Last Day - Shopping and Having Tea

This morning I actually got up an hour earlier than I planned, which is a good thing.  I have to get up REALLY early tomorrow.  The plan was to visit the Barras market, then map out my path to the shuttle bus to the airport.

Waste of a morning.  I expected a cool market like in most cities in Europe (or even elsewhere in the UK) but Barras was a huge disappointment. It's in a rather depressed area of the city and most of the dealers there appear to be selling found items without much organization.  There was one building where it did seem that there was some pride of ownership in their shops, but the rest was just dirty and depressing.  I didn't last long there.

I headed back to Merchant City and resorted to stopping in a few cheezy tourist shops.  I wandered through one of the malls, and around Argyle and Buchanan streets.  I briefly toyed with buying a bottle of my Dalwhinnie whiskey, but decided not to (good thing, as I found I can get it at home for less at Specks).

 It was finally lunch, so I decided to have tea at the Willow Tea Room on Buchanan.

Yes, we've seen this photo before, but I wanted to take you back here and explain that this particular tea room is a re-creation of one of the tea rooms designed my Rennie Macintosh.  The original Miss Cranston's Tea Room on Buchannan was actually in the building next door here

And yes, we've seen this picture before too.  The building is pretty notable with it's stripey exterior.  However, this was not one of the tea rooms designed by Macintosh.  The new tea room is designed after the ones Miss Cranston owned on Ingram Street with the White Dining Room and Chinese (Blue) Room.  Bits of both rooms were in the Kelvingrove yesterday.

Along with this original chair from the White Dining Room.  Replicas of this particular chair were in the tea room I went to (and you could actually special order one if you wanted to).

It was actually quite busy, but I did get a table quickly.  I did not sit in one of the high backed chairs, but along the wall on a banquette.  I ordered afternoon tea.

This is actually after I attacked the food and demolished the cucumber sandwich that was also there.  There were 4 sandwiches (cucumber, smoked salmon, cheese, and egg mayonaise), a scone with cream and strawberry jam, a bit of buttered shortbread, and a strawberry tart.  I ate everything but the salad garnish.  I impressed the elderly English couple at the next table.

After tea, I bought a tin of their tea and a pair of Macintosh earrings.  Then headed out for more shopping and found myself on Sauchiehall Street.  Since I was there, I decided to find the REAL Willow tea rooms.

While still lovely,  you can see that the building is in need of a bit of restoration. 

It still does retain its Art Deco charm and most of its original fixtures.

And nifty decorative metalwork.  There are two floors inside, the ground floor (which I believe is referred to as The Gallery) is a gift shop and the second is the infamous Room de Luxe.   

I then headed out to the Queen Street Bus station and found the bus stop for the Airport shuttle.  I then traced my steps to the flat so I can find my way there early tomorrow morning.  It's a bit of a hike, but no further than how far I walked when I first got to Glasgow.  

So, I'll finish up this post, and organize myself.  Everything will be packed in the next couple of hours.  See you at the airport. 

A Long Day at Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum.

Kelvingrove is one of many Glasgow museums all run by the city.  One thing I've learned is that the city's collection is interchangeable and can move from one museum to another.  An example of this is the Dali panting I mentioned yesterday (we'll get to that later).  My plan was to try to get to two museums today, but Kelvingrove was so big and had so much that it wore me out.

I rode the Glasgow Subway for the first time today.  The trains go in one big oval, one clockwise, the other counterclockwise.  They are the inner and outer loops.  I managed to get off too early, but the walk wasn't too far.  It was a little colder today than it has been, so I was glad to get inside.

I grabbed myself a map of the museum and figured out where everything was that I really wanted to see.  First to the Macintosh stuff

A lot of emphasis is put on the contributions of Charles Rennie, but this is a work of his wife's Margaret Macdonald Macintosh called The May Queen.  Before becoming a panel hanging on the wall of Miss Cranston's Tea Room, it was exhibited in Vienna where it influenced Gustav Klimt (theory is that it specifically influenced his Beethoven Mural).  

These are two Charles Rennie Macintosh original chairs.  The first was commissioned for a study in a private home, the second for one of Miss Cranston's Tea Rooms.

There was also a good collection of works by the Glasgow Boys as well.  Unfortunately, I did not write down who did this piece, but it reminds me of the Maria robot in the Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

They had a decent collection of French Impressionists, including the required Monet...but not one of his best.  Strangely enough, this lovely Van Gogh was included in that collection.  It is not a self-portrait, but a portrait of Alexander Reid.  Although Van Gogh painted many of his works in France, and was greatly influenced by the French Impressionists...I think the Dutch would have something to say about classifying him as French.  Just sayin'

Any for my Pre-Raphaelite friends...

Burne-Jones' Danae or The Tower of Brass.   If that's not enough

How about his Angel?  Sorry these are all at an angle, but they're all behind glass and I wanted to avoid a glare.

I, of course, had not yet seen what I had come to see.  Everyone's favorite...

Salvadore Dali's Christ of St. John of the Cross.  This will always be one of my all time favorite works of art.  It was once vandalized because it was very controversial and seen as blasphemous.  There is a very interesting documentary on the restoration on Youtube



This was not just an art museum, but a history museum as well.

They had a really cool exhibit of armor 

As well as many historical exhibits of both Glasgow and all of Scotland.  This is a nifty yachting trophy.

The museum itself was interesting as well

It boasted a great pipe organ and I was there for the daily performance.  It was a lot of fun listening to it while touring the exhibits.

After I walked the whole blessed place, I checked out the gift shops.  They did not have a poster of the painting I wanted to bring home. George Henry and E A Hornel's The Druids - Bringing in the Mistletoe but they only had it in framed prints...which I am not bringing home on the plane.

I went to the cafe and treated myself to tea, which was....eh...  I'll go to the Willow Tea Room tomorrow.

On the way out, I found an old friend

This is another piece that has migrated museums.  When I was working at Borders in Glasgow, it was at the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art and you could see it through one of the store's windows.  I was wondering what happened to him as I didn't see him in the GoMA when I was there a couple of days ago. 

I got back on the Subway and got off at the right stop without incident.  I stopped in at the VERY posh Frazier's department store on the way back just for the fun of it.  Didn't have time to visit the People's Palace like I'd hoped.  I think I'll survive not visiting Billy Connolly's Banana Boots. 

City of the Dead - What Could be More Fun?

Today I visited my favorite bits of Glasgow, the most favorite being the Necropolis.  City of the Dead...Wooohooo!! Oh, and this is gonna be a HUGE blog post kids.  I'll try not to bore you with graveyard photos or architectural bits

Got up later than I wanted to...yadda yadda...you've heard it before.  I got up, showered, ate breakfast and headed out in the direction of Cathedral Square.  I can happily report that I did not get lost at all.  Although, I did get a pleasant surprise on the way.

If I didn't know better, I'd say someone in a blue box was stalking me.  The blue box was good news, there was also bad news right around the corner (literally).

Glasgow Cathedral is undergoing restoration.  While not bad news for the Cathedral (which, admittedly, needs a lot of work), it bummed me out as I couldn't get a good photo of the front.  Well, at least I did last time I was here, so I will live with that. 

And we have some lovely gargoyles.

This is my all time favorite Gargoyle EVER. I have a framed photo of him at home from my last trip.  He does a very good job glaring down and guarding the doorway.

And more Gargoyles

As well as what appears to be some late 18th century graffiti. 

Glasgow Cathedral is the only Gothic cathedral on the mainland of Scotland to survive the Reformation, although the interior was stripped of all Catholic trappings.  I especially love the copper roof. 

Despite having been stripped, it's still lovely inside.

This is the upper part of the pulpitum, which has survived from the 15th century, with the lovely ceiling above it.

This is the main altar.

This is another altar in one of the chapels.

This is the rose window which, unfortunately, is partially hidden by scaffolding on the inside of the cathedral as part of the restoration. 

This is a lovely window which I believe is more modern than most.  Yes, I like the colors.

This window has an image of St. Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow who is entombed in this cathedral.  His shrine once stood in the cathedral and was the destination of many a Medieval pilgrim.  You can still visit his tomb (I did).  It's WAY too dark down there to take photos, and I just don't feel comfortable taking flash photos in a church.  

This is the Blackadder Aisle, which has nothing to do with Rowan Atkinson, and everything to do with Archbishop Blackadder, who had it built. 

The aisle is an addition to the side of the cathedral and is famous for its lovely ceiling. 

 Then it was time to head out behind the Cathedral to the Necropolis, which sits on the hill behind it.  You have to cross The Bridge of Sighs (no, not the one in Venice).  

I'm just going to post a crapload of photos now with a bit of sparce commentary. 

There are a LOT of Celtic crosses in this cemetery...go figure.

This is one of my favorites from my last trip.  I think I used her on a Christmas card one year.

This was actually inside one of the crypts, I'm surprised it came out so well as it was very dark. (I shot it through the grate over the entrance)

Here is a closeup of the main figure of the one above, it's a bit creepy, right?

Looks like students aren't climbing up to put glasses on this one anymore.  

This is a particularly lovely variety of Japanese Maple.  The leaves were a gorgeous peach color.

I was wondering around in there for several hours and circled it entirely.  I then headed down to the St. Mungo Museum of Religious life.  It was little changed from the last time I was there, except for my main reason for visiting.  The Salvador Dali painting "Christ of St. John of the Cross" is no longer there.  It's been moved to the Kelvingrove.  Feh.  So I had tea and a pastry in the museum cafe and headed out.  

Here's another lovely church I happened upon nearby.

Here's more of it.

The street lamps at Cathedral Square show the Glasgow Coat of Arms.

This is the Provand's Lordship, the oldest house in Glasgow.  It dates back to Medieval times, in the mid 15th century.

One last time before we leave Cathedral Square...LOL.

I headed back toward Merchant City and went past the Tollbooth.  I decided to go around taking photos of the lovely Victorian architecture.  Let me just throw some at you.

I ate dinner at one of the restaurants in Prince's Square.  One glass of wine, and I felt like going to bed, so I headed back...

I tell you...I'm being followed.