Back in London for 4 days at work and then we were off again, for a long weekend in Glasgow. The week went quickly, Christine was on school holidays but managed to keep herself busy with Mel, galleries and washing! Damien was back at the office working hard for the four days.
Thursday afternoon we met at Liverpool St and took the train out to the airport for our flight to Glasgow. Our roomm
ates from snowboarding last year were from Glasgow and at the end of the week they invited us up to Glasgow. Of course we said we would visit, but we didn’t realize it would take us over a year to organize it!
Audrey and Lorna picked us up from the airport and took us straight to a pub, true Scottish style, love it! It gets better, Lorna actually owns the apartment above the pub! After a couple of pints and a catch up on the events of the past 12mths, Audrey took us back to her place, where we would be staying (she has less cats).
Friday the girls had work, so after bit of a sleep in, we caught the bus into the town centre. It is a small city, so we did a bit of a walking tour. We started at George Square which is the centre of town, and has a number of statues. From here we wandered down to the Cathedral. This is being restored but the inside was very nice, beautiful stained glass windows and in the lower church there is a tomb and medieval arches. Behind the church was the Necropolis, an old graveyard with nice view over the city and some very grand tomb stones.
After a lovely lunch in a little café we headed to the City Chambers for a guided tour. The interior is very extravagant, marble stairways, council chambers and portraits of past mayors. It has been used in films for scenes in the ‘Vatican’. We got to sit in the Mayors seat and saw them setting up the ballroom for the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ presentations.
We had a quick visit to GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) which has a horse statue out the front that constantly gets a witches hat placed on it, as bit of a joke. Then we got a call to be at a pub back out near Audrey’s, so we jumped on the bus and headed out to meet the girls.
It was a night out to celebrate one of their friends birthdays. Sadly Lorna was not feeling well and never made it out for the evening. The night started in a busy micro brewery, The Clockwork Beer Company, where pints and pizza were consumed. Then we headed to the local Greyhound track for a night of racing, woo hoo! With only 5 dogs in each race, we were able to pick a couple of winners, roughly breaking even for the evening. Stumbling out of the dog track we visited another little local pub, an Indian takeaway joint (with fluorescent pink food, mmm…) and then back to the birthday girls place for a night cap! 
Strangely, Saturday morning Audrey wasn’t feeling very well! She decided to have a day in bed. Lorna, feeling a bit better picked us up, in her red mini cooper, with Candy, her puppy dog in the back. We drove north through the city and up to Loch Lomond. The drive took about an hour, through nice country side and rolling hills. We arrived in a small village, had a bite to eat and a coffee. Then we went for a walk on the Loch with the puppy! The Loch was beautiful and we were fortunate that the weather was nice, blue sky and sunny for most of the day. It was also fun playing with Candy, she loved the water and chasing her tennis ball. We had a few stops on the way home. We had a look at some Hairy Cows, coffee in another little town, climbed a mountain with views back over Glasgow and visited a friend of Lorna’s briefly. 
Back in Glasgow we found Audrey had dragged herself out of bed, was feeling better, but not great. After a rest on the couch and a glass of wine, we headed into town for dinner in a district called Merchant City. This is an old part of town with small buildings and alleyways, and lots of nightlife. We ate in a great little restaurant, very busy. I ate Haggis, Nips and Tatties while Christine had a Moroccan Lamb dish, When in Rome… 
After dinner Audrey retired for the evening, but Lorna had grand plans. We bar hopped for a little while, struggling to finish our drinks after eating so much. Then we headed to a nightclub, VIP of course, she is well connected in the Glasgow night scene. The nightclub looked amazing from the outside, it is in the basement of an old church. Sadly the interior was like any other nightclub, they had plastered over all the old stone walls and roof. We had a good night, drinking and dancing. Honestly it felt a bit like the Mt View in Melbourne (one of our locals), that sort of crowd and lay-out, although the music here wasn’t as good!
Our last day in town we headed out for brunch with Audrey. As if last night wasn’t enough I ate Haggis Bruchetta for breakfast. We then visited Pollock Country Park, Pollock House and the Burrell Collection. The house is an old mansion turned art gallery with a lot of old furniture and portraits. The Burrell Collection is a modern building which houses a museum. Lots of cool things in here sculptures, furniture, Egyptian, Greek and Chinese sections. Lorna met us in the park with Candy to say good bye, and then we were on our way back to the airport bound for London again.
We had a very busy 3 days, but loved it, there is heaps of art and culture in Glasgow as well as heaps of parks. Thanks for everything girls, from accommodation, food and drinks , showing us around and good times! See you in Melbourne next!
Thursday afternoon we met at Liverpool St and took the train out to the airport for our flight to Glasgow. Our roomm
ates from snowboarding last year were from Glasgow and at the end of the week they invited us up to Glasgow. Of course we said we would visit, but we didn’t realize it would take us over a year to organize it!Audrey and Lorna picked us up from the airport and took us straight to a pub, true Scottish style, love it! It gets better, Lorna actually owns the apartment above the pub! After a couple of pints and a catch up on the events of the past 12mths, Audrey took us back to her place, where we would be staying (she has less cats).
Friday the girls had work, so after bit of a sleep in, we caught the bus into the town centre. It is a small city, so we did a bit of a walking tour. We started at George Square which is the centre of town, and has a number of statues. From here we wandered down to the Cathedral. This is being restored but the inside was very nice, beautiful stained glass windows and in the lower church there is a tomb and medieval arches. Behind the church was the Necropolis, an old graveyard with nice view over the city and some very grand tomb stones.
After a lovely lunch in a little café we headed to the City Chambers for a guided tour. The interior is very extravagant, marble stairways, council chambers and portraits of past mayors. It has been used in films for scenes in the ‘Vatican’. We got to sit in the Mayors seat and saw them setting up the ballroom for the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ presentations.
We had a quick visit to GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) which has a horse statue out the front that constantly gets a witches hat placed on it, as bit of a joke. Then we got a call to be at a pub back out near Audrey’s, so we jumped on the bus and headed out to meet the girls.
It was a night out to celebrate one of their friends birthdays. Sadly Lorna was not feeling well and never made it out for the evening. The night started in a busy micro brewery, The Clockwork Beer Company, where pints and pizza were consumed. Then we headed to the local Greyhound track for a night of racing, woo hoo! With only 5 dogs in each race, we were able to pick a couple of winners, roughly breaking even for the evening. Stumbling out of the dog track we visited another little local pub, an Indian takeaway joint (with fluorescent pink food, mmm…) and then back to the birthday girls place for a night cap! Strangely, Saturday morning Audrey wasn’t feeling very well! She decided to have a day in bed. Lorna, feeling a bit better picked us up, in her red mini cooper, with Candy, her puppy dog in the back. We drove north through the city and up to Loch Lomond. The drive took about an hour, through nice country side and rolling hills. We arrived in a small village, had a bite to eat and a coffee. Then we went for a walk on the Loch with the puppy! The Loch was beautiful and we were fortunate that the weather was nice, blue sky and sunny for most of the day. It was also fun playing with Candy, she loved the water and chasing her tennis ball. We had a few stops on the way home. We had a look at some Hairy Cows, coffee in another little town, climbed a mountain with views back over Glasgow and visited a friend of Lorna’s briefly. Back in Glasgow we found Audrey had dragged herself out of bed, was feeling better, but not great. After a rest on the couch and a glass of wine, we headed into town for dinner in a district called Merchant City. This is an old part of town with small buildings and alleyways, and lots of nightlife. We ate in a great little restaurant, very busy. I ate Haggis, Nips and Tatties while Christine had a Moroccan Lamb dish, When in Rome… After dinner Audrey retired for the evening, but Lorna had grand plans. We bar hopped for a little while, struggling to finish our drinks after eating so much. Then we headed to a nightclub, VIP of course, she is well connected in the Glasgow night scene. The nightclub looked amazing from the outside, it is in the basement of an old church. Sadly the interior was like any other nightclub, they had plastered over all the old stone walls and roof. We had a good night, drinking and dancing. Honestly it felt a bit like the Mt View in Melbourne (one of our locals), that sort of crowd and lay-out, although the music here wasn’t as good!Our last day in town we headed out for brunch with Audrey. As if last night wasn’t enough I ate Haggis Bruchetta for breakfast. We then visited Pollock Country Park, Pollock House and the Burrell Collection. The house is an old mansion turned art gallery with a lot of old furniture and portraits. The Burrell Collection is a modern building which houses a museum. Lots of cool things in here sculptures, furniture, Egyptian, Greek and Chinese sections. Lorna met us in the park with Candy to say good bye, and then we were on our way back to the airport bound for London again.
We had a very busy 3 days, but loved it, there is heaps of art and culture in Glasgow as well as heaps of parks. Thanks for everything girls, from accommodation, food and drinks , showing us around and good times! See you in Melbourne next!
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