In Glasgow

(June 27 - 29, 2008)

Ok, well Glasgow wasn't very photographable. I' m sure it's because I am totally ignorant about the city and didn't know all of the good places to go. From what I saw it was a bit ugly on first impression, but in its rawness it has a character all its own. In its gruffness it shines in its own way.

Well, the city is a wee bit dirtier than other cities we'd been to in Scotland. We happened to have a hotel in a "rough" part of town: the Gorbles neighborhood. On our way through empty industrial buildings, we made our way to our Travel Lodge (as we crossed a parking lot to the hotel, a football-sized dead rat was passed---it clearly saw better days). The barred windows of the hotel didn't bode well either.

We didn't care though. We were off to see Radiohead later in the day (see posting here). After Radiohead we checked out what Gorbles had to offer---sort of as a last resort since all other restaurants were closed. We chose an Indian take-away, Coriander Kitchen. It turned out to be a good choice. We ordered a chicken tikka pizza, and it was the bomb.

The next day we slept in big time--definitely had to catch up on sleep. Walked around Central Glasgow a bit for the afternoon. It was a very chill day with the rain falling on and off. Had hopes of finding a tatoo parlor, but unfortunately, the whole town was closing up at around 5-6pm. Ended up crossing back over the River Clyde & going back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. We decided to stay on our side of the river and explore Gorbles again.

The locals were out, and it was "fairly happening" in this rough little neighborhood. We crawled a few pubs. Some were ok, some were stinky, and some were scary. We played it safe. Hung out at one little pub, and there was a "hen party" going on, so Jeremy and I had to fork over a pound for a cheek kiss to the new bride. Karaoke was going on at half of the bars here! So, we sat in a corner, sipped a few brews, played blackjack, and eavesdropped on all the cool heavy-Scottish accents.

A trio of Scottish lassies started dancing on the pool table near us, and one of them asked me for a dance. I played it shy and safe---I wasn´t sure if the guy she was chatting with earlier was her boyfriend or husband. She asked me something, but I had NO idea what she said (Scottish accents can be tough to translate, but it seems Glasgow accents are the hardest to decipher!). I just smiled and said, "yeah!"

Went down to Coriander again and ordered another pizza as well as a kebab---it was a monster! While Ari & Jeremy were getting the food, I waited outside on the street. All the bars were letting out, so there was a crowd right where we were: some were getting food, others were waiting for taxis, and others were just hanging out. I had a good time people watching and just listening to the accents more---I so want to master the Scottish accent! ;)

This was a good ending to our Glasgow stay.