Thursday, July 29

Tenement House Museum, the tenement model, the bedroom of the tenement flat that I wasn't supposed to take--someone was standing in front of the sign

The MacIntosh School of Art, A crazy drum and bagpipe group from the Highlands who regularly get arrested because they won't buy the permit, a police station

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The days are getting noticeably shorter. It is dark by 10:15 or so and the sky doesn’t get light until 4:00. I have heard people say that Glasgows two weeks of summer are up. This must mean that it is about time for us to return to the States.

Up, breakfast, showered, dressed and ready to work. Trying to catch up on the blog, because when we hit the Queen Mary there will be an enforced silence while we are at sea and dependent on very expensive direct satellite transmission. We did laundry and then set out for today’s adventure.

A trip to the Post Office to send some envelopes of brochures, post cards, etc. home. Actually Ian and Sara, we sent them to you. There are three envelopes. They should arrive in a week. We paid for the more expensive air mail route—otherwise we might not see our package for up to 12 weeks. The Royal Mail people are extremely helpful. They have a number of automated machines for mailing things and a machine that will give you a queue number for personal help. They also always have one or two people in the lobby to help people and direct them to the most efficient way to meet their needs.

Then we walked down to St. Enoch’s subway station, bought our tickets and went down to the Inner Circle track. We waited for our train and took it to Cowcaddens Station. We climbed to the surface, got out our (Pete’s) trusty map and figured out the way to the Tenement House Museum. Remember this is Glasgow, Scotland so it is uphill. We went uphill for a block, turned left and continued to go uphill for several more blocks. We finally reached the top and went down hill for a block and a half and arrived at the museum to find that it didn’t open for another 50 minutes…not until 1 PM or 13:00…take your pick.

Ok, we figured we would just go get some lunch on Sauchiehall (pronounced Sauk e haul). We happened to look up at the signs and there was a sign that said this way to Sauchiehall avoiding steep grade. We had seen the steep grade called Garnethill, like climbing a ladder with no steps. Off we went on the Avoiding steep grade path. We found Sauchiehall, figured out we were going to go by the Fusiliers Museum that we had been to already. We found a number of places to eat. However,because I was not feeling adventuresome enough to eat food I couldn’t pronounce, we went back to Starbucks and had a panni which they warmed up, chips, a cookie and Neil’s new favorite—a mocha with whipped cream. We .bought a newspaper so we could do the puzzles.

There are an amazing number of newspapers in this country. People can be seen reading them all over. A woman gave me one on the train on the way back from Thurso. On the third page there was a picture of a woman undressed to the waist. Pete and Jess explained that if the papers had a red banner on the front page they were like tabloids in the states. They cover the stories like the more traditional papers, but boy do they have wild headlines. The paper we got to at Starbucks had a great editorial about Sarah Ferguson….they called her a spoiled brat. They said that her divorce settlement was enough to buy a nice house and to raise her daughters in a most comfortable and fashionable way. They lambasted her for her extravagance and outlandish spending. They were really displeased about the talk of Oprah giving her a show representing single mums. It was pretty entertaining. There certainly appear to be more people reading books here than in the States.

Finally it was one o’clock so we made our way back to the Tenement House Museum. The museum is the flat of a woman, a stenographer, who lived in the flat from the late 1930’s until she was hospitalized in 1966. On her death her money was used to buy the building and eventually it was sold/given to the Scottish Historical Trust. They restored the flat, one of several apartments in the building, to its look in the 1930’s. The 1^st floor has a model of a tenement and a reconstructed “modern tenement” for the 80’s or 1990’s. It seems that these buildings which are relatively small with some ten apartments on five floors are not a bad organization for living in a city—so more and more of them are being rehabilitated rather than torn down and replaced. In addition there were small exhibits on coal heating, fashions, food preparation, washing clothes and more information about the woman’s life. The actual flat is on the 1^st floor (US 2^nd floor) and is one of two on that floor, the second one is currently occupied by a renter. The flat has four rooms, bedroom, living/dining room, bathroom, and kitchen. The flat has been restored to its semi-original state, including the gas lighting with mantles. The flat was electrified in 1956 originally, but they wanted an earlier look. The bedroom is a normal old-fashioned bedroom, bed, armoire, dressing table. The Living/dining space was set-up for tea. They even had pancakes on a platter along side the scones. But in the corner, was a closet—not for clothes but for sleeping with a built in bed. The bathroom was almost modern; one of the caretakers explained this was a high end bathroom for the time with hot and cold running water, a large deep bathtub and flush toilet. The kitchen centered around a coal stove (all the rooms bathroom excepted had fireplaces for using coal for heat). There was a sink and a table but no icebox or refrigerator. It seems this was common in the thirties making daily shopping a necessity. Even today Glaswegians shop more often than we do in the states. It seems if you are carrying groceries by hand rather than loading them in the car you buy less. Anyway, we saw the four rooms and made a retreat.

Back on the street we oriented ourselves toward on next target: the Glasgow School of Art, and a building designed by that MacIntosh fellow. It was not along the easy, flatter part, but to the corner and up Garnet Hill Street. This street is up up hill even more so that the hill near the flat to take Chase to the park. The street has that right name. Anyway up the hill and over a block or so is the Mackintosh building. The building is very nice. We went in and looked around, no inside pictures but didn’t stay long as it is a functioning college building. We checked in the Gift Shop to look at the model of the building and some exhibits about the school, and then came slowly down hill to a fabric store—not just drapery fabrics, but quilt stuff also—for Nancy it was a little bit of a let down because many of the fabrics in addition to being expensive were also American. Still it was fun to look. Next it was across a block to Sauchiehall Street. We walked up this main shopping avenue to the book store where we spent Nancy’s birthday gift and bought books for the trip home. The final destination on this beautiful warm sunny day was the Hamley’s Toy store at Sr. Enoch’s Shopping Mall all the way down the hill to the other end of Sauchiehall Street. We made the walk easily because it was all downhill. At the toy store we were looking for an HO/OO gauge version of the Scots Rail two or three car train like the ones we had ridden North, but they did not have one. I moved that from the will buy to the would someday like list in my head. At the mall we stopped at the very American style food court to have a coke and rest a bit before continuing home. Finally we walked back to the flat to relax and wait for Jess to get off work—the menu tonight was real Scottish food.

We went looking for a pub called the Living Room, supposedly the home of very good steak and ale pie, for which Pete had a wish. We walked into the sun all the way and could not see much as we were blinded, in fact we almost walked by it. The Living Room was a very nice restaurant which served very good food which we all enjoyed. Back to the flat for a coke, and some TV and bed without an air mattress.

18,589 Steps Today

Wednesday the 28th

Carnivorous plants at Kibble Palace

The moving sidewalk at the Buchanan Street --it is really slanted, Kibble Palace at the Botanic Garden, the center courtyard under the dome

Flowers in the Kibble Palace

Wednesday July 28, 2010

Happy Birthday Nancy! Well the day started as most days here, breakfast, clean-up, and chores. We did those things, worked on the blog and a bit of laundry. About 11:30 we set out for today’s adventure.

We headed out to Byers Road and a Chinese Lunch at Amber—as sticks in the mud we didn’t change a thing and had the orange chicken and Hong Kong sweet and sour. A wonderful meal for a budget price—here not in the states. We spent 15 pounds, and it is easy to forget that it equals about 22 dollars—but no matter. After lunch we strolled up the road looking for a cake for tonight but didn’t find one.

We went to the Botanical center to look inside the Kibble Palace, a huge Victorian style green house. One room was devoted to carnivorous plants, rows and rows of pitcher plants with different colors. Then into the main room that had plants from around the world. We saw plants from South Africa, China, Australia, and South America a wide selection of species with many notes about their individual properties. One plant had antibacterial properties which work even on the resistant MRSA bacteria. On the inside ring was a huge collection of tree ferns that grew like a jungle on both sides and over the pathway like a jungle except for the kids trying to go different ways than their mother’s expectations.

We left the Kibble Palace after a thorough inspection and walked back to the tube stop. Along the way we bought raspberries for breakfast and some roses for the flat. Then we got on the subway and went back to city center. We stopped at the post office to buy some shipping envelopes, and at a bakery to buy some cupcakes, as we couldn’t find a cake that we liked. We walked home along Argyle Street and then some more work on the blog and sorting of paper accumulation which we decided could not take up a whole suitcase of its own.

For dinner we went to a restaurant in City Center called Café Andalusa whose main offerings are tapas. Tapas are great. They are small portions served on little dessert or bread size plates and bowls. If you are with a group you order several different kinds and share amongst the group. They generally recommend two or three tapas per person. This can add to the confusion of the table. We had great fun picking out what to order and eventually resorted to writing down what to order. The waiter came to collect our order with Jess doing the Spanish. The waiter, however, cheated, and was copying down our order from the list in Pete’s hand. Too bad – Jess was doing an amazing job. We had 10 tapas: Potatoes Gratinedas—potato chunks in an amazing cream sauce; Championes---button mushrooms, again in an amazing cream sauce; Solomillo con Setas—sliced steak with onions and mushrooms; Chorizo frito al vino—a sausage; Pollo Rebozado—chicken grilled and served with an yogurt sauce; Pollo Marinado—chicken pieces deep fried in a batter with a mustard sauce; Queso Manchego—cheese slices; Aton a la Plancha—tuna with potato salad; Pan Fresco--bread; Bollo al Ajillo--bread. There was enough that everyone had 2 or 3 tablespoons of each dish. It was great fun. Forgive the Spanish spellings—I tried.

We walked back to the flat and had cupcakes and ice cream. Sara called, and we had a video chat with Sara and the wee ones. Poor Ian was at work, winning a trial—ok, they didn’t know they won until later. That is always a great time….the boys are real troopers and do a great job. They do, however, give Sara a real workout trying to protect her computer and keep them on screen. It was delightful because they actually said some new things for us---papa, nana, Pete, Chase dog, and they tried to say Jess…..boy are those “J’s” tough to say. Thanks all for a grand birthday.

Steps: 18,589

Thurso to Glasgow

The Old Kirk, The point at Thurso, Beach at Thurso--no one was swimming

Island visible from Thurso Harbor, Point at Thurso Harbor, Thurso Castle

Highlands scenery, Train Station with Gaelic Name under the English, Highland scene

Bridge over loch, oil drilling in firth, highland scene

Highland scenery from the train

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Neil slept in, but we were up in time for the full Scottish breakfast minus the black pudding (blood pudding) and the haggis. It was a lovely breakfast that was cooked to order with poached or fried eggs, baked tomatoes, potato scones, toast, English bacon (thin fatty ham, and sausage, plus juice and coffee.

After breakfast we packed our overnight bag, wrestled with the Swedish door lock… The handle had to be held up while you turned the key to lock the room. It didn’t come with instructions, but the desk clerk had a few unkind words to say about the locks as well. With our trusty map of Thurso in hand we headed out for the harbor.

We reached land’s end, and I, of course, took a bunch of pictures. Have to take more than one in case they don’t upload from the card. We walked out to the point of the harbor. We saw the defunct castle, an island off shore (Orkney? Maybe or unknown), and a large cruise ship docked in the harbor but not at the dock. They were taking passengers from the dock to the ship in small boats. They actually looked like the lifeboats. It was low tide. We watched a father and son fishing. It was fun watching the waves…small as they were. We continued our walk around the harbor and headed back into the town.

We saw a number of old buildings, including Old St. Peter’s Kirk (church) that was built in 1220 and used until 1832 when it was closed in favor of the new church in the town center. There was a cemetery as well, but you couldn’t get in to see it….only looking from the gate allowed. We walked through some residential areas that were also very, very old to the town’s center. We went into a small shop to get a couple of postcards. The lady there told us about her son who is on holiday in America….San Francisco. He and his buddy were driving motor cycles to Los Angeles and then flying to Las Vegas. She was plenty worried about him. She became the third person to tell us about the new museum which is in a really old building of course. At least it wasn’t wrapped in scaffolding and netting. Since so many people had suggested it, we decided to check it out. It really was a nice museum. We learned that at one time Thurso quarried most of the flagstone for the world. The industry died, but it is actually coming back. We also learned that there was quite a kipper industry has well. Thurso was also the site (nearby) of Britain’s first nuclear plutonium breeder reactor—the dream in the fifties of self sustaining power. The reactor and research center brought some life to the town. It has since been shut down, but it likely saved the town.

After learning about the community which was surprisingly large after the empty wilderness we travelled through to get here, we walked down their main street. We took in a toy store. We went past hotels which we didn’t stay at, thank goodness because they looked pretty old and run down on the outside.

We stopped at the train station and Nancy talked with the agent about making five minute connections. He explained that it was done all the time and just stay in contact with the trainman, and he would keep us informed. We still had about an hour before out train so we decided to take the walk in the sun that we had not taken in the rain. We went down Janet Street to the foot bridge, and crossed the park to the river. From there we could see the grocery store that was across from the hotel. It was an easy walk as advertised, but in a pouring rain not knowing where we were going it would have been difficult. We returned to the station and waited for our train.

We had a great ride to Inverness, uncrowded, quiet, non-raining, and on time. We had a number, five, by request stops, but the lady train driver put her pedal to the metal and we really flew on parts of the journey. We made it to Inverness on time and walked over to the next platform, platform 2, and got in coach B. Here the problem began, there were two families, four adults and six children occupying our seats and others. We asked them if we could have our seats and one of the women replied that there were no tags on the seats, and there were not. We would have moved, but there were no double seats available. I don’t know where the reserved tags went but they were our seats. The ride for half an hour was tense as the woman seemed to think we were in the wrong so she sat and gave us evil looks the whole and let her little girl get by with kicking Nancy under the table, but they got off at the third stop and we had the entire table and four seats for the ride into Inverness.

Right on time the train arrived in Perth for our second change. We had six minutes to make it off the train, up the stairs, across the bridge, down the stairs, to our next platform…. We made it with three minutes to spare. We had reserved seats, fortunately, because the train was a bit busier. We shared our table with a grandmum who was headed to Loch Lomand to take care of her 15 month old grandson. She commutes from outside of Aberdeen to Glasgow and then Loch Lomand every week. She comes down two days a week. She is a retired teacher who taught 5 to 7 year olds. She has two sons who graduated from Strathcylde and her daughter-in-law lectures and researches in the prosthetics department at Strathcylde. She wanted to know about our holiday….She said that we had probably seen more of Scotland than most Scots. She was a very friendly lady who definitely made up for the crankster from Inverness to Aviemore.

At each of the train stations there are signs with the station names posted of course. The interesting part is the Gaelic spellings that are included under the English spellings. This much is true---Gaelic is one complicated language, and I pity small children who have to learn to speak and spell it. Actually, there is a program to promote the learning and teaching of Gaelic in schools. If you become qualified to teach Gaelic, you can pretty much name your job.

We got back to Glasgow right on time---8:22 PM—our scheduled. The trains have an amazing record for promptness. They have big signs in the train stations showing their records. They also have the incentive of having to give discounts if they fall below a certain level of promptness. The senior discounts in Great Britain are amazing….around 1/3 of the ticket cost. We very quickly made up the cost of the senior pass. They have all kinds of passes available. You can get family, mum, grandparent, friends passes. They work very hard to keep people on their trains. On many of the trains you have “trollies.” The trollies take the places of dining/food cars. The train employee brings the little trolly through the train loaded with tea with water hotter than McDonalds, coffee, sodas, water, wine, some beers, chips, candy, sandwiches, and salads. This was a good thing on the trip back from Thurso since we didn’t have time to get food between trains. We were able to have tea and chips at least.

Okay, back to the point—we got back to the flat about 8:45. Jess was there waiting for us. Pete had made potato and leek soup, so we had some and collapsed. This traveling is hard work.

Steps: 10,130

On the Way to Thurso

Scenes from the Highlands

Scenes from the Highlands

Scenes from the Highlands, the thistle--national symbol of Scotland

Monday, July 26, 2010

We’re off for another train ride. This train is leaving at a more reasonable hour---so we had time for breakfast and checking our gear. We walked down to Queen Street Station to catch our train for Perth. We bought one of those expensive chocolate coffee drinks (a mocha flake) and boarded our train—no confusion today. The ride was pleasant. We had a table and a small enough number of passengers that we had two seats each. The ride to Perth was pretty uneventful. At Perth we had a few minutes before we changed trains, so we bought sandwiches and chips and boarded our second train for Inverness and the far North—Thurso.

The train was also not crowded so we had a pleasant journey. At Inverness we saw some of the ships and businesses involved in the North Sea Oil field. We then followed the coast, cutting across the base of several peninsulas as we went through places like Beauly, Dingwall, Fearn, Invergordon, Tain and Golspie. At Invergordon we saw two oil drilling rigs that were involved with oil exploration in the Cromarty Firth which some locals are not happy about. The train arrived at Helmsdale and turned inland. The train followed a river valley into the highlands and aside from the farms along the river with their hay crops, pastures and sheep the land appeared pretty empty. The further north and up in elevation we went the smaller the number of trees and the greater the number of rocky outcroppings. The track parted company with the main highway and the number of people in evidence shrank still further, Most of the stops along this part of the line are by request only. If there are no passengers on the platform and if no one on the train requests to get off, the train does not stop. When we stopped at Georgemas Junction, the train reversed and went backwards to Thurso. After Thurso the train goes forward back to Georgemas Junction and then on to Wick, which is the end of the line

Nancy has a great deal of fun trying to take pictures from the train. We had a little two car sprinter train—that’s what it is called. The new camera, although a nice little camera, does not have quite the speed of the good one. It works however. It works well enough to allow Nancy to fill up a 2 g SD cards with lots of pictures. The scenery was beautiful----very desolate in spots.

We got off as scheduled at Thurso which is as far North as you can get by train in Scotland. Even though Wick is the the end of the line, it is further south As we disembarked it started to pour. There were a number of taxi’s, but the people who rushed to get off the train knew what they were doing and grabbed them up quickly---no hesitation. We had intended to walk to the hotel since I had directions. I had thought it was a little strange that when I booked the hotel I asked about walking and the lady at the desk told me it was indeed walkable, but there were plenty of cabs if it was raining. Now we knew why. We caught the last taxi driver who was loading a group and asked if more taxis would be coming; he said that he would return for us. We walked around to the front of the building where we found more people waiting for taxis. Another taxi showed up and a group of four snagged it. That left us and a German couple with limited English skills. They wanted to know when the bus was coming to go to the ferry—like I would know, but I do read signs.. There were no bus signs—not good. We all stood in the doorway out of the pouring rain and waited. Our taxi driver returned, and we asked about the bus….no bus. We gave the German couple the taxi---they had a ferry boat connection to make, and we stayed in our doorway as much out of the pouring rain as possible. Eventually, our cab driver returned to take us to the Park Hotel. He was quite a pleasant man and told us things to see in Thurso.

We arrived at our hotel which was a hotel, not a b and b. We really didn’t care as long as it was clean and quiet. The hotel had recently been remodeled and was quite nice according to our taxi driver. He was correct. The clerk showed us to our room which was in a building out behind the main building. We had room #20. The room was delightful. It had a regular television which Neil enjoyed a great deal. He played the stereotypical male and played with the remote all evening. Okay, it wasn’t all evening because we did go out for dinner and a wee walk.

After we were settled in our room, we rested a bit and then because it was still raining, we opted to eat in the hotel restaurant. Neil had locally caught haddock and chips. I had steak pie and potatoes. We each had a vegetable medley. Quite lovely. After dinner it had stopped raining so we decided to go for a walk. Unwise decision, it started raining again. We did go across the road to the new Tesco grocery and walked around the grocery for a bit. We returned to our room where I read and Neil played with the remote. He did have a good time.

For not having walked very far today, we were certainly tired….must be all of that train riding. Or lack of exercise…

Steps: 2,978

Merchant City Festival

Chase dog, Orkestra Del Sol, Orkestra Del Sol drummer playing with tennis racket

Strathcylde Uni's answer to Stonehenge, Pete & Jess in front of Architecture Bldg. View of Glasgow west end from hill by Architecture building

Hutnuk dancers, Hutnuk dancers, a group of drummers we also saw

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Must have been tired. We slept until 8:00 AM---never do that. Might have slept longer, but Chase girl decided that it was time for her herd to be awake and moving, so she got us up. She, however, went back to bed. We didn’t move to quickly or do too much until 11:30.

Today is the last day of the Merchant City Festival. Merchant City is a neighborhood within Glasgow which they have worked hard at revitalizing it in the last twenty years. The renewal continues. Each year they have a festival, appropriately named Merchant City Fesitval. They have had musical performance groups, dance groups, drama groups, and visual artisits performing all over the neighborhood since Friday evening. It is a great concept….instead of pushing mobs of people into one large venue for one or two performances; they have much smaller venues with a large number of performance groups. The groups performed two or three times in different venues and at different times. Obviously the groups are not all top name groups, They performed on the street, in small galleries, in pubs, and in churches. In addition to the performers they also had street stalls where vendors were selling anything from food to handbags to jewelry to farmers market types of items. I can think of several cities in the states that should try the concept.

We walked to John Street to see the first group on our agenda, Orkestra Del Sol. Of course, on the way there it began to rain. It was raining hard enough that we had to have the rain jackets and umbrellas. Like Glasgow…it stopped fairly quickly and the music went on. This is a young group which had two drummers, a trombone, a trumpet player, three saxophone players, one of whom also played the clarinet. The last member of the group was an accordionist. It is unbelievable the number of accordions that you hear played on the streets here---very talented people. They were a young group that played lively and happy music that emphasized lung capacity, speed, and range of sound. The bass drummer had a tennis racket fastened to his drum. A bit strange. He used the racket as one of his sticks after he dropped on the ground—planned, I am sure. He did quite well with the tennis racket, must to the consternation of band instructors everywhere. They were fun and actually moved venues in the middle of the performance with the audience invited to move with them in a Pied Piper formation.

Once their performance was over, it was off to get some food from the vendors. We tried some noodles and vegetables…..very tasty, but extremely salty. Then we went off down the street to pick up a bratwurst at the German stand. Then we walked on and found a fresh roasted pork, so we had a pork sandwich, and finished it off with an ice cream cone. Stop laughing….we didn’t each have this….Neil and I shared each of these. Pete and Jess did a similar lunch.

Opera was our next stop. We headed to one of the local pubs that was hosting a scene from an opera. When we got there it was already crowded, so we sat in the outside garden. Jess and I stood by a door at the side of the pub and listened to and watched part of the opera. The door was the escape route for the young female star. It was fun, but of course, melodramatic. While listening to that we checked out the rest of our agenda….it was a fiber art display.

The fiber art display was up the hill by Pete’s school. We had time so we took the scenic and more gentle route up the hill. It was still steep, but not as brutal as the hill between their flat and school. We walked through an historic neighborhood and through part of the university, including the department of architecture. We got to the fiber arts display to discover that it was already closed. Oops. We walked down the hill to the flat for potty and drink stop.

One more performance on our list: the Hutnuk dancers were performing at the Merchant City Building. This dance group used a combination of traditional dances of India and modern dance. The group was made up 3 young women and 3 young men with an abundance of dances. They incorporated several costume changes within their performance. The performance was fun and energetic. There were a number of children at this performance enjoying the colors and the fast paced movements. It was a fun venue with people standing and sitting on the floor around the stage which was a large square hard wrestling mat. .

Back to the flat where people had things that needed to be accomplished before morning. Pete and Jess had work / school things to do and Neil and I had packing to do.

Steps: 8,659

York, England

The Winston Churchill Engine, The Japanese Bullet Train, a model of the Chunnel

Engines around the turntable, an engine, the cutaway of tender

A garden engine, Name plate, the Flying Scotsman display

Fans of Harry Potter know this sign, the gravestone for the defunct railroad, the shop

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Today is Transportation Museum Day. We were up and out of the flat before some of us were awake—it's Saturday after all. At the Central station we had some difficulty finding which train it we were to board since when we arrived there was a train at platform one to York and other places, but it did not leave at the time on our tickets. We asked a station attendant, but she did not know and directed us to the stationmaster's office—it wasn't open yet, but she said just open the sliding glass doors and knock on the inside door. We did, and two startled looking men said oh yea, your train is out there ready to go. As we walked along the platform we asked one of the train crew, actually the crew leader if this was the correct train—she made a call and as she was talking our train pulled in to platform two at 4 minutes before 7AM. We were taking the early train because there was an 80 pound difference in cost between that train and the next ones. We checked with the train manager of the second train, and he said yes he was going to York, and we were welcome to come. The trouble was really that our train was bound for places way south in England but to little towns I did not recognize. The train actually stops eventually in Southampton on the south coast.

For most of the way there was plenty of room and we relaxed. At Durham a huge load of passengers got on, and we had to move back to our assigned seats which were not table seats and therefore a bit smaller. At York we disembarked, checked at the train information about our return and then followed the signs to the Royal Transportation Museum. It was only a short walk over the station tracks and then two blocks to the museum. We saw a car crash on the way. Actually the crash was over, they were waiting for wreckers, I assume since it didn't look like either vehicle was going to move without one.

The museum is free, but they ask for donations and got one. We went first to the station room and saw the now retired royal coaches used by the kings and queens since Victoria took the first royal train ride way back when. They had other engines and coaches and exhibits in the room. We learned that when a royal train is on the tracks a pilot engine goes ahead 15 minutes and clears and shuts down the track. The royal train will follow. Then it is followed by another engine 15 minutes behind and reopens the line. The only traffic allowed on the same, but parallel line is a Royal Mail train.

The museum has created a lovely little restaurant on one of the platforms within the royal train building. This place was quite classy as museum cafés go. Nancy had a roast pork sandwich which had pork stuffing and applesauce on it with the pork cut from the loin right before your eyes, and I had a jacket potato, and a strawberry tart, and cokes with ice. Lunch was as good as it looked.

We then looked at the rest of the wagons and engines in that building. Outside for a bit, they have rides behind live steam on weekends, but outside is mostly to distract the kids and for picnics which don’t cost as much as the restaurant. We chose not to do the steam train ride which took two and a half hours.

Inside the main building.is a huge display of restored and semi restored rail equipment. First we walked through one of the coaches from a Japanese bullet train, very neat. Then we walked past various locomotives including the Pacific type named for Winston Churchill, more modern desiels and many displays. One display was the history of the railroads in the UK since World War I, including nationalization, and the divestiture of the public railroads. It is interesting that Nancy and I find their rail system very good and effective—but that natives talk about the good old days and how good it used to be before the Thatcher government did away with nationalization. One of the most interesting things was a full sized Pacific type locomotive cut open as you often see in diagrams to show how the machinery worked. There were separate explanations for over fifty parts within the locomotive--a most effective display.

After finishing the main gallery with a visit to how the royal mail and the railroads still cooperate and an appeal for funds to continue rehabilitation of their Flying Scotsman Locomotive we entered the warehouse. This is a huge dusty not so well lit storage area for the things they don’t have on display. They had wide numbers of models of many scales: one man’s lifetime production of “O” guage models of the LNR (London and North Railroad) one of the old main railroads, well over four hundred models. There were old signals, china and silver services, old style self service ticket machines, and the tombstone for a railroad that had been eliminated during the cutbacks in service. Apparently the local people were not happy with the loss of service. Within the warehouse was the story of the Flying Scotsman Rail Service from London to Edinburgh. There were explanations, and pictures, and videos. One of the stories was told by a steward in the dining car who when things in the dining card were slow and the train fast would have one of the “boys” go to the restroom and pull the chain to stop the train. The conductor would be angry and curse and complain, but the steward would have time to collect from the diners.

The next stop was the shop which was viewed by visitors from an overhead gallery. The mechanics were working on an old (it goes without saying right) diesel using an overhead crane to fit a large air resivior in the front of the machine. They had several projects under way and the shop was crowded with huge machine tools needed to make the replacement parts. They also had displays about signals, weather difficulties, and wrecks.

We spent some time in the gift shop looking at all the model trains for sale, and since we had time before our ride back to Glasgow we went to the library and spent time resting and looking at books about railroads and transportation. As the museum closed we headed back up the hill and over the bridge to the station to await our train. Our train was scheduled to leave at 6:37 PM. It is about a 3 hour 40 minute trip each way between Glasgow and York. It was a crowded long tiring ride back to Glasgow where we arrived at 10:34. Quite a long day and a long ride.

19,424 Steps plus two long train rides