There’s a lot to be said for Glasgow
We enjoyed the Lighthouse, the Cathedral and Necropolis, the Burrell Collection, Pollock House and Park, the hippy cows. Kibble Palace was magical from the inside with the soft mildewy light. We overdosed on Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Art library lived up to its reputation as one of the 5 must-see architectural sites in the world. An Leabhar Mor or The Great Book of Gaelic at the Museum of Modern Art was an amazing anthology of poets, artists and calligraphers.
The cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants were brilliant. The Ballet Boyz at the Theatre Royal put on a great show. The fireworks and Christmas lights in George Square provided a fun ending to a perfect weekend away. And yes it was cold but most of the time the sun shone brilliantly.
We did our best with the local beer, Tennent. The fact that we found it undrinkable is no slur on Glasgow, its a “british beers thing” in general. Aside from a few select ales our puny Australian/Dutch beer-genes can’t drink this alcoholless-tasteless-swampy-stuff.
But the best thing of all was the underground. If Jules Verne had designed a machine in which to make the journey to the center of the earth then it would have borne some resemblance to this. Otherwise it could just as well have been the train Snow-white’s dwarves used to get down to the mines each day.
A renoavtion at the end of the 1970’s earned it the nickname “Clockwork Orange” but has not done much to hide its Victorian roots. A combination of a victorian imagination and a fairy-tale railway built for the little people, the underground manages to cleverly disguise itself as a bona-fide public transport system. With wee little carriages, wee little tunnels and wee little seats.
Which brings me to another really good thing about Glasgow. At least 50% of the poulation are shorter than me! (After living in the Netherlands two years this means a lot!)
postcards from the north 