The second day in Glasgow felt more rushed, especially after the time-suck created by the Celtic F.C. game and the associated bus schedule changes the day prior. On my agenda was souvenir shopping, stopping at Glickman’s Confectionary, grabbing photos of some places I missed while riding the bus the first day (my camera settings got messed up), and seeing the University of Glasgow campus, as well as the Hunterian and Kelvingrove museums.
Most European cities don’t come to life on Sundays until about 10:00am. Glasgow was no different and it was compounded by the fact that a large portion of the population partied hard overnight. When I went to bed at midnight, they were still going strong. I woke up early and relaxed in the hotel room for a couple of hours before heading out for some coffee around 8:45am. Tim Horton’s for the win! There was one souvenir shop I looked up that opened at 9:00am, so I strolled from Tim Horton’s to the shop and bought a couple fridge magnets. I then made my way into a shopping area that had lots of shops opening at 10:00am. I grabbed several tams (type of Scottish hat) and an embroidered sweatshirt, dropped off the souvenirs hotel room, and then walked about 5 minutes to Glickman’s Confectionary. The real question along the way was… does this call the police or The Doctor???
Glickman’s is a historical sweet shop that has been making candy in Glasgow for 120 years. It is a teensy little shop, with pale purple walls and just enough room for about three people to stand in line. Candy jars line the countertop and every inch of shelf space on the three walls behind the counter. In all, the storefront is only 70-ish square feet. They are the oldest confectionary in Glasgow and they take pride in using traditional methods and recipes to make their sweets. The candy names are all worthy of the wizarding world. I bought some Fizz Wizz packets (pop rocks), lemon bon bons (lemon drops), fruit snakes (gummy worms), and dark chocolate toffees for £5 ($6.25). Right outside Glickman’s is bus stop #4, so I waited about 15 minutes and boarded the next bus that came along right at 11:00am.
I intended to get off the bus at stop #15 to see the University of Glasgow and the Hunterian Museum, but due to some construction, this didn’t pan out. Instead, I hopped off at stop #18 for Kelvingrove Museum. Along the way I captured the photos I missed the first go-around. This included the Armadillo and the Ovo on the Scottish Event Campus, the Finnieston Crane, and Squinty Bridge.
I was deliberately waiting to visit Kelvingrove until later in the afternoon so I could catch the daily organ recital. It’s usually at 1:00pm, except on Sundays when it occurs at 3:00pm. I had about two and a half hours to fill. After some expert Google-mapping, I cut back behind Kelvingrove to get to the Hunterian on foot. This worked out perfectly because I passed by the war memorial outside of Kelvingrove and then had to cross through the University of Glasgow campus. I didn’t dally around campus, but it does have some incredible architecture and the landscaping was in full bloom, so I stopped to snap a few photos.
I got to the Hunterian around 12:30pm; it’s a gallery full of pieces by Scottish artists. Like most of the other attractions in Glasgow, the gallery portion of the Hunterian is free. The museum also contains a replica of the Mackintosh House, the residence of famous Scottish designers & artists Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864–1933). But a £10 admission is charged for this section, and I wasn’t interested enough in it to pay. There were several pieces in the Hunterian gallery I thought were striking. My favorite was a highly textured piece, followed by a painting of a little boy (nobility of some kind). After about an hour, I headed back to Kelvingrove.
Lunch was a quick stop at the little café in Kelvingrove around 1:30pm (nothing fancy, a small southwest chicken wrap and some chips) and then I explored the exhibits before the recital. The architecture of the main hall in Kelvingrove is beautifully detailed with chandeliers and intricate stonework, but the organ is without a doubt the jewel. Blue and purple accent lighting further enhances its drama.
There were a lot of other stunning pieces, including a Van Gogh portrait of Scottish art dealer Alex Reid. The two were roommates in a Paris apartment for a few months in 1887. Other highlights included:
A couple Monet landscapes
Two amazing Scottish highland landscapes
A depiction of Mary Stuart’s execution (Queen of Scots)
A kooky-looking Elvis statue with a ring light halo
Several extinct animals: Giant Irish Deer, Great Auk, dinosaur in the raptor family.
A 600+ year-old oak tree
A neat solar system contraption
Several sculptures: Queen Victoria, Robert the Bruce, Achilles, and a popular father-daughter piece titled “Motherless”
A mummy and humorous guide to becoming a mummy
A static Spitfire hanging from the ceiling (not pictured... forgot to snap a pic)
The recital started promptly at 3:00pm and lasted 40 minutes. The organist played 10 songs, most I recognized such as the Love Actually theme, When the Saints Go Marching In, and several Disney/Pixar classics: Tale as Old as Time (Beauty and the Beast), Bare Necessities (Jungle Book), One Song (Snow White), and You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Toy Story). One was a jaunty circus-type song. There were also two television screens on the wall below the organ loft that displayed camera feeds of the organ’s floor pedals and manuals (3x keyboards) / stop knobs. This allowed the audience to view all the organist’s actions while he played. Playing the organ looked like a full-body workout… I don’t know how else he’d control 2,889 pipes though. After the recital I wandered the museum for a few more minutes and then left for the bus stop.
First song, didn't know the title.
You've Got a Friend in Me
Theme from Love Actually
I arrived at the hotel around 4:30pm and relaxed for a couple hours before finding somewhere to eat for dinner. I went around the corner, ended up at Buck’s Bar, and ordered a sweet chili peanut satay chicken sandwich with coleslaw. It was really good. The chicken filet was somehow triple the size of the bun, so I ended up eating the whole thing with a fork and knife. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing, writing, and packing.
My time in Glasgow ended where it began, Queen Street station. I got there early, grabbed a coffee and Nutella-filled pastry from a cute little café cart in the train station. I caffeinated while waiting for my 7:30am train to be assigned a platform. Once it populated on the departure board, I hopped on my train and headed back to Edinburgh.
Fun closing fact: The Ovo’s famous multi-colored lights were provided by NASA.
Tango Sierra out!
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