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Scotland 23rd-28th August 2014
Three nights in Glasgow followed by three nights in Edinburgh made up our Scotland visit. There was lots to see and do in both cities. In Glasgow we took advantage of the City Sightseeing hop-on hop-off bus to get around. It was really convenient with some interesting commentary and and a stop located almost right outside the hotel we stayed in citizenM. The hotel was a bit of story in itself, it has styled itself ultra-modern with lots of groovy little touches. It also had dozens of latest release movies that we had to drag ourselves away from. Glasgow was full of free attractions, Kelvingrove Museum, the Winter Gardens at the Peoples Palace, Riverside Museum of Transport with its Tall Ship moored out the back, Kibble Palace (which is not a palace but a massive greenhouse) and The Necropolis, a lovely 37 acre cemetery high on the hill with 3,500 monuments and views over the city.
Edinburgh took us by surprise - its a beautiful city with such a romantic streetscape. And hilly too, not a bicycle in sight, in fact when we checked in to our hotel (Ibis South Bridge) we walked in off the street to reception to find ourselves already on the 4th floor of the hotel! The city and its streets, buildings and bridges are all sort of on different levels. We walked The Royal Mile listening to Rick Steve's free audio guide, spent half a day at Edinburgh Castle, several hours at Holyrood Palace (one of the Queens holiday residences) and quite a while at the Museum of Scotland.
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| Glasgow Cathedral was built on sloping ground so had several stone rooms down under the main level. |
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| Some of the 3,500 monuments in The Necropolis are huge. |
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| People's Palace Glasgow with the white glasshouse Winter Gardens at the rear |
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Porcelain fountain near the entrance to the People's Palace was a gift to the city from Doulton,
the founder of Royal Doulton |
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| Riverside Museum Glasgow viewed from the tall ship moored outside |
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| Riverside Museum has a large display of transport from bicycles to steam trains |
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| A car that runs on steam and you need to find water every 50 miles |
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| Glasgow horse drawn tram in a re-created street |
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| Glasgow Botanical Gardens |
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| The Kibble Palace (glasshouse) at the Botanical Gardens |
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| Venus fly traps |
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| Another carnivorous plant that attracts ants and then they fall in the tube and can't get back out |
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| Note the YES signs on flags and the NO circles on the right as people take sides for the upcoming referendum on whether Scotland breaks away from the UK |
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| There is one of these on each side of the river and horse & carts were lowered hydraulically down and then went through a tunnel under the river |
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| Entertainment centre that is meant to represent the sterns of ships as a tribute to Glasgow's shipbuilding history. The river has silted up so no large ships come up to Glasgow anymore. |
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| SSE building is also an entertainment venue |
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| Even the carpark for the SSE building looks great |
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| Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum Glasgow |
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| Just after we arrived at the museum there was a wonderful organ recital that included some of favourite songs from Phantom. |
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| Pipe organ that runs like a pianola |
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| The setting was a bit of a contrast for the old/new |
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| Salvador Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross is one of Kelvingrove Museum's most treasured artworks. |
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| Interesting how they cleaned the buildings which were all very dirty all over Glasgow from the industrial revolution. The sprayed on latex and then peeled off the dirt the next day. |
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citizenM hotel Glasgow and its groovy foyer couch
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| The Do Not Disturb sign and the tablet that controls everything in the room - the blinds, shutters, lights, air-cond, mood lighting, TV, free movies etc. A king bed is the full width of the room and doubles as a lounge. Our 3rd floor bathroom had full floor to ceiling glass so had to make sure the lights were off or the blinds shut when showering etc. so as not to startle the office workers opposite. |
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| Part of Edinburgh Castle |
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| Old church at Edinburgh Castle is now a war memorial |
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| Views from Edinburgh Castle |
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| Dog cemetery at Edinburgh Castle |
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| Lots of guns with great views |
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| The thin red line just 2 deep |
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| Prison in Edinburgh Castle |
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| Cathedral just down the Royal Mile |
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| Pub where the original walls of Edinburgh ended |
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| Note the crown at the back of the pew - this is for the Royals when they are visiting Edinburgh |
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| Holyrood Palace - the Queen's residence when in Edinburgh |
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| Holyrood Park offers a good walking trail.to Arthurs Seat (far right) with sweeping views over the city. |
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| New Scottish Parliament |
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| Outside of the Scottish Parliament building. It opened in 2005, three years late and at a cost of over 431 million pound and ten times over budget! At least it has won several architectural awards. |
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| View up to Edinburgh Castle |
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| Edinburgh is a bit weird, South Bridge Rd is 4 stories higher than the ground |
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| Weaving machine - note the punch cards with the pattern |
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There was a WW1 exhibition at the National Museum in Edinburgh that detailed the Scotts contributions and in particular as members of other countries forces like Australia, New Zealand, England. Nancy the Springbok was given by a wellwisher to the South African troop heading off to WW1.
It spent the war with the troops as the mascot. and when it died it received a full military funeral
and burial in an allied war cemetery. |
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In this video we saw Nancy the Springbok being led in front with the South African troops,
who incidentally wore kilts and played bagpipes. |
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| Robot demo at the National Museum in Edinburgh will make up blocks with your name after you type it in |
