A Laddie and A Lassie In Scotland and Ireland: Hopping Around Glasgow

Glasgow: Day 2

Sunday we woke up early and took advantage of 5 Pound all-you-can-eat breakfast at our hotel. We got this deal because we booked breakfast the day before; otherwise it costs 7.50 Pounds. Yes, we are deal hunters! After breakfast, we decided to take a quick nap before going out in Glasgow.

We ended up sleeping until about 2:30 (!), although it was much needed rest, as we didn’t sleep much the day before with all our travelling. We finally woke up and got ready to see the city. I felt secure wearing my pink pants, as many ladies in Glasgow appear to dress in clothes from H&M (I saw at least 4 more pairs of pink pants on our walk). Chris unwisely chose to wear shorts and a t-shirt; he was the only person in the whole city to do so, I’m pretty sure…it was so cold today! Definitely not summer weather, by our standards! We walked towards George Square, where we hopped on a double-decker City Sightseeing bus for 11 Pounds each. The bus was hop-on, hop-off, so you can get off at any stop and the busses come around to each stop every 15 minutes to get you. We saw buildings such as the Gallery of Modern Art, St. Mungo Museum (St. Mungo is the patron saint and founder of Glasgow), and Merchant Square – the centre for high-end shopping in Glasgow. We chose to get off the bus at the People’s Palace, a museum showing the “people’s history” of Glasgow.

The People’s Palace is a beautiful museum and glasshouse that tells the history of people in Glasgow from 1750 to the present. For budget travellers, entrance is completely free! Displays covered things such as: WWI and WWII life, styles of housing, suffrage, a famous dancehall, trips to the coast, and prison life (we even saw the place on the museum grounds where prisoners were hung for their crimes).

After about an hour of touring the museum, we decided to hop back on the bus for the rest of the tour. We looked out the window, and surprise, surprise, it was raining again! So I took out my trusty umbrella from home to walk to the bus stop. Apparently I should have tested my umbrella at home, because as soon as I walked outside my umbrella turned upside-down and some arms broke. Canadian umbrellas are just not prepared for Scottish winds, I guess!

Back on the bus, we continued through the city, stopping at major sites like the Glasgow Science Centre, the oscillating Glasgow tower, the beautiful Glasgow University grounds, and the well-known Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. It was convenient to spend the afternoon on the tour bus because it rained on and off throughout the day, so we were well-covered and still able to see the city. It only rained for about 20 minutes at a time, and then the sun came out and it was warmer again.

We hopped off the bus right near our hotel so that Chris could change into some jeans and a sweatshirt and get warm. We ventured out of our room to quickly Skype with Ollie…he didn’t have much to say! Then, we stopped by a local pub for a bite to eat for dinner. We found a place called The Pot Still, which so far was my favourite little pub because it seemed homey and less chain-like. We ordered some beers, a beef pie, and a scotch pie (not too sure what is in a scotch pie, but it tasted excellent!) with beans. They only cost about 1.80 Pounds! What a steal!

Afterwards, we headed out randomly walking around, with no real destination in mind. We wound up back at The Auctioneers for a quick pint and a wee dram, before heading to my first sports betting establishment, Paddy Power, where we put some money on two baseball games – I’ll let you know how we fare…we could use the extra Pounds!

I think Glasgow is a cool place to visit; it’s not quite what I expected. Even though it is the biggest city in Scotland it seems that we can walk most places because our hotel is in the city centre. The population is only about 600,000, which is much smaller than most big cities that we are used to visiting. The people have been tremendously friendly and helpful to us. I definitely love listening to their accents! Tomorrow we are off to pick up our rental car so that we can begin our journey around Scotland…so excited!

City Sightseeing Bus