October 2, Glasgow

We had a bit of downtime yesterday and it was evidently much needed.  Both of us felt better this morning.  The shuttle bus took us into Edinburgh and we made our first stop Wetherspoons (Campton).  What a great place, we give it a 10 out of 10.  Prices were very good, as was the food and the ambiance was good too.  As Roy said, it didn't have the character of some of the old places but it more than made up for it.  Next stop, the tourist information place where we got a map of Glasgow and subway directions.  Off we went - their subway is old and a bit claustrophobic but it got us to our destination.  It was orignially powered by a steam engine and cable system.  It was a short walk to the Kelvingrove Museum.  Wow, an amazing place.  The first room we went in was filled with life size animals (not live ones) from all over the world.   It reminded me of "Night at the Museum".  There was a full sized Spitfire hanging from the ceiling.  We learned about the "Glasgow Boys".  20 artists 1880 -1920? from Glasgow who formed into a sort of group.  Hornel was my favorite.  Dali's "Christ of St. John is in the collection and really touches you.  It is hard to stop looking at it.
There were rooms dealing with furniture, womens rights, life in Glasgow, I could go on and on and on.  We limited our time there as there are only so many hours in the day and our brains can only absorb a small amount at a time.  Pity we won't be back.

After the Kelvingrove museum we took the underground to the Transportation and Maritime museum.  Another great place which we didn't have near enough time to do it properly.  There are all sorts of cars, motorcycles, trams, trains,model boats, and steam engines throughout the museum.  We heard that there was going to be a tour in 15 minutes so we went over to see about it.  We were the only people who showed up for the tour.  Our private guide took us to all the highlights as he called them.  It took about an hour.  There was the remains of a steam engine coach built in 1837 which was like a horse drawn coach with the engine separate and infront of the passenger coach.  The builder was light years ahead of his time in design, but opposition to non horse drawn coaches was too strong for him to overcome.  When ever a ship building company built a major ship, they would make a model of the ship to use as advertising to other clients.  Inside the museum are models of at least 100 of these models, including the QE1, QE2, and the Queen Mary.  These alone could take a long time to enjoy them. One of the cars was an MG TC.  After the tour we told our guide that we would be leaving and going back to the airport.  He offered us a ride, as he had a car and was going right by the airport on the way home.  We thanked him, but declined as we wanted to go down town to see what it looked like.  Instead of the underground we decided to walk along the River Clyde.  It took about 40 minutes, but was good excercise for our long flight tomorrow.  Dinner was at our Glasglow local where we had breakfast.  Good food, reasonable prices and a pint of Guiness.  doesn't get any better than that.  

We have packed up, weighed our bags and blogged.  Time for bed and our flight home tomorrow.

Another marvelous trip.  A couple of hiccups but lots of fun and new things to see and people.