2018 - FIP Glasgow: Day 13: Fri 7 Sep

8-19 degC

Slept really well last night for the first time in ages. Coughed a bit before going to sleep, but then not a peep until the morning. Had breakfast on my own this morning which was a bit sad. Although Sylvain had not yet left, he had an early start for a meeting.

I decided that seeing as though I had two and a half days in Glasgow on my own, I should at least see some of the city. Sylvain and Regis had done a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour on their first day here and said it was pretty good, so that’s what I did. I bought the ticket online and saved myself a whole GBP1!! In hindsight I should have bought a two-day ticket for only GBP2 more. Before setting out I decided to have mornos in the room to ensure I got the coffee I wanted (I had brought a heap of Robert Timms coffee bags with me so had to use them before returning home).

I did a complete circuit first-up and marked the places I wanted to see more of. I then got off at one spot and walked to another then hopped back on until another place. My first stop was at the SECC and I walked over the Millenium Bridge to see the Cineworld Cinema Glasgow IMAX (the pupa shaped building), Science Centre and Science Centre Tower. I then re-crossed the Clyde on the same bridge and walked the short distance to the Clydeside Distillery, a re-purposed old pump house and then onto the Riverside Museum of Transport and Technology and The Tall Ship. The roof line of the museum is supposed to depict the meeting of the waves where the Clyde and Kelvin Rivers converge (judge for yourself, looks more like a wonky ECG trace to me).

After a short wander through the museum, a gander at the Tall Ship and a sandwich in the café, I hopped back on the bus and got off again at Glasgow University. This is truly a mix of new and old buildings with the old ones being REALLY old! Imagine what stories those buildings could tell. It was a short stroll to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. I really did want to go inside and have a sticky, but time was getting away from me and the weather seemed to be closing in so took a wander around the outside and it is quite a grand building.

Hopped back on the bus at the Kelvingrove Museum and got off again at George Square. I walked the square then decided to walk home as it was only another 1.5km and was now 3:30pm. I got home just in time as the drizzle became a light rain. The bits I missed were the Glasgow Cathedral, The People’s Palace, Glasgow Green, and possibly many more. Might have to come back another day.

Not long after getting home I got a text from Sylvain asking if I wanted to have dinner with him. We went to the same place as the first night (Sir John Moore pub) and I had a pizza with a very light base and washed it down with a glass of NZ sav blanc.