Last day in Glasgow

Old double decker Glasgow bus, sculpture by the shipyards, Loch Lomond

a nature area at Luss with a Celtic cross, Loch Lomand, the kirk that is a resturant, where we ate lunch.

Loch Long, Hillhead House at Helensburg, Loch Lomand

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Today is our last full day in Scotland—much sadness. Pete went to McDonalds’ and brought back breakfast for the crew. A McMuffin with English bacon is really quite good. And McDoanld’s has sugar rings (donuts) on the menu. Our first McDonald’s breakfast in the U.K. Pete and Jess went to get the car club car, a Volkswagen this time, and Nancy and Neil took Chase up the hill for her morning walk. When we took Chase back to the flat, we met Pete and Jess and went for a ride.

The first stop was Loch Lomond. We motored out of the city west along the Clyde River through different neighborhoods and then turned north into the hills. There was traffic as people headed into the country for a weekend holiday, but we quickly got to a small town on the west bank of the Loch—the town of Luss. In Luss we walked along the rocky beach, walked through town and passed by the church where they were having a traditional Scottish wedding with kilts and a piper—never did see the bride. We stopped by a stream and walked a ways in the rain—you guessed it. The Loch is very pretty, surrounded by hills, with islands and very cold water—not a swimming lake in my book. Back in the car and up the highway looking for lunch. The next small town seemed to be very small and nothing attracted our attention—so we pressed on. We stopped at what had been a church but was now a restaurant on the outside of the little town that begins with the letter T. Lunch was quite good; we had steak sandwiches, fish and chips, and wonderful fries (chips) with a cheese sauce. It was very good, and we had a pleasant lunch. The chairs in this place were so heavy that I think they were built of petrified wood.

The next stop was Helensburg and a house designed by Charles Renee Mackintosh. It was built in 1904, the Edwardian Era, and the house is modern even by today’s standards. Interesting contrasts of dark areas, and built in furniture, and much lighter areas with hand painted designs. The house was very modern in some ways, but it had a library, scullery, and servants quarters distinctly not modern. The house and the adjacent gardens were worth seeing.

From Helensbug we drove across the high bridge we had tried to take a picture of in the car on the way out of the city and weeks earlier coming back from the highlands on the train. This time we crossed, but we didn’t take a picture as you can’t see the bridge from the bridge.

Once in Braehead, we proceeded to IKEA. We are great fans of IKEA in United States and wanted to see one in the UK. It is much the same, same convoluted path through the store designed to put the consumer in contact with as many possible purchases as can be accomplished, many of the same products, but there were some differences: much more attention was paid to drying clothes without a tumble dryer, and many different, somewhat exotic plants. Mostly it was old home time—except that we couldn’t buy anything for us—we did help Pete and Jess purchase a storage cart for their kitchen, which we took home and watched Pete assemble it with a screw driver just like home. On the way home we drove through the part of Glasgow that Peter had done his Master’s project on, called Govan. It is a neighborhood, hit hard by the closing of the ship building industry, that needs a plan to help in its recreation. To see it in person was interesting after seeing it as maps and diagrams. Back to the flat to rest up and work on the new IKEA treasures until dinner time.

On Saturday night it is quite difficult to eat out without reservations, but AD LIB is a good restaurant which seems to be an exception. They have some American style food, such as ribs,and hamburgers, and the best Macaroni and Cheese in town. Both Nancy and I had that and a pint. After dinner we retired to the flat to talk and hang out until bed time. Big travel day tomorrow—sad.

10,811 Steps Today.