On the other side of the motorway running through Glasgow is the Westend. The part of town where one of the Universities is located and student life's buzzing. We woke early and took the bus to Westend so when we arrived the streets were deserted and the restaurants and pubs were still closed. This made for a particular atmosphere, which I loved. We walked through the streets and alleys and watched the city wake up.

We visited the beautiful old University and afterwards the Kelvingrove Museum. The latter is a wonderful collection, an affectionately composed mess of everything interesting to Scottish history and art, I think. Definitely worth a visit.

The Glaswegian weather treated us well, so in the afternoon the sun came out and we had a golden late summer evening, enjoying the beauty of the Westend.

Next stop: Edinburgh!

Looking for Clyde

One evening, when it was especially warm and cloudless, we decided to go to Glasgow's river Clyde. To sit near the Clyde Arc, take pictures, talk, have a drink, watch the lights of the city in the water. But what sounds so easy at first turned out to be a difficult endeavour. Because one peculiar thing about Glasgow is that there is a huuuge motorway, cutting directly through the heart of this wonderful city... at least it seems so.

Looking at the map, the Clyde seemed to be in good reach, a bit of a walk and then just across the motorway. But for us, as pedestrians, this motorway turned out to be a concrete labyrinth with fly-overs, undercrossings, dead spots, oversized footbridges leading into the darkness and nowhere near the river... it was jinxed, we knew we were not far away from it, we could even see the Clyde sometimes. So we were walking over and under and along the highway, while the pedestrian zones grew darker and darker and abandoned, no people, just us and the roaring motorway.

I don't know if we just chose the wrong way, if we weren't able to read the map that evening or why we got lost in all this concrete - in fact, we didn't find the Clyde. So, eventually, we decided to go back, make the best of it, take some pictures and call it a day in a nice pub very far away from the Glaswegian motorway :)

Glaswegian Sky

As mentioned, I was very fascinated by the sky over Glasgow ... I loved how the light was different every minute and how dramatic the clouds flew over the city every now and then.

Have a nice weekend!

The Barras

The Barras Market in Glasgow - an intriguing mixture of indoor and street market, a concert hall, a leisure place, all somehow cut off from the outside world. I still don't know how large the area is and how much belongs to it. In any case, a place where you can get lost, literally and metaphorically. I could have spend hours there, exploring and taking pictures, although it's not a neat or bonnie place in the usual meaning. It's a little bit dark, chavvy, facades are crumbling and sometimes you don't know if it's a vendor's market stall or a dump. But I like that, this non-perfectness, this dichotomy, if you know what I mean... It's crammed to the ceilings with horriblenesses and treasures.

The market also has the Barrowland, a former ballroom and now a concert hall. Both were founded by a very impressive and determined lady: Maggy McIver, who founded the market out of nothing (and got a millionairess) and then in the 1930's the Barrowland Ballroom for her dinner dances. If you are interested, here's more on the illustrious "Barras Queen": click.

It's a location full of history and although I don't know it for sure, it seems like it has been like this for decades, unimpressed by times changing.

Ehm, anybody else noticing the resemblance of little Prince William's and the dog's facial expression...?

Had Maggie McIver met James Bond, I presume it would have looked like this.

The beauty of Glasgow

It was yesterday, that the train departed for London, wasn't it?

No, it wasn't. But it feels like it and at the same time it feels also ages ago. Not only five weeks. But I think that's one of the curious things about travelling - at least for me. Time flies so fast that it begins to spin around you, and at the same time it's stretching and bending. So many impressions, events, things you've seen and done - weeks become month and days and hours at the same time.

The first stop on our journey was Glasgow. We went there by train and bus. Partly because slow travel is a really good thing and mainly partly because I'm afraid. really. afraid. of flying. This is a thing I have to work on because some countries are, of course, difficult to reach by train or bus or ship, but...eh, yes, going 75 m deep into the earth with a train (Eurotunnel) doesn't scare me half as much as a plane....

We had 5 days in Glasgow and I fell completely in love with this city. Although they told us, that the sun and temperatures we had there the whole time were, eh, not very common, it hadn't much to do with the magic of this Glaswegian summer. I think it's the peculiar combination of ugliness and beauty of this city. Of dust and polish, colour and black, industry and art that meet there. And the sky. The ever-changing sky.