Postcards From Across the Pond

On our final day in Glasgow, we visited the Kelvin Grove Art Gallery and Museum because, well, you really need to.

_{The massive pipe organ in the central hall}

It is an amazing collection of art, sculpture, rare exhibits, and oddities, sorta like the Burrell collection, but in an olde Worlde building that, along with bags of “fading days of the Empire Charm,” holds a massive pipe organ. And every day at one o’clock in the afternoon, someone comes out and plays it. (Except for Sunday, that’s at three o’clock, so don’t show up at one and blame me that no one is operating the organ. Just wait two hours.)

You won’t regret it; the sound is amazing.

_{Must be one o’clock}

And, as a bonus, they have a really posh café.

The next morning, we caught the 9:45 to Edinburgh and, in less time than my daily commute used to take (back in those dark days when I had a job), we were at Waverly station.

_{One difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh is the concentration of tourists}

The weather had been predicted to be typically Scottish (READ: a bit shit) but it was unexpectedly sunny and warm, so we hiked to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

It was ever so pleasant and, after a good wander through the bucolic grounds, my wife and I, and several dozen hornets, enjoyed the outdoor seating at the café.

_{Along the way we passed The Gently Mad bookshop, voted one of the best in the world (or Scotland, but what’s the difference?); fortunately, we did not go in}

Back at tourist central, we visited Gladstone’s Land, a sister site of the Tenement exhibit in Glasgow. This one was better, however. It was on several floors, and each floor represented a different era, and each era had an enthusiastic volunteer explaining all about it. A couple from Atlanta, Georgia, happened to be there at the same time, and by the end, them, us, and the volunteer had a nice conversation about life, the universe and everything.

_{This is the most recent iteration of the Tenement; it looks barren, but it was still considered a desirable location}

_{Back when the Tenement was a cloth shop}

_{The ceiling, proving that people with money always wanted to show it off—to have this done would have cost a bomb}

Then we went to the Gladstone Café (not all of us, just me and my wife).

After that we strolled up and down the Royal Mile and had a look at a few of the tat shops. We then visited The Writer’s Museum, something I had been looking forward to that turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. It was basically exhibits about Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, and (of course) Robert Burns, featuring random items belonging to them (including locks of hair).

_{And here’s some of their junk, I mean, artifacts}

By then we were Edinburghed out, and we wanted to have dinner in a place that was not themed after a hairy, horned cow.

_{Seriously, who doesn’t need a stuffed cow wearing a tartan kilt}

The good thing about Edinburgh is, the tourist area is fairly confined, so we did not need to trudge far to find ourselves beyond the reach of Kilt-clad calendars, stuffed Highland Coos, and tartan ties.

_{From being shoulder-to-shoulder with a half million tourists to being practically alone, all you need to do is cut down a side street to the next block}

Once freed from the Tourist District, we went in search of a Pizza Express. What we found was Amarone, which wasn’t a Pizza Express, but it was nice, nonetheless.

_{It was hard settling for this, but we rose to the challenge}

It was a grand visit, but I note that, last time I was in Edinburgh, I had an actual camera with me.

_{An actual photo taken with an actual camera (remember those?)}

Next: Mull