It's nearly 6 AM BST and I'm not able to sleep. Part of the reason is that I'm anxious to catch a train at 8:21 AM from Glasgow's Queen St. Station up to Ft. William in the Scottish Highlands. Another reason is that I'm surely jetlagged to some degree. No matter, I'll make the most of it by posting an update here instead of lying in bed.
The past couple days in Glasgow have been great. Stuart and Alan have been tremendous hosts. Their flat is very close to two different train stations (one being the Glasgow subway another being a rail station), so I've been able to certainly take advantage of the proximity to public transit.
On Tuesday morning I had a "lie in", as they might say here, which means "sleeping late" or getting up late. I logged online briefly to check a couple emails, Facebook updates, and to look up the weather, which was not too encouraging - rain and wind, up to 24 mph gusts. I crawled out of bed, got my gear together, and showered for the first time in a couple days.
I headed out the door shortly after noon and meandered along some local streets to a money exchange near the Partick subway station which was about a nice 20 minute walk in sometimes rainy, sometimes sprinkly weather. Now that i had pounds sterling in my pocket, I could buy a subway ticket and proceed into the central city. I waited only a couple minutes for the subway to arrive. When i stepped on board, I couldn't believe how narrow the subway cars are! I had to duck to get in the car. Glasgow sure did dig very narrow tunnels or tubes underground in construction of their metro system.
After 4 or 5 stops, I got off at the Buchanan St station and walked upstairs to the main central city. I took out my umbrella and walked around the rather busy pedestrian shopping street of Buchanan St. I spotted a Starbucks and went in for some coffee and to plan a navigational route for the day. I had a hard time understanding the Starbucks barrista, due to the rapid Scottish accent. Though, after saying "Sorry?" to him, he repeated his questions to me (Is this to "Sit in" or "Take Away?", "Room for milk?", etc) in slower Scottish English. I sat at a large picture window overlooking the great city scene and drunk in the coffee and the atmosphere.
From there, I headed to George Square, which is probably the main central point of Glasgow, with the impressive City Council Chambers building taking up one whole side of the square (and the former central post office on another side, covered in scaffolding; and the former Bank of Scotland on another side -- quite an important place).
Glasgow City Council
I spotted the main tourist information office nearby the square, so I went inside to browse their little shop and to inquire about passage up to the Highlands. A very friendly guide gave me various options to get up to the Highlands, including tour buses, public buses, and the train. I figured on taking the train as that sounded much more pleasant than a bus. With some brochures and train schedules in hand, I went back outside into the rain and wind and walked out and around the shopping plazas of Glasgow. It really does seem that Glaswegians love their shopping! There are many shops of all sorts and sizes with people rushing in and out.
Due to the heavy rain and constant wind, I didn't take too many photos. instead, i browsed around the shops and bought a couple books at the large Borders Bookstore on Buchanan St. Looking back, I should have hopped on a tour bus to take in a museum or two, due to my short time here, but I am glad that i was able to explore the commercial part of the city.
Shortly after 5:30 or so, I went back to the subway station and waited in the crowds of commuters to get on the subway back towards Alan and Stuart's near the West End. Being rush-hour, and being the fact that one of the two lines was not running (essentially, the Glasgow subway is a huge circle around the city, literally, with one train going in one direction, and another in the other direction. The trains are painted ghastly orange, so the locals call the system "Clockwork Orange"). It wasn't quite like getting on a packed subway in Hong Kong or Singapore at rush hour, though still it was packed, and due to the cars being so tiny, I nearly got a mild case of claustrophobia.
Back at the Partick Station, I got off and walked back in the windy rain to a Marks & Spencer food store for some snacks and then back to the flat. Stuart was home from work (Alan was working at the wine shop), so we talked about the day and decided to take a quick drive up to Loch Lomond nearby.
Just a hint of blue sky in the lead sky at Loch Lomod
We hopped into the Mini and sped up the A82 motorway just outside Glasgow and pulled over at a couple vantage points, including near a little village called Luss. We each pulled our camear gear out of the car, since there was a pause in the rain and wind. I manage to click a few snapshots of the cloudy dark early evening scenery of the loch.
After some snapshots and thoughts about the water, we piled back into the car and drove a little more around the loch area, before heading back into town heavy rains came back.
Back in town, we stopped at the wine shop where Alan works to pick up a bottle and say "hello" to him. Stuart suggested some Italian take-away (carry-out) at a nearby restaurant, so we stopped there and picked up some absolutely delicious chicken pesto on pasta with garlic cheese toast. It went splendidly with the wine back at the flat. After watching some TV, talking politics, surfing the 'net with our laptops, and just generally "hanging out", it was past bedtime, so we all retired to sleep for the night.
Yesterday morning, I had another "lie in", though I didn't plan on it. I just couldn't get myself out of bed. I had a fairly busy day planned, though I'd have to curtail some of those plans. By the time I'd showered and gotten out to the train station (not the subway yesterday; instead I took the train into town which was faster and much less crowded), it was just after noon. I took the train to Glasgow Central station where I bought train tickets for the rail journey I'm taking in a couple hours up to the Highlands. With tickets in hand, I marched out into the not-as-rainy day and bought a City Tours bus ticket. This is one of those "hop-on/hop-off" tours that many cities have. I figured it'd be the best way to spend my time and see a couple sights.
Classic British-style taxi cab in central Glasgow
My first stop was the Glasgow Cathedral. I hopped off the old double decker tour bus and walked in the drizzle and wind to the Cathedral where I walked inside and milled about, taking numerous photos. Soon, a woman approached and gave me a mini tour of the cathedral with great tidbits of information about it, Scotland, and the Church of Scotland. After spending some time with her, I thanked her and carried about taking photos and then walked outside to walk up to the Necropolis just behind the cathedral grounds.
Inside the inspiring Glasgow Cathedral
At the top of the Necropolis hill, I paused to take in some photos (though it was to rainy and windy that taking a photo without water droplets on my lens was virtually impossible) and then slipped and fell walking down a grassy knoll as I headed back down to the cathedral.
A wet Brian atop the Necropolis Hill behind the Glasgow Cathedral
Back at the cathedral, I waited for one of the tourist buses to pick me up where I took the tour throughout the city passing through the central part of town, the old shipyards along the Clyde (where they are now building a British naval destroyer), the "Armadillo" Exhibition Center, the "squinty" bridge which looks very much like a twisted St. Louis Arch, and the Tall Ship museum. My next stop was the Glasgow University where I did a bit of shopping in their gift shop and very quickly walked around the grounds of the drop-dead gorgeous campus. I wish I could have spent more time there, though I was running out of hours in the day (it was nearly 4:30 by the time I finished walking around the campus); and needed to get back into town to head back to the flat.
I snapped a couple photos in the rain and gusty wind and listened to the various large groups of students as they exited their examination rooms (it's Exams week this week at the University). For some reason, I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie with all the students talking in Scottish accents throughout this beautiful campus (though they weren't wearing wizard gowns).
Back on the bus, I finished the tour and got back off at the George's Square, where I started. I got to the Glasgow Central station and waited for a train to take me back to the guys' flat. Stuart was home from work, so we got caught up and made plans to have dinner at a wonderful fish restaurant called Two Fat Ladies once Alan got home from work, which wasn't too much longer.
Dinner last night was beyond wonderful. I feasted on a cullen skink soup followed by scallops with black pudding, veggies, and a great light cream sauce. For desert, I had a pudding, which was more like a cake with toffee flavor on a bed of 'creme anglaise', or a light custard. Mmmm, mmm. I'm still kinda full.
Now, I need to shower up, finish the packing, and head out to the train station to head to Queen St. Station and my journey up to the Highlands.
Comments