Leaving Edinburgh, we caught the train at Waverley Station for Glasgow at 10:00 and enjoyed the 50 minute ride across the Scottish countryside, arriving at Charring Cross station which is right beside our hotel…how convenient!
A quick and easy check-in and off we went on foot to explore the west side of the city on this beautiful sunny day (again). First stopping point was the Kelvin Grove Art Gallery which is free admission to the public and is designed to be interactive and educational for people of all ages. What a marvelous place with something for everyone from priceless paintings from all the masters to dinosaur skeletons to (best surprise of all) a full sized Harry Clark stained glass window, and so much more. The building itself is phenomenal and contains a full sized pipe organ in the Great Hall. Luckily, we caught a 1:00 recital … wonderful acoustics.
Carrying on, we strolled the beautiful park walkway along the Kelvin River for a kilometer or so until we came to the Glasgow Botanical Gardens with its multiple glass conservatories filled with exotic plants from every corner of the planet…also free admission to the public. Truly spectacular and the oxygen level inside the glass houses is invigorating.
Hungry from all the hiking and marvelling at the wonders we had seen, we found the perfect place for lunch at The Ubiquitous Chip, totally different than anything we have every seen before and very much like dining inside one of the garden conservatories at the botanical gardens… with its assorted trees and plants, glass ceilings, and silk screen wall art…it was incredible. The food was great and the service wonderful. Our waiter (German fellow) gave us some sight seeing tips for the city.
Heading back toward our hotel, we had one more stop planned… at the Hunterian Museum on the campus of Glasgow University – again, free admission to the public (that’s three free admission today). This place is like a miniature Museum of Science and Natural History and is totally fantastic – from the ancient Romans right up through the ages to modern medicine and everything in between (except for the arts).
Fully exhausted from seven hours of walking and sight seeing, we crashed in our hotel room to upload pics and blog the day’s adventures. Tomorrow we will see the city’s downtown and, I expect, will be just as impressed.
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