24 Hours in Glasgow

I hadn’t thought of Glasgow as much of a tourist destination compared to Edinburgh, but with a night to spare we wanted to try a new destination.  The trains from Edinburgh to Glasgow run frequently and take about an hour from city center to city center so it isn’t to painful to get around.  After arriving in central Glasgow in the early afternoon, we found we were hungry for lunch and since our American friends hadn’t had a proper afternoon tea yet, our destination was the Willow Tearooms, conveniently located near the train station.  The tearoom was famously designed (down to the silver!) by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a well known architect.  The finger sandwiches and cakes were delicious! (although in addition to our tea, by some sort of mistake, we ended up with about 8 glasses of tap water for three of us…)

  
We then checked into our airbnb apartment and chatted with some locals in a nearby pub (that I’m pretty sure featured stained glass of Mel Gibson. Not kidding). We found some epic noodles and sushi for dinner, and unsure what to do with ourselves on a Monday night in Glasgow, found The Stand Comedy Club hosting a £5 improv night! It was hilarious, and one of the best five pounds I’ve spent on a vacation. 

  
The following morning, we found ourselves a full Scottish breakfast, and headed to the botanical gardens, which are free to wander and pretty interesting, and made our way to the university of Glasgow and the Kelvingrove museum, a collection of all sorts of random historical, natural history and art objects. It’s worth a wander but on a Tuesday, it was filled with school children which made that more difficult. 

   
   
The Glasgow cathedral was an interesting sight, also known as the cathedral of St Mungo. What I basically gleaned from the cathedral was that back in the day, they extensively exaggerated his life story to get more money for the church, and it appears to have worked. Nearby is the necropolis, city of the dead, which is pretty morbid but you get to see some impressive Victorian era graves and great views of the city and cathedral. It is estimated that 50,000 bodies are interred there. 

   
 After that hike, we made our way back to the station, stopping for snacks and whisky, and headed back to the lakes. 

I’d like to go back, for a night out and for the beautiful architecture. Have you been to Glasgow? What did we miss? I’m always looking for an excuse to go back!