What colour were those eyes?
Trip Start
Dec 22, 2007
1
19
26
Trip End
Jan 16, 2008
Glasgow,
United Kingdom
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Chatted with the bunkmates - one was an Aussie student studying in Paris - she thought I was American at first and later apologized for it. She'd been sleeping since I arrived at 9 last night, and obviously forgot to remove her make-up before sleeping - scary! Think Alice Cooper!
Off to the train station - the leftover pizza from last night didn't fill me up, so I picked up a banana and a bottle of water. It was pretty expensive for so little. Interesting note - a round-trip Edinburgh-Glasgow ticket used in the same day is actually the same price as a one-way ticket. The 10:00 train was canceled but it worked out well because the 9:45 train was delayed long enough for me to hop aboard.
Arriving in Glasgow - the outlying areas aren't much to look at. I grabbed a bacon/brie/cranberry/spinach baguette from "Upper Crust" at the train station. Good stuff! I wish they had a sandwich chain like this back home.
As I walked into Glasgow's TI - a Paolo Nutini song came on - very fitting, since he is a Scot born just outside of Glasgow. First stop - Glasgow Museum of Modern Art. It's nice that they actually allow flash photography. The museum was nothing special, but hey - it was free! It did have a pretty cool little library/café in the basement with 30 minutes of free internet.
I left the museum and continued walking around town. I grabbed some pastries to snack on before going to the Glasgow School of Art. The building itself was designed by Mackintosh, Glasgow's renowned artist and designer. There was a neat painting done by his wife, employing the Gesso technique, a rarely-used method because it is so time-consuming and painstaking. She used wires and beads of paint to slowly build up a textured drawing. It took her 1.5 years to complete it - she started the painting shortly after her miscarriage. Some kind of therapy ...
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the style of the painting looked like something from the Mucha Museum in Prague. Mackintosh is often compared to Gaudi - sorry, but I find Gaudi's work much more impressive. But maybe that's because Gaudi's work is more distinctive, and less copied? Mackintosh's Art Nouveau style can be found everywhere - perhaps I prefer Gaudi's work because it didn't permeate the art/design world like Mackintosh's, or perhaps I just don't have the discerning eye to fully appreciate Mackintosh.
There was also a temporary exhibit that had some casts of famous works like Michelangelo's "The Dying Slave" and also one of the "Winged Victory of Samothrace". The highlight of the Art School was this cute little baby that was crawling on the ground. He saw some crappy art display that was spread about the floor and made a beeline for it - I've never seen a baby move so fast before! His mother had to dash halfway across the room to stop him before he touched it. Too funny!
The School of Art was alright but it certainly wasn't worth the 6.5 GBP entrance fee. The building itself wasn't that great, though the tour guide couldn't stop going on and on about Mackintosh's brilliance. Before leaving, I needed to get my backpack from the gift shop. The girl commented - "You had the heavy bag, right?" Too funny - I guess it's that 1.5 L bottle of water I always like to carry with me.
I wanted to check out the Tenement house, but it was closed for the winter. There isn't that much to see here in Glasgow - I really should've just done a day trip here. Supposedly the nightlife is great here, but I probably wouldn't take advantage of that anyway.
It was very cold and rainy, so I hid out inside "Black Vanilla", a cool little coffee shop for a while. After some tea and some journal writing, I was warm and ready to brave the elements once more. I did LOTS of shopping along Sauchiehall and Buchanan streets - not because I wanted to, but because I wanted to get out of the cold! I also strolled through Buchanan Galleries, a modern mall, in search of some decent fast food for dinner. I had no luck, so I popped into Sainsbury's for a quick snack to tide me over until I decided what to do. A three-bean chili stuffed pastry - surprisingly good!
I headed over to the hostel but popped into another grocery store, Somerfield's, to grab some water first. I noticed that they were selling 2 L for 0.12 GBP - how could they sell it so cheaply? I got scared off of buying it because I figured it would be from the toilet or from the river.
The hostel isn't so great - last night I was spoiled with a nice thick mattress, but tonight I was stuck with a crappy thin one. The place kind of reminds me of the hostel I stayed in at Frankfurt (see Euro 2007 blog entitled "A question for the ages: 'Why??!!?'") - both have bad vibes, though this one also feels a bit like a giant bar.
I watched a bit of TV in the lounge - there are some pretty brutal storms pummeling Scotland right now, with winds of up to 150 kph! At least, that's what I overheard some other hostel guests say. I did a bit more journal writing as I watched, before leaving for dinner.
As I stepped into the elevator, I was greeted by two of the most beautiful eyes you will ever see - blue, green, blue-green, blue-grey, green-grey, blue-grey-green - I'm really not sure what they were because of my slight colour-blindness, but they were a gorgeous colour. I was kind of tired from a long day and was taken aback as soon as I saw her - all I could muster was "Uh ....
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hello?" Smooth ... real smooth ... Off for dinner - I couldn't find anything that tickled my fancy so I settled for something cheap, instead. I ended up at a chain-type pub - I needed a coke because I was so tired. I opted for the mozzarella and roasted pepper burger. I noticed that they have a large selection condiments available - ketchup, mustard, malt vinegar, brown sauce, mayonnaise, tartar sauce, and salad cream.
The burger was crap - I could see into the kitchen and it had been sitting under the heat lamp for at least five minutes. The fries were crisp, but lacked salt. The burger was fried - more like chicken-fried steak than a burger, it was a crappy patty. Though it was out of a jar, the roasted pepper sauce was actually pretty good, and the burger was placed under the broiler for a moment to melt and brown the cheese. There were some nice assorted greens, with tomatoes, cukes, and onions for the salad. There was some weird, creamy dressing to go with it.
They were pretty much fast food prices at this place so I really shouldn't complain so much. I ended up paying 3.75 GBP for the burger. I didn't tip, seeing as how the waitress walked by the kitchen several times and never delivered me my burger while it was fresh. The place was called Lauder's - definitely a bad place for food, since the meals are all "instant" and everything is mostly assembled from pre-made ingredients. But it's an acceptable place if you don't want to spend too much money for a meal.
After a short walk, it was back to the hostel. Watched "Identity", a pretty crappy horror/suspense flick in the lounge. Did some journal writing, as well. Noticed that the hostel bar was selling a 5-pint bong of beer for 13 GBP! Surprising that it was still pretty dead inside! .
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