We arrived at the airport at noon. After changing money at the airport bank, we caught a big black cab. The guy was able to fit ALL our stuff in the cab. Carly sat on Mom's lap. It was a great 15 minute ride and then we were dropped off at the Argyll Hotel on Sauchiehall Street. We had coffee downstairs (kids had hot chocolate and a coke) until the room was ready. When the room was done, we went up and took a 3 hour nap. I woke everyone up at 4pm and we all took showers. By 5:30, we went down for dinner and then out for a walk. Sure it was raining, but it didn't seem to deter anyone. We walked past Kelvin Park to the Glasgow Art Museum. We'll visit it tomorrow. Then we walked around, up to the University of Glasgow, then down around to find a store for soda and ice cream. It's 10:30 pm and everyone is tired. Carly is asleep. Eliot is playing with his laser pointer. Meggie is writing in her journal. Mom is reading pamphlets and planning what we will be doing tomorrow. Time for sleep.
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| At the airport...jet lagged but smiling. | Big welcome to a little girl. |
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| Dinner at the Argyll Hotel in the West end. | Raining just a bit, but off we go for a walk. |
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| On the way to Glasgow University thru the park. Here Meggie's by a little waterfall. | Off the footpath and onto the main walk to Glasgow University. Tower in background is main building. |
It was a difficult night. Carly got virtually NO sleep. I sat up with her for a while, and then I turned TV on at 3am. We saw some kids' show about animals in a zoo. At 3am? Then I fell asleep while Carly watched and tried to get bored with boring TV. She finally passed out at 7am. I woke everyone at 8am and we showered and got ready for our great Scottish breakfast. A beautiful morning. We went to the Glasgow Art Museum and started with the special show of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Then we saw the rest of the collection, especially the Rembrandt and the two Rachel Ruysch flower paintings. In the museum we saw David, Trina's former boyfriend, in the midst of an art happening. He and 3 others were parading around as guards. They did boring things. They did wild things. Dropping one's pants, pretending to have a heart attack...walking around with chairs. Nice stuff. After exploring the rest of the museum (natural history with dinosaurs), we left to go on an open deck bus tour of Glasgow. It was great. Down to the Willow Tea Room. Then to the Glasgow College of Art and Architecture. We hopped back on the bus for the rest of the tour. Nice city center. We got off at the Glasgow Art Museum and walked through the park to the University of Glasgow. We visited the Charles Rennie MacIntosh house which is part of the Hunterian Art Museum, part of the U of G. Also, a rather uninspired (an rather questionable) Rembrandt. More Whistler's than you ever want to see. Then we walked back to the Argyll Hotel. The kids rested while Phyl and I found the ONLY (I think) Italian - true Italian - restuarant in Glasgow. And boy, was the Ciao Restuarant great. We walked back, got the kids, went there, and had a great meal. Early night. The next morning at 6am for the taxi ride to meet the bus for our transfer to Ireland. Coach to Cairnlyre. Jetliner boat via the P&O line across the sea (one hour). Larne to Letterkenny. And then Feda's son, Brian, drove the small coach right to our house. Whew. Home at last.
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| POSITIVELY NO PHOTOS ALLOWED | IN DEAD SEA SCROLL EXHIBIT |
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| AT THE GLASGOW ART MUSEUM | ...sort of |
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| Carly at Quram. | Eliot and Meggie literally in front of their Torah Bar and Bat Mitzvah portions. Wow. |
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| Eliot in the Medieval Armor Section.(Eliot on right.) | Rembrandt: Flayed Ox |
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| Rows and rows of pinned butterflies. | Carly by active beehive. |
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| Can you believe I got Phyl to pose by this sign? | The kids unsuspecting. |
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| Huge bugs. | David in his Art Happening. |
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| Art Happening...the moving one is David. | David guarding...something or other. |
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| Momma waiting for the open deck bus. Nice seat? | Bagpiping buscar outside Marks and Spencers. |
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| Charles Rennie MacIntosh Willow Room. | And inside for lunch. |
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| Glasgow College of Architecture... | Unicorn |
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| On the walk back to the Argyll Hotel. | The Internet Cafe...just down Sauchiehall Street. |
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| Our Italian Restaurant. | On the way home, we found a great park. |
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| Meggie and Mom swinging around in Kelvin Park. |