Glasgow: June 2014

Our hotel,the Victorian House Hotel (which I would highly recommend), was situated just along the road from the Glasgow School of Art so tragically gutted by fire.  The charred woodwork glimpsed through shattered windows was a depressing sight but the stone structure remains defiantly intact and there is real hope of being able to reconstruct the interior.

  

I continued my exploration of the city's independent coffee shops with a latte at the Laboratorio Espresso where I chatted to the owners about the Bristol Pound and their visits to our cafes.

We ate at the Ubiquitous Chip (disappointing), Tchai Ovna (quirky atmosphere and aromatic milky tea) and the Saramago Cafe Bar (delicious tapas).

We walked along the Clyde as far as Glasgow Green, popped into the Winter Gardens at the People's Palace, visited the famous Barras market and wandered through the Merchant City.

And, as always, we ran out of time ...

  

I won't be back until after the referendum.  We do indeed live in exciting times!

Glasgow Transport

Back in February I spent a long weekend with my elder daughter who is studying at Glasgow University.  During the day, while she pored over her books in the library I continued to explore this fascinating city.

I was particularly anxious to visit the new Riverside Museum. The award winning building designed by Zaha Hadid needs to be seen from above to appreciate its form, but even from the ground it offers some striking angles.

The building houses Glasgow's transport museum.  Now I have to confess that I'm not wildly enthusiastic about vintage vehicles, so I headed instead for the reconstruction of a typical turn of the century (1895-1930) Glasgow street, complete with saddler, photographer, pawn broker, cafe and pub.  It was imaginatively presented with plenty of interactive displays and gave me a real feel for what urban life would have been like at that time.

However I didn't completely ignore the vehicles and spent some time examining a fairground showman's family caravan.  The other exhibit that caught my eye was this brightly painted van, designed by Glasgow art students and inspired by the artwork found on Pakistani lorries.

My daughter's local underground station (Hillhead) has had a makeover, including this delightful Alasdair Gray mural depicting the local area and its residents.

 

I'm afraid my mobile camera photos don't do it justice ...

... and I could do with taking this piece of advice!

When in London yesterday ...

... We visited the pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain.  A wealth of bright colour, fine detail and laden with symbolism - too much to take in in one session, but we did our best.  I've often wished a ticket to major exhibitions such as this one allowed for a return visit.  My favourite artists were Millais and the lesser known Scottish artist  Dyce, but this is Laus Veneris by Burne-Jones.

... Followed by the Turner Prize exhibition, which I would not normally have chosen to visit, but for a few quid more, and in the interest of keeping an open mind ...  Well, it was interesting.  No really!  Paul Noble's 'painstakingly detailed and engrossing drawings of the fictional metropolis Nobson Newtown' were fascinating, although not what I would chose to hang on my wall.  We didn't have the 93 minutes it would have taken to sit through Luke Fowler's documentary on the work of Scottish psychiatrist R D Laing, but it sounded promising.  Spartacus Chetwynd's performance started as we were preparing to leave so we only caught a few minutes of individuals dressed as zebras(?) manipulating rag dolls.  It may have become clearer as it progressed!  Elizabeth Price's winning entry, The Woolworths Choir of 1979, was the most accessible and I wish I'd been able to see it through from beginning to end.  There was a very informative section on church furnishings and once I got used to it the Clap Click soundtrack was strangely soothing.

... We walked along the Embankment and watched the (almost) full moon rise from behind The Shard.

... We ate at Wahaca, at the request of my elder daughter.  It's a Mexican street food restaurant founded by Thomasina Miers, a former Masterchef winner, whose television series on Mexican cooking I enjoyed.  We opted for a selection of small dishes to share and experimented with new ingredients and flavours including pibil pork, Mexican corn mushrooms and plantain.  It's a colourful, noisy restaurant.  The service was friendly but not always accurate and portions were small for the price, but maybe that's just Covent Garden for you.  We certainly had room for puddings.  The two pictured above were churros and chocolate and vanilla icecream with toasted pumpkin seeds and cajeta.  We left with a pack of serrano chilli seeds and I'd certainly return.

... We took a leisurely stroll back to Victoria Coach Station via Trafalgar Square and St James' Park, stopping to view the latest occupant of the Fourth Plinth - Powerless Structures Fig 101 by Elmgreen and Dragset is of a child on a rocking horse, symbolising a future to hope for and celebrating the everday battles of growing up.  I like it.

These post Christmas day trips to London are becoming an enjoyable new tradition.

On the Thirteenth to Twenty-Fourth Days of December!

It was all going so well ...

And then, as it inevitably does, Christmas(?) finally caught up with me.

Exultate's Carols by Candlelight concert in the perfect setting of the Benedictine Priory of St James

Gasworks' Christmas Concert at St George's

Snow storming

                                                 Bristol Harbourside's Winter Wonderland

Bristol Choral Society's Messiah at the Colston Hall

Fromage en Feu's last gig of 2012 at No 1 Harbourside

So I've had little time, or energy, for blogging.

What I did this Weekend

University applications require extensive travels.  When my elder daughter was looking for a place we headed north to Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and Aberdeen.  With her younger sister we've been concentrating on the south, from Falmouth to Brighton via Cardiff, Plymouth and Winchester.  However this weekend we ventured a bit further afield - to Norwich.

Here are a few random photos of our visit:

Urban art

Full English at Chez Dennis

They say Norwich has a church for every week of the year ...

 ... and a pub for every day!

Monuments to God ...

... and mammon!

The open air market

Sent to the Tower

I lived in London for 7 years but it's taken 22 years since I left before I returned to visit one of its most famous sights.
It was a cold grey drizzly day so I didn't take many photographs.  Here are the best of the ones I did.

The Queen's House and The The Shard.

I love the juxtaposition of the the ancient and the modern.

I am relieved to report that the kingdom and the tower are still safe.

The Royal Chapel and The Gherkin.

It's that ancient and modern theme again!

One of the many examples of graffito in the Beauchamp Tower.

The infamous Traitor's Gate.

A detail from the Medieval Palace wall.

I like a nice brick wall!

A troupe of baboons, harking back to the menagerie once housed within these walls, with the iconic White Tower in the background.

The White Tower and The Shard.

Sorry, this is the last one in this theme.

But I do love Piano's skyscraper.

The first thing we did was go on a Yeoman Warder's tour.

He was in his everyday uniform which is not nearly as ornate as the ceremonial one, so I had to make do with this poster.

Top tips when visiting the Tower:

• Book your tickets online.  It's an expensive day out so every pound off counts.
• Take a picnic lunch.  Three (small) bowls of soup. three slices of bread and two soft drinks cost us approximately £18.  We would have taken a picnic or bought sandwiches on the the way but the forecast was for rain - and it wasn't wrong!
• If you want to see the Crown Jewels (and they are very impressive, even although I don't care very much for that sort of thing) don't spend hours queueing.  Just wait until an hour before closing and walk straight in!
• Allow yourself as much time as possible.  We spent five and half hours there and still didn't see everything.

It was a long day but well worth the time and effort.