Glasgow. I had heard interesting things about Glasgow during my time in Edinburgh, none of which was repeated to my family or friends until after I left. In Glasgow, affectionately known as “Stab City,” you are (apparently) three times more likely to be murdered than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. Or was it Europe? In any case, I went to Glasgow with the goal of being careful, a task that was made easier by the fact that I was only there for one night, and that it stayed light out until after 10 at night.
I started my day in Glasgow by getting there, on a train ride from Edinburgh. I arrived about noon, turned my bags into luggage storage at my temporary residence and set about exploring the town.
This river runs through Glasgow, and I walked along it to the main park in the city ***name?***, pausing to snap shots of cool patterns along the way, both of which were from the Glasgow Central Mosque.
According to my guidebook, there was a really cool museum about the history of Glasgow in the middle of the park, along with a Victorian-era winter garden (sort of like a greenhouse, I think) and some sort of factory with a really cool facade along the north edge of the park. By now you might have guessed that I never actually made it that far. As I approached the western edge of the park, I noticed that there were a number of police in the area. As I got closer, I realized that the place was in fact covered in police. They were everywhere. Additionally, there was what sounded like a marching band/bagpipe band playing a little way off in the distance.
Ever the intrepid explorer, I ventured closer to the center of activity (figuring that if there were that many police around, I couldn't help but be safe) until I came upon this group of people that, too be honest, in no way seemed mob-like, but consisted of entirely too many 18-30 year old males for me to venture my way into, so I never actually got to see the band that was playing. Everyone was wearing green, though, and there were several flags at the front of the group, and the speaker that came on after the marching band had some sort of role in obtaining Irish independence, so I can only imagine that the whole affair was some sort of rally for either Northern Irish independence or Scottish independence. Either way, once they started the political talk, I was out of there. I figured I didn't need to be swept up in the middle of something along those lines if it was volatile enough for there to be that many police hanging around.
I headed north through a minorly sketchy area, stopping for lunch and snapping photos along the way, including the one a couple posts ago of the monkey not included ad, and this one of a handy-dandy map on the street that showed a cool garden in the middle of what I think were dorms for a university in Glasgow.
Either way, I couldn't get in to look at the actual garden for myself, so I'm not sure if I would count the garden itself or just the map as inspiration. I suppose the map is what caught my eye, so we'll go with that.
After hiking for some time, I finally reached my destination, Glasgow cathedral and the Necropolis, basically a fancy cemetery that the wealthy merchants of the town decided to establish in their own honor. Lots of of enormous tombs and monuments.
(I don't know who that lady is, she wandered into my picture and I didn't feel like waiting to take another one, though in hindsight this would have been a much nicer picture without her.) I wondered why people, or their families, feel the need to leave a piece of rock multiple times bigger than they were in order to memorialize themselves. I guess the world was less crowded then, but I feel like I owe it to the world to take up less space in death than I did in life. There are other people that need that space. But I digress.
The coolest thing about the Necropolis was that it was situated on a really big hill, probably the biggest hill in Glasgow, so after climbing up to the top, you got a really good view of both the city and the cathedral, of which you can then take really nice pictures.
I find its usually quite difficult to get a whole cathedral in a picture, simply because they're always so darn big.
Inside the cathedral was incredible, as the insides of cathedrals tend to be. I don't think I've walked into any ever that have been less than impressive. This particular cathedral had really neat tile on the Sacristy floor
though when I tried drafting that particular pattern, I realized that it needs something going on in the middle of the block, whether it's a pretty fabric with a big print, or some sort of piecing or appliqué. Any which way you look at it, it needs something, which we'll come to in a bit.
The windows were also really pretty, and have great potential, though they with either involve set-in seams or a ton of little pieces, depending on how I put them together. Something to consider.
Upon leaving the cathedral, I headed west back towards the more populated area of town. I was searching for a particular tea room on the recommendation of my guide book, but when I finally made it the two or three kilometers to the address listed, there was nothing to be found but a vacant storefront, so I availed myself of a different tea room in the vicinity, which had a perfect little table for one in a second story window overlooking the pedestrian street below.
After resting my poor feet for quite some time, and lingering over several cups of tea, I ventured back onto the pedestrian shopping street to head back home. Along the way there were several street performers, and a ton of people out and about. I think it was a combination of it being a Saturday afternoon, and the first really pretty and marginally warm day in as many days as I had been in Scotland. At some point along the fairly substantial walk back, I took this picture of a flower in a planter along the road,
which I think may become the necessary centerpiece in the block considered above.
All in all, it was a terribly productive afternoon, with a great many ideas gleaned from this industrial city. I wasn't too optimistic heading into it, both because of the Stab city moniker and because I had heard Glasgow wasn't as much of a historical city, that it was drab and utilitarian, but ultimately I found it as full of inspiration as any other city I've been to thus far.
Oh, and one more quick digression, just in case you need to straighten your hair on the go, seen in a bathroom in Glasgow:
For only one pound sterling, you too can use the handy dandy coin operated hair straightener! I don't know about you, but I always feel the need to change my hairstyle halfway through my evening.
Well, until next time, Ciao!
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