Today was the day for Glasgow, a city we’ve never visited. John was a bit concerned that it would be a rough and tumble place, a working man’s town, and a town without much culture. My goal/dream was to go to a bar in Glasgow and hear traditional music. With a little research, we came up with a long list of bars. With a little more research, we found the best bar in town for exactly what we wanted. Put this in your notes—Ben Nevis Bar. It truly is the best, but you don’t have to take my word for it, because we never made it there! Sorry, Glasgow was more of an ancient experience for us.
We got off to a late start with the idea that we were going to be staying in town late for bar music. At 11 am, we took the ScotRail train from Dunlop Station up to the Glasgow Station. From there, we were obvious tourists in the train station—map out, phones on, pointing to various exits in the station with dialogue that went like, “I think we should go there?” “No, I’m sure it’s that one.” Ok, we were lost from the start, so forgive us for wandering.
We went right to the Tourist Information Center, where we met a young history major who was delightful. While he told us the whole history of Scotland in an animated YouTube way, I found terrific souvenirs. We learned that the Cathedral was really old and the right place for us to start, plus I’m Catholic and the church is the right place to be on a Sunday morning. So off we went to the cathedral, which we found to be closed for the next 45 minutes! To kill time, we went to the St. Mungo Cathedral Museum just across the way. There, we learned how all the great religions of the world seek the same answers: why are we here? And how should we prepare for death? When the doors opened, a hundred waiting tourists flooded in— oh, to have a dependable congregation every week! John and I went in deep and down to the crypt, where we found the coolest altar and quilt (just for Elaine). We took pictures of stained glass, talked to the guards, and left with a few questions to research.
Next, we headed back to the station (John had the scoop from cute-Robbie at the TIC) and shared a pizza at La Vita Restaurant—very nice! From there, it was to be the big tour. We wanted to do the Kelvingrove Museum, the Govan Old Church to see the Viking Celtic Stones, and finally the Riverside Museum to see the tall ship. I suggested we skip the Museum and go right for Govan. What a charming old church, with no one there! John told the guide that he was glad to arrive before the tour bus. The guide was suddenly animated. “There’s a tour bus??” Bad John. He was joking. We had the whole place to ourselves and wandered among the giant stones, recently brought indoors to recover from polluted conditions. We even found a sarcophagus, which made us feel warm and fuzzy after recent Egyptian studies.
From Govan, we took the train one stop to Partick Station and walk, walk, hurry walk to the Riverside Museum, right on the water. Amazingly, it was a trains and automobile museum with a ship out the far window. With minutes until it closed, we ran and searched, but couldn’t find the door out to the dock to the ship! Noooo. Indeed, we missed the last tour of the Glen Lee by just a minute. Oh well. Instead, we told old sea stories to the gatekeeper and had him rapt with real-life high seas adventure for another fifteen minutes. For all who are interested, find “Around Cape Horn” on YouTube and have yourselves a good time!
It was now just 5 pm and the Ben Nevis show didn’t start until 8 pm. What were we to do for 3 hours when everything in town closes at 5 pm except bars? We could go to Ben Nevis and drink heavily … but that’s not really us. John knew this was my Scotland dream, but practically speaking, we had to think of our early tee time tomorrow. I called it. “Let’s just go home.” Sorry, folks. The show is starting just as I’m finishing this and we’re not there. See it on YouTube, ok?
PS. Those mysterious buildings out our window— dozens of them behind tall fences with starving guard dogs. Turns out, these are whisky warehouses. Whisky is not taxed until it’s sold. Very important to keep it under lock and guard dog!!
