Scotland VI: Glasgow, and Goodbye

I’ve been putting off writing about Glasgow, tried writing about it twice, but it's been hard to get my thoughts on (digital) paper. Glasgow was different from Edinburgh, different from the Heilan' towns we visited, and different from the German cities and towns I know so well. Aside from the lilt of Scottish accents, it had more the spirit of Berlin than its neighborly brother, Edinburgh.

Glaswegian humor: the government tried to make the Duke of Wellington less accessible
by putting him on a plinth. The cone re-appeared on his head the next day.

In Edinburgh, Fiona told us that Glasgow would be a “working town,” and that Glaswegians were different. The city would be industrial and full of people who dressed a little more posh, were a little less reserved, and fond of conversation… and we found all of that true. In fact, there might even be a connection between how the people and buildings are dressed in Glasgow. In Edinburgh, art is in tall buildings (the Royal Mile), fenced-off monuments, and elegant theatres. Edinburgh lets loose at its eponymous and Fringe festivals, which were described with excited reverence as esoteric, abstract, classic. In Glasgow, art is lived in. It’s part of life not celebrated during the month that the city doubles in population, but in the every day. People dressed punk, posh, elegant, intentionally slovenly - they aren’t on display in a dedicated performance space, they’re in the street. In Glasgow, art is what you brush up against whilst going about your business. Art doesn’t live in installations… okay, so there are some most excellent museums (or so I'm told). But the art that’s best loved is street art covering the sides of warehouses, 19th century tenements, and university buildings.

Tennents: not the best beer I drank, but certainly the beer with the best sense of humor!

Sample flight from Drygate Brewery next to Tennets, some of the best beer I drank!

The city itself also grew differently. It didn’t start as a center of trade, but built up away from the River Clyde, around the shrine of St Mungo. The shrine itself sits up on the hill, a 15 minute walk from our cozy B&B (we were upgraded to a large, front-facing room with tall windows and two terribly comfortable queen sized beds). It was a Sunday, so after Brunch at a stellar cafe on a closed-up Duke street we went up to the cathedral to explore. It was amazing. I had seen ruins in Shrewsbury, near York, scattered around the countryside in England. Henry VIII broke the power of the Catholic church in England after the Pope wouldn’t let him divorce, and many monasteries and abbeys were destroyed as part of his purge. But the Shrine of St Mungo survived, with its thousand year old roots now holding memorials to Scottish warriors of more modern wars. It was a wonder. I wandered through the columns with my mouth open while an organist practiced above us, his notes ringing from the rafters. 

 

 During the Industrial Revolution, tenements were built to accommodate the city’s explosion along the Clyde. Like the other Western industrial towns in Britain (Swansea, Manchester, Liverpool, etc.), development happened on parallel paths. Private parks still exist at the top of the hill, encircled by stone row houses. On a neighboring hill, Glasgow University looks like the inspiration for Hogwarts (it might have been). We heard Scots lament the building of the tenements, and even more lament the fact that they were almost entirely torn down a few decades ago, rather than being brought up to code.

 

There is a tension in travel between seeing a place as it is shown in travel magazines and the places as they are lived in. Travel blogs and airline magazines are plastered with centerfold spreads of alluring landscapes, impossible views. But fashion models have to do their laundry and get bloody noses. We saw both. The tour buses will only show you one side, but a good travel buddy will let you get off the beaten path. And Scotland makes it almost too easy. I can't wait to go back.

Thanks, A, for a great adventure!