YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO DREAM-PART II

OUR ADVENTURES IN SCOTLAND

Our flight from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to Glasgow Scotland Airport took only a couple of hours. Once we had landed, went through customs and picked up our luggage, we grabbed a bus to take us to Queen Street Train station in Glasgow. The plan was to stow our luggage at the station, grab a quick lunch, do a little walking tour around the city and then return to the station and take the train to our hotel in West Edinburgh.

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My son, David, had so much he wanted to show me. We started by exiting the Queen Street Station and crossing the street to George Square. This was an awesome experience for me. When David was attending Strathclyde University in Glasgow, I would check the weather in Glasgow on a daily basis via the George Square webcam. Now, I was standing there in person.

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We grabbed a quick take away lunch at GREGGS, right across the street from George Square. Then we began our walking tour. The first place David wanted to take me was Strathclyde University. It had been his home for almost a year while he attended university there to obtain his double master’s degree in history. As we made our way to Strathclyde, we passed by the Gallery of Modern Art and the Duke of Wellington statue. This statue features the Duke atop a horse with a traffic cone on his head. Now, one advantage of having a history professor, i.e. my son, as your tour guide, he knows all the facts about such things. This statue was installed in 1844. David told me that locals started placing a traffic cone on top of his head in the 1980’s. Rumor has it, it was to show their sense of humor. 🙂

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When we reached Strathclyde, he showed me where he lived, Chancellor’s Hall located on Rottenrow. He also showed me the buildings where he attended classes and took my photo in front of the Colville building. As we stood on the overlook, I took photos of the James Weir building and some of the other older university buildings. It was nice to finally get to see all the things he used to describe to me when we would talk on the phone while he was there.

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After our tour of Strathclyde, we took a four minute walk to St. Mungo Glasgow Cathedral, located on Castle Street. It was constructed in the Middle Ages and is the oldest cathedral located in Scotland. It was built in the 1100’s and dedicated as a Roman Catholic church in 1136. It managed to survive reformation. It is a beautiful structure with many ornate windows. Not far from St. Mungo is the memorial statue of Scottish physician, David Livingstone.

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As we made our way back to Queen Street station, I was able to grab some photos of an awesome mural painted on the side of one of the buildings. At the station we retrieved our luggage and boarded our ScotRail train to take us to Edinburgh. We didn’t know it at the time but the location of our hotel was very convenient for train travel as there was a small station right across the street. Speaking of hotels, I must say that David picked us some pretty nice accomodations. In both Edinburgh and Glasgow we stayed at the Premier Inn. My room in Edinburgh was very nice and I had a nice, although far away, view of Edinburgh Castle. We also took advantage of the fine restaurant in the hotel and then turned in early.

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We were up bright and early on Saturday morning to catch the train into the center of the city. We only had a few hours for a quick look around before we had to be back in time to check out of our hotel. We arrived at Waverly Station in Edinburgh and set off by foot towards the royal mile. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful architecture and the hilly landscape. As we made our way uphill, we passed by many quaint shops and I did a little shopping.

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We continued along the royal mile and passed by St. Giles’ Cathedral, The Scotch Whisky Experience: an attraction that tells the history of Scotch Whisky in Scotland in a replica distillery, ( the building that houses this was originally the Castlehill School that closed in 1951 ) before finally arriving to the Esplanade area of Edinburgh Castle. Workers were busy setting up the Esplanade for a special event so we moved on.

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We headed downhill as David had something very special he wanted me to see. Two miles later, we found ourselves in Holyrood Park. Located on one side of the park is the Scottish Parliament building. The modern design of this building is a sharp contrast to the architecture of the city itself. You can also see and access Arthur’s Seat from the park. Arthur’s Seat is what is left of an extinct volcano. It has an elevation of over 800 feet. There is a trail to climb to the top but we passed on that. Also located by the park is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the home of Queen Elizabeth when she visits Edinburgh-one week each summer. It was built in the latter half of the 1600’s. We made our journey on foot back to Waverly Station and took the train back to our hotel with just enough time to retrieve our luggage and check out. Then it was time to catch the train to Glasgow for three more days of adventure in Scotland.

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From Queen Station in Glasgow we took the under/overground subway to Charing Cross station in Glasgow. Again, the station was right by our Premier Inn hotel. This time my room overlooked the beautiful architecture of the Mitchell Library as well as the towers of the University of Glasgow in the distance. It was raining quite heavily when we first arrived but eased off so we headed back to Queen Station. My son was meeting up with a friend of his and I was going to do a little shopping. I promised not to get lost and to text him when I was finished. I headed towards the Princess Square Shopping Centre, just a few blocks from George Square.

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Princess Square Shopping Center is located off Buchanan Street. There are many unique shops and eateries on both sides of the brick paved plaza. At the other end of the plaza is St. Eunich Square and shopping. It is hard to believe that at one time there were train tracks and a beautiful hotel around the small St. Eunich Underground Station that still exists. Today, these tracks and hotel are gone and the original underground station and entrance have been replaced by a futuristic station located near the historic station. Today, the old entry station has been turned into a coffee bar.

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One of my favorite shops in the area was “Tartan House of Scotland.” I spent quite a bit of time shopping there. I purchased 100% lambs wool tartan scarves for my daughter, granddaughter and grandson. For myself I purchased the larger tartan shawl. I have since turned it into a cape. While strolling the plaza, I also came across a young Scot playing the bagpipes. Most of my time was spent simply soaking in all the history and beauty the city has to offer. When finished, I texted my son and we returned to our hotel, ate a great meal in the hotel restaurant and then called it a day.

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Sunday we were up again early as we had much we wanted to see, all of which required us to cover a lot of ground via walking. This time we took the subway into Glasgow Central Station. We walked down to the River Clyde, checked out St. Andrews Catholic Church and then made our way to the University of Glasgow and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

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Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is an awesome place! We spent two hours looking at historical artifacts, the natural history section, pottery and more amazing artwork. David wanted to show me something very special but didn’t tell me what it was until we got to a special room. It was a small room and contained just one piece of artwork-the painting of “Christ of St. John of the Cross” painted in 1951 by Salvador Dali. There are not enough words to describe its awesomeness.

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Kelvingrove is another museum you could spend days in but David was meeting another friend at 1:00 so we walked back to Central Station and took the subway back to our hotel. David went on his way and I took advantage of the special being offered in a little place right by our hotel. It was called “The Baby Grand” and was offering bacon, eggs and toast for £ 5.95. It was a charming bar/café and I really enjoyed sitting there watching the other patrons come and go as I ate. After fortifying myself, I decided to do a little wandering. Using my cell phone as a map, I walked two blocks to Sauchiehall Street and then about six blocks along there to do a little shopping. What did I find-a T.K. Maxx-the British version of our T.J. Maxx. I went in and purchased another carry-on to take all of my gift purchases back home with me. It was easy to find my way back to the hotel as I knew to turn at the gorgeous art-deco building I had passed.

Before I headed out to shop I had made dinner reservations for us in the hotel restaurant. As we were eating, I told David about my adventures. I mentioned the art-deco building and he knew right away what I was talking about. It is called the Beresford Building. It was built in 1938 as a hotel. From the mid 1960’s until 2004 it was used as student residence building for University of Strathclyde students. It has been privately owned since then and currently consists of privately owned flats.

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Even though we would have liked to see a little more, Monday morning found us walking several blocks with laundry in hand to the nearest laundromat we could find. Once we completed this task we returned to Queen Street Station and we both did a little shopping. Around 3:00 we made ready to take the train to Balloch, Scotland. Balloch is a charming little village that is basically at the end of the train line. However, the thing that makes Balloch so special is Loch Lomond. It was a short walk from the station. The Loch is quite large and we only walked along the southern portion. We found several good walking paths and took advantage of them. It was a very peaceful and beautiful walk but began to rain just as we reached the station.

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My son had made arrangements for a good friend of his to pick us up at Balloch when he got out of work. He lived a short distance from there in Milton, right along the River Clyde. He and his significant other had invited us to dinner. Their home was beautiful and had a gorgeous view of the river. Dinner was delicious and it was wonderful to finally get to meet David’s friend. We talked for hours and it was midnight by the time David’s friend drove us back to Glasgow and we arrived back at our hotel. The next day we would be leaving Glasgow and heading to new locations. To find out where-read Part III coming in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, stay home if you can and stay safe and healthy

AS ALWAYS—“DON’T SAVE TODAY FOR TOMORROW”