Home to the 2014 Commonwealth Games…

Having left Wales, we continued to make our way north to Scotland.  Glasgow was an obvious place for us to stop and stretch our legs after several hours of driving.

To get the full effect, you need to read this post in a bonnie Scottish accent!

This year, Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games from the 23^rd of July until the 3^rd of August (unfortunately we just missed them), and there was still plenty evidence of the games through banners, murals, and displays particularly in the main city square.

Commonwealth Games 2014 – street banners

Games Emblem in George Square

Games mural on the side of a building.

By all accounts the games went off very well.

When we arrived in the city the walking tour we were hoping to join did not happen, so Katina found a self-guided tour from Frommer’s online, I downloaded it to my Blackberry, and off we went to visit a broad spectrum of “the sights” in Glasgow’s east end.  For me the highlights include the Central Necropolis, located at the top of High Street behind Glasgow Cathedral, where we learned that the “place to be” (buried) was at the top of the hill close to the statue of John Knox, a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland.  We saw the former St. Andrew’s Church styled after St-Martin-in-the-Field in London, which is now being used as a centre for arts and dance.  We wrapped up our tour in George Square, the city’s main civic square.  I found the city hall to be quite an impressive building, with a huge square out front which included statues of the likes of Robbie Burns, and the city’s cenotaph.

The photos below highlight some of the sights we saw…just click to enlarge the gallery.

Glasgow Cathedral

Central Necropolis – “the place to be…buried!”

The Old College Bar

Glasgow’s oldest public house c. 1515

Italian Centre – shops, shops, and more shops!

Tron Steeple

St. Andrew’s Square

Glasgow Tolbooth

Robbie burns

The highlight of our time in Glasgow really was the people we met.  For instance, while we were conducting our self-guided tour and looking for St. Andrew’s Square, a gentleman came up to us and asked if we needed some help.  What started out with “where are we” ended up with a brief history lesson on the church we were looking for and how it had changed over time.  We also learned that the west end of Glasgow, as in most UK cities, tended to be where those with money lived, and that this originated from the fact that the winds in the UK blow from west to east…so anyone living down-wind from the factories could be in some pretty unpleasant smelling neighbourhoods. As people became more affluent, they moved to the west end, to be upwind of the factories.

Although I had done the tour in my best Scottish accent – you know, to get everyone immersed into the Scottish feeling like they were really seeing a bit of the city through the eyes of a local – for some reason I did not get a tip!  Tourists!

Next, we headed to the house of Duncan and Roisin McIntosh, a Servas family who hosted us for the night in their beautiful century home.  I was in my glory.  Many of the places we have visited across the UK have extremely short ceilings and doors!  I’ve banged my head more times than I care to mention!  In the McIntosh house, the ceilings must have been 12 feet high…yes!

The McIntosh’s beautiful home near Glasgow

A photo in the beautiful garden with Roisin and Duncan

A photo in the beautiful garden with Roisin and Duncan

Roisin and Duncan were very warm and welcoming hosts.  Duncan is an enthusiastic gardener and both he and Roisin took us through their garden on a “scent” test.  They tested us on the smell of a number of herbs they grow in their garden, including mint, rosemary, bay leaves, dill, peppermint, and basil – just to name a few!  They also had a wide variety of berries and fruit, flowers, and a small greenhouse filled with cherry tomato plants.

Another interesting thing we learned was that the house was originally a single dwelling, but had been subdivided many years ago.  However, instead of dividing it vertically – where each family would have ½ of each of the 4 floors – the house was divided horizontally.  Roisin and Duncan have the side entrance and the top 2 floors, and their neighbours have the front door as their entrance to the bottom two floors.  The backyard is divided equally with a hedge, but not straight down the middle…it starts at one corner of the house and snakes its way to the back of the property.  While having tea we saw a red fox loping along in the back yard.  What an unexpected surprise in this little piece of paradise.

In the morning, Roisin treated us to a “full Scottish breakfast” which included square sausage, round sausage, pork sausage, bacon, blood pudding, eggs, and bread.  It was filling and delicious!

After saying goodbye to our new friends, we packed up our car and headed for the wee town of Kirkmichael…and what do you think we found there?