Glasgow

Ok, so I should be working on my loads of homework, but it's late here and I'm just not into it. So, let me update you on the details of my first excursion outside the great city of Edinburgh.

Some of us have been getting pretty restless from school work and seeing the same things in Edinburgh over and over again so we decided it would be the perfect time to visit a new city and see what Glasgow had to offer. After making arrangements for bus rides and an overnight hostel stay, we left for Glasgow at 9:30 on Saturday morning. The Edinburgh Bus Station was kind of a hike from Pollock, but we made it in plenty of time. By train, the estimated time of travel is about an hour, the bus was estimated to take a little longer but we thought it was worth it to save a few extra pounds. All in all the bus ride was fairly easy. It took only a little over an hour, making one stop and we got to see parts of Edinburgh and Scottish countryside we've never seen before, including my first glimpse of some authentic Scottish sheep! After an extremely short bus ride, we arrived in Glasgow around 10:45. The station was right near City Center and the hostel was within walking distance. The hostel, which was right along the River Clyde, proved to be a little farther than expected, but definitely a manageable walk. We couldn't officially check in yet, but they took our information and we were able to leave our stuff at the reception desk while we went out to explore. Unfortunately, there was a mix up with Ashley and my online registration and they refused to give us the student discount but even without it, the stay only cost 15 pounds which I didn't think was too bad considering the location, that they provided bed linen, personal lockers, and a continental breakfast. We dropped our stuff off and made our way to the GoMA, Glasgow's Museum of Modern Art. They had a lot of cool modern art from many artists I've never heard of before. Though it wasn't nearly as impressive as New York's MoMA, it definitely was a worthwhile stop. Next, we decided to grab some lunch. We looked around for a bit but finally decided on picking up some Gregg's and eating in the train station. I don't know if I've mentioned Gregg's before but it's a chain they have all over the UK that serves sandwiches and pastries. They have these things called chicken bakes which are basically heaven in a flaky crust. It tastes just like chicken pot pie and you can get 2 for only 1.50. Since being here, they have quickly become one of my favorite parts of Scotland, haha. Anyways, though Gregg's is quite cheap and delicious, they lack seating so we got our food and went across to eat in the train station. There we filled up and made a plan to head over the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis while the sun was still kind of out. On the walk over to the Cathedral, we stopped by City Chambers. Since it was Saturday, they were closed and we couldn't go in, but seeing the architecture from the outside was quite impressive. When we arrived at Glasgow Cathedral, they were having a concert by a chanting medieval choir. We were still allowed to look around but we had to make sure to be very quiet. It was pretty cool to walk around and look at everything while hearing some authentic chanting in the background. The architecture of the Cathedral was beautiful on both the inside and outside. Unfortunately due to the lack of light inside, my pictures don't really do it justice. After looking around for a bit, we headed out to the Necropolis right behind the cathedral. My guidebook said you were supposed to be able to see great views of the city from the top. The Necropolis was filled with lots of large beautiful graves and mausoleums. The sky had started to cloud over which provided the perfect atmosphere for walking around a graveyard. It was pretty spooky. Unfortunately, the overcast sky made the views of Glasgow not as impressive as one may have hoped, but it was still nice to be able to look out over everything. After the Necropolis, we contemplated going to another museum but realized that if we were going to make it in time for tea, we'd have to head to there instead. We went and had tea at one of the Willow Tea Rooms. My guidebook says "First opened in 1904, this became the most famous of local entrepreneur Kate Cranston's revolutionary tea rooms, where respectable men and women could meet up, in private or in public, without the shadow of the 'demon' drink." It was really nice to sit down and relax and have my first official British tea time since being here. We all got a pot of tea and a desert, and it proved to be the perfect way to relax after walking around so much. Leaving there, we found ourselves in a main shopping area so we decided to poke around in some shops. After some shopping, we decided it was time we should head back to the hostel and officially check in and get ready for dinner. We were staying in 14 person dorm rooms, which I think everyone was a little nervous about at first, but they proved to be fine. The four girls were together on the ninth floor while me and Ryan were put in the same room on the fifth. The rooms were clean and each had their own bathroom facilities. I took the bottom bed to Ryan's top and tried to just think of it as summer camp, haha. We got all set up, and changed, and headed out for some dinner. Adrienne's guidebook suggested a cheap noodle bar that sounded good. It was kind of a hike to get there but the walk was worth it. It was definitely some of the best Chinese food I've had in awhile. After dinner, Adrienne wasn't feeling very well so we walked back to the hostel with her. Ashley was really tired so she decided to stick behind as well. The rest of us decided we wanted to go check out a club so we got a recommendation from the guy at the desk of a place that was cheap and played good music. Again, it ended up being kind of far, but worth it. We didn't have to pay a cover charge and they played pretty good music. After dancing for a little while, we decided to call it a night and head home.

Sunday morning, Ryan and I met the girls for breakfast. The breakfast wasn't too exciting but it was food that was already paid for so no use in complaining. We ate and figured out where we wanted to go for the day. We decided to start off at the People's Palace. To get there, we walked through Glasgow Green, the oldest park in Scotland. The People's Palace is an interactive museum all about the people of Glasgow. It was pretty interesting. They talked about Glasgow during the World Wars and how it has emerged from being a city known for being dirty and poverty stricken to more of a cultural center. After looking all through that, we decided to head over to The Barras, a large flea market not too far from Glasgow Green. It was kind of a let down. It was basically a bunch of booths selling crappy merchandise so we didn't stick around there too long. We left there and headed back towards City Center. On the way we found an Italian place to eat which was pretty good, but the waitress didn't really know how to divide up our check so I think some of us ended up overpaying, not by too much though. We headed back to City Center and after shopping some more, we headed back to the hostel. We had some time to spare before catching the bus but we were all pretty tired so we hung out in the hostel bar and watched some of the Chelsea vs. Liverpool futball match. We had been reading about fried Mars bars being a Glasgow thing so Adrienne asked at the desk where to get some. The lady said we just needed to go to the store and get some and then take them to a chips shop and they would fry them up for us. We tried a couple places but neither were willing to do it and the last one said no one really does it anymore, so we just ate the Mars bars plain. They were still delicious. By then, it was time to head back to the bus station and back to Edinburgh. The ride home (still a weird feeling to consider Edinburgh 'home') felt even faster. I got back to my room and did some homework and turned in for an early night.

All in all, it was a good weekend! We were able to do a lot and not spend too much money so that was really nice. It was cool to explore a different part of the country and compare and contrast the two. Glasgow was a nice place to visit, but I feel as far as living goes, I picked the better Scottish city.

I've added some pictures from the weekend. I apologize for the darkness of some of them. The gray skies that lasted most of the weekend made picture taking somewhat difficult, but I hope you enjoy them! http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/Glasgow?authkey=aWVzFh4ud6M#

Unfortunately, this week does not seem like it will be too exciting. I have a lot of work to get done. I just finished Moll Flanders and have to have Pamela read for my English class by next Tuesday, my first ethnology tutorial is this Thursday, it's my turn to lead discussion in my history tutorial, and I have my first essay (2,500 words) for my history class due next Thursday. A lot to do, but I'm confident I can get it all done, or at least most of it. This Sunday, we have tickets to the Scotland v. Wales match of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament so that should be something exciting to look forward to.

Hope all is well with all of you!