The Cold Shoulder of Glasgow

I took a bus from Edinburgh, somewhat reluctant to leave the city and my wonderful accommodation, and arrived in Glasgow about 75 minutes later. The second you step off the bus, you are thrown into the hustle and bustle of this much bigger city. It feels more like London with its taller buildings and people begging for change on every corner, a bit more cosmopolitan as well. Sauchiehall \street and Buchanan Street are both complete pedestrian zones and those are pretty nice, but the rest of the city is pretty dirty, weirdly artsy fartsy (thanks to the Glasgow School of Art) and unfriendly. While this may not really be the case, I only have 36 hours to spend in this city and that is the face it has presented me.

My accommodation here is not as nice as the wonderful guest house in Edinburgh but it's still better than a hostel. I'm staying at the Old School House which is a heritage-listed building a skip away from the School of Art that Lonely Planet recommended. My mattress is incredibly uncomfortable and the answer to the question "What time will the drunk art student stop singing while wandering the street in front of my hotel?" is 4:30am. Oi.

I went through the Museum of Modern Art in the afternoon, which pleasantly has some student work in it, and found a really awesome art store that puts Dick Blick to shame and then settled in a comfy chair in Borders while reading Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There because the girls from Boston recommended it and I just felt the need to be somewhere American.

For dinner I met up with the rest of the girls who had been in Dublin and Belfast for the past few days. While they've seen some cool stuff, I'm very glad I've made this trip alone. Living and sleeping and working and playing with the same 14 other people for a month had sent me clammoring for privacy and independence. I can't imagine having traveled this last week with 7 other people -- that is just too many. It was good to exchange stories -- we'll all rendevous back in London on Sunday as they are headed to Edinburgh for the remainder of the break.

This morning, I slept in; the down side to a bed & breakfast is that you have to get UP for the breakfast, usually by about 8:30am, so this morning I went without especially since it was a full Scottish breakfast including haggis. I took a tour of the School of Art, which is a Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece. The hour-long tour was very informative and it is a fascinating building filled with light and the intricate details Mackintosh is famous for. There was a beautiful snow squall this morning with huge fluffy flakes... I miss the snow.

This afternoon I'm going to the Cathedral, the necropolis to get a good view of the land, the Armadillo (Clyde Auditorium), and an architecture exhibit at the Lighthouse and in the morning, I'll take the 8-hour bus back to London. I have some work to finish up before Monday. Our next break is just 3 weeks away and I'm trying to decide where I should spend those four days. Any suggestions?