Photos: A rhinoceros at the wood recycling shop, the Empire Fountain in Glasgow Green, the old carpet factory recycled into a German pub and business offices, view of Glasgow from the lighthouse observatory, the steps leading to the very top of the lighthouse, Pete and Jess
in the observation area of the lighthouse, a tower of the old lighthouse
A lazy start as this is one of the first weekends when Pete and Jess have no set plans. Pete went down to the market for rolls and bagels. He came back with raspberries also. Great breakfast.
We walked down to Buchanan Street to see what was happening, to hopefully catch the drummers and pipers (no luck), and to catch the tube west to a farmer’s market. On the way to the market we stopped at a wood recycling business. There really wasn’t a store….a lot with a fence and a small building to act as the office. They had all of these used woods, half barrels, plants, recycling information and materials. They had benches, tables, and various other goods built from the used woods. What a great idea---a central area for recycled lumber and small projects built from the lumber. We also got a couple of ideas for projects.
The market was cool, lots of local outfits with meat and vegetables, as well as breads, jams, sauces, and other things. There were lots of unusual meats, such as lamb, ostrich, bison, seafood, rabbit, and venison. There was very little pork and almost no beef. Pete bought a wonderful hamburger which we all had a bite of and vegetables for use this week.
Nancy and Jess went to a bead store a block from the market, while Pete and I walked a few blocks to the cricket field and back. Passed a betting parlour offering to pay 120 pounds for a ten pound bet on Uruguay. We passed but should not have since Uruguay won later in the day. We got back, bought a treat at the corner grocery and waited. Actually, Jess and Nancy found Pete and Neil coming out of the grocery with food. Nancy and Jess found some really awesome beads.
We caught the tube, which is a smaller cuter version of the London tube, back to Buchanan Street. We were headed for the East End of Glasgow and the Glasgow Green. On the way we looked for the pipers on Buchanan, but we had just missed their show again…they are street players—there are a number of street musicians, accordions, string instruments, etc. Some are quite talented.
We stopped at the Old Lighthouse, which is down an alley off Buchanan Street. The views from the lighthouse were great.... the escalators were scary, structurally sound...just out there floating in midair. There were several exhibits in the museum. We stopped at the Charles McIntosh exhibit and the architecture prize awards for Scotland.
We then headed for the Glasgow Green where we headed for a German Pub/Restaurant. To get there Pete and Jess took us through a short cut mall. It is the Argyle Arcade, and it is filled with more jewelry stores than I have ever seen in one spot. It is at least a block long with stores on both sides.....no costume or fake stones for this arcade...lots and lots of sparkly. There were watches ranging up to 7000 pounds and lots and lots of diamonds---really, really expensive diamonds. There were really pretty ones and some really big diamonds. Nancy and Jess window shopped but neither asked to enter any of the stores. I must go back and take a picture.
Then we did some more walking through another part of the city to the Glasgow Green. The “green” has lots of grass, but some brown as Glasgow is a little short of rain at this time. We headed to the Empire fountain which represents Canada, Australia, South Africa, and India and beyond to a German restaurant in part of an old brewery building. This was our destination for lunch. We all had different items and shared as we downed a pint and talked. After lunch/dinner we headed back to the flat to watch an important world cup game and relax.
The game was not too much fun because despite many chances the USA lost to Ghana. A great day for Africa, North America not so much. However, during the match we had snacks—cheese, vegetables, bread, crisps (potato chips), and two types of dip prepared by our hosts. We enjoyed the game. Then we spent some time working on plans for the highland trip and a hotel in Amsterdam. As the sun finally set at 11:00 PM and an episode of CSI came to a close we got to bed—still not quite dark, but still warm as it had been sunny all day.
14,845 steps today.
No comments:
Post a Comment