

Once I reached Tenement house, a house furnished in the 19th or early 20th century complete with gas lamps, etc. it became clear it was closed and so I moved on to bigger and hopefully better things while enjoying the exquisite weather. I had a clear sunny sky that day and figured the park would be a great next stop en route to the museum. From a hill in the park I had a view of the museum building and the University main building in the distance and I was stunned. As they both were beautiful pieces of architecture. I snapped a few pictures before I started to focus more on my direct surroundings. Lovely landscaping samples, some tasteful statues and a fountain made for a beautiful place for a picnic. I wasn’t hungry though, so I just settled for enjoying the warmth of the sun while lounging on the grass.

After a while I resumed my journey to the Klevingrove art gallery and museum. When I finally stood in front of it (having to retrace my steps a few times searching for street signs) I was in more awe than when I viewed it from a distance. Marvelous, stunning and incredible were a few words that came to mind. From the inside it was just as impressive (the main hall). The exhibition about the past of Glasgow was very informative. It explained how Glasgow became one of the wealthiest cities in the British Empire of the days of old. It seems five main ingredients were involved. First there was the business community of traders and merchants. Number two were the banks that provided loans to “create funds” to finance ventures that would hopefully become successful and generate more income. On the third place we have cheap labor to keep production costs as low as possible. Importing products from the colonies that the locals wanted and exporting home products that the colonies wanted provided lots of income. And finally there was a race for improving transport and communication to make business run smoother. Another crucial point was the start of the Industrial Revolution to which Scotland contributed a lot when it comes to new machines for transport (steam engines), textile industry, etc. It should come as no surprise that the city motto was “Let Glasgow Flourish”.

For all the technological advancement science needed a place to flourish and the next stop on my trip took me to where the wealthy families sent there brood to drill knowledge into them in the hope that the new generations would improve upon the older one. Yes, the next stop was the main building of Glasgow University (or back in the day Glasgow College). Up close I was regrettably unable to get a picture from the entire building. I was however, just like Ellen promised, reminded of Hogwarts. It was an old castle like building with all the works. There were towers, courtyards, gateways and even a chapel where I reckon, much like at Trinity College in Dublin, (ex-) students could get married. After marveling at the structures for a while I moved on to my final stop for that day: The botanical garden.

The garden was a very fitting end to the day. There were tropical plants there, medical plants, plants used in perfumery and of course the beautiful flowers and plants that are purely esthetically pleasing. I made a careful photo documentation of the plants and their description. But don’t worry, I will not bore you with the details :P. After a while I decided to check the time and I was shocked out of my peaceful reverie. I had to leave the scents and sights behind and head back to Ellen’s place if I wanted a meal before leaving for Edinburgh and the hostel where I booked a room. Naturally I had asked ahead to see if there was anything I could bring her that would make dinner more enjoyable and per order I brought in a nice desert.

After a nice dinner and desert I hurried to the train station to catch a train to Edinburgh off to new adventures and horizons, but more about that in next installment.