With Edinburgh behind our backs, we took the 12 o'clock train to Glasgow. I had the fleeting thought that it was like San Francisco (which I liked), with the climbs up & down the street. Ok, the similarity ends there. After a quick bite at Costa Coffee, we strolled down the main street Sauchiehall Street and did some shopping.
Interestingly, We passed a place called "Rumours Kopitiam" from Malaysia and we were like "we will surely not visit it...I don't want to pay a few pounds for a teh/kopi here, which may or may not be authentic".
We didn't do much today and ended our day eating at a Spanish tapas place called la Tasca. Not too bad, but we over-ordered (they had some a-la-carte buffet thing going on). The only thing was that the waiter didn't hear our order right for drinks. We ordered 2 glasses of sangria and he came with a pitcher, which we could hardly finish. And that possibly aggravated my cold as I had a sore throat the next day.
Wonderful day today, not the weather, but what we did today. The weather was in fact drizzly with a cloudy sky, not to mention a bit cold. All the more so when were taking the open-top bus. We bought the hop on/off citysightseeing bus tickets (valid for 2 consecutive days) and visited 2 galleries (there was only time for 2 as they were only opened from 10am-5pm), besides taking in some of the sights of the city.
1st, we visited the Hunterian Art Gallery (free admission) which was at present exhibiting prints by Edvard Munch, the artist of "The Scream", which of course we saw 1 of the versions, a b&w print he did. He did a lot of work on prints, woodcuts, etchings, lithographs. as he felt that it was a faster way to "distribute" his art. Most were rather dark as he was rather obsessed with the theme of love & death, and the hopelessness of finding love. Many a melancholic theme.
The 2nd place we went was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. It's a very good gallery/museum and admission's free (ok, this possibly contributed to the "good" part, although there were some special exhibitions that needed tickets) ! All who go to Glasgow should visit it if you're interested in art. The French gallery was really nice with a good display detailing the styles of the Impressionism (which I love), post/neo-Impressionism works. Famous artists include Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, etc.
There was also 1 Rembrandt and an early work by Picasso, before he became part of the cubism movement.Some familiar English/UK names include John Constable and John Whistler.
We also discovered some really good works by Glaswegian artists like the Glasgow Boys, The Four, especially John Quinton Pringle (1865 - 1925), who's good with small-scale oils, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928). I'm quite fascinated by Mackintosh's works who was really ahead of his time with his really sleek & modern designs. In fact, his works would still be considered modern now. I just realised that some of the designs we see these days are really modelled after his.
We also viewed Dali's "Christ of St John of the Cross". Couldn't take any pics of the artwork, so you'll have to research on your own.
After a fulfilling time at the museum, we headed back to town centre where against our better judgment, decided to try out the Jap food at 1 of the outlets of this seemingly popular chain Wagamama. Not a single Jap in sight in the kitchen. Ha! It's true that we shouldn't try Asian food in Western cities, unless you're in Chinatown. But maybe London wouldn't be that bad.
7 July
This day saw us venturing out of the city centre to visit a distillery (Glengoyne) about an hour's bus ride away. Learnt quite a few things about whisky (also known as scotch). Like how it started (monks!), the distinct feature of all distilleries and the differences between different whiskies (single vs double malt). Of course what's visiting without some tasting? we paid for the tour package that included a taste of 2 whiskies of different ages. At first was wondering why they poured only a little (about one-third) into a shot glass. Haha! good thing they did coz the moment I took a sip, it was like something "burning" went down my throat. Well, not that serious, but it kept my tummy warm. What do you expect of a 70% alcohol content drink! Bought some minature bottles of whiskey & some whisky fudge to take home.
Thereafter, we headed back to the city. We missed the bus and waited another hour for it, which didn't leave us much time in the afternoon, except for some afternoon tea.
We headed to 1 of the Willow Tea Rooms (Buchanan Street), which was fitted with Mackintosh's interior designs and had our tea with cakes, scones and sandwiches, served on a 3-tier tea set.
That pretty much ended the day, with a last minute shot outside the Gallery of Modern Art, which we didn't have the opportunity to visit, but had a rather amusing statue outside.
We headed to 1 of the Willow Tea Rooms (Buchanan Street), which was fitted with Mackintosh's interior designs and had our tea with cakes, scones and sandwiches, served on a 3-tier tea set.
That pretty much ended the day, with a last minute shot outside the Gallery of Modern Art, which we didn't have the opportunity to visit, but had a rather amusing statue outside.
8 July
We booked a tour to Loch Ness and pulling ourselves up from bed, we made our way to the meeting point and started our journey. Our first stop was at Loch Lomond, which was huge! We passed through Glencoe, up to Fort Augustus, thereby reaching Loch Ness. Grabbed lunch 1st at The Lock Inn as it started to rain, which served a really good fish & chips, made with really fresh haddock. After that, we took a quick walk to see Loch Ness, which unfortunately didn't turn up Nessie. After that, we took the journey back down to Glasgow, passing by Stirling Castle and stopping by in Pitlochry on the way.
It's a bit difficult to describe the whole journey, so I'll leave it to my photos to detail it later on.
It was interesting to note the differences in the buildings from town/village to town/village.
That marks the end of Glasgow for us before we return to London.
We booked a tour to Loch Ness and pulling ourselves up from bed, we made our way to the meeting point and started our journey. Our first stop was at Loch Lomond, which was huge! We passed through Glencoe, up to Fort Augustus, thereby reaching Loch Ness. Grabbed lunch 1st at The Lock Inn as it started to rain, which served a really good fish & chips, made with really fresh haddock. After that, we took a quick walk to see Loch Ness, which unfortunately didn't turn up Nessie. After that, we took the journey back down to Glasgow, passing by Stirling Castle and stopping by in Pitlochry on the way.
It's a bit difficult to describe the whole journey, so I'll leave it to my photos to detail it later on.
It was interesting to note the differences in the buildings from town/village to town/village.
That marks the end of Glasgow for us before we return to London.
*****
Somehow, I seem to like Glasgow better than Edinburgh, maybe because of the artsy feel to the place. So many more things to cover, but yet so little time. Same for Edinburgh too.
Somehow, I seem to like Glasgow better than Edinburgh, maybe because of the artsy feel to the place. So many more things to cover, but yet so little time. Same for Edinburgh too.
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