A trip to Glasgow

And so to Glasgow.  I've spent precious little time in Scotland - a five day trip to the Highlands & Isle of Skye a few years ago apart - so I would have been excited about the visit even were it not The Boy's hometown.  But how lovely to visit a city with someone who knows it like the back of their hand.  How lovely to not be the one on holiday who organises the maps and the itinerary (I can feel my brother giving me the side eye: yes, I love being the one in charge, but it's also nice to take a break from it once in a while).  How lovely to be so close to home, but feel like you're in a different country.

I found Glasgow wonderfully 'other', a city of magnificent Georgian crescents and imposing Victorian architecture.  A city with world-class art galleries and museums.  A city which, with it's wide, grid-patterned streets and efficient subway system, can sometimes feel more like America than the UK.  A city packed with hip vegan eateries, secondhand book stores, record shops and vintage kilo sales.  A city where, I have to admit, I struggled to understand the accent: thank goodness for having a Glaswegian boyfriend to translate for me.

There wasn't a ton of street art in the city, but there were some wonderfully random touches, like this concrete skull embedded in the side of a building, or the ever-present traffic cone on the statue outside GOMA (the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art).

The Botanic Gardens, in the rather chic West End of Glasgow, were well worth a visit on a sunny spring afternoon.

Plan B Books was a treasure trove of graphic novels and fanzines: between us, we picked up three books and four 'zines.  Stereo is part of a local chain of vegan cafe/bars, and was a great place to grab lunch and hang out.  I also liked the 13th Note, a veggie/vegan pub with food.

Finally, one of the highlights of the trip (apart from meeting Sarah and Elise of course!) was wandering the hallowed halls of Glasgow University, with its spectacular Gothic Revival buildings and quiet grassy quads.  This is T's alma mater, and also the university where my grandpa was given an honorary doctorate for his work against apartheid, so it was wonderful to be able to have a nosy around the buildings and at the more bizarre exhibits in the Hunterian Museum.