Glasgow to the Cotswolds in 10 days
The Glasgow and Edinburgh bit
The British can sometimes get a bad wrap. The weather is dreary, the food is bland and then there are those accents. Well, I can honestly say that after just a few weeks in Europe landing in Glasgow seemed quite exotic.
First there’s that cute accent often combined with a “hey-yar” greeting. Then there’s the cheap good food and the impressive Georgian (?) architecture on beautiful crescents in the suburbs. Hell, even the supermarkets are exciting for me. I guess by exciting I really mean comforting. Comforting because I’m not surrounded by cool Berliners or Parisians anymore, and I can confidently know exactly what I’m ordering on a menu. It’s the small things sometimes.
But more exciting for you (perhaps?) is some talk of what we got up to.
Music: extremely loud My Bloody Valentine gig (review) at Glasgow’s classic Barrowland Ballroom venue. This place has the vibe of a 70s roller skating rink that someone missed out on getting demolished in the ’90s. It was actually a ballroom dancing venue, probably in the 50s, but having never been to one of them in their hey-day I can’t really compare. It was a very rock gig. Hot, sweaty and with the occasional beer being thrown overhead. Nothing says rock like throwing a beer from a plastic cup.
Shops: best shop in Glasgow award would have to go to Monorail Music. It’s a CD shop inside a cafe that kinda looks like a run down community arts venue. Maybe it sometimes is a run down community arts venue. The record store has piles of great CDs and the cafe has tasty vegetarian food, home brewed ginger beer and free wifi. I even bought a CD there – Patti Smith and Kevin Shields (from My Bloody Valentine) combining forces in a disturbing experimental way (review). Might be a good one for Sunday Night at the Movies.
Restaurants: Oran Mor is tops. Somebody realised that there were heaps of churches in the UK going empty because all they had on offer was religion. But a church turned into a bar, live music venue, reception venue and restaurant is far more enticing. We didn’t go to the bar but did go to the somewhat swanky restaurant where we somehow got 3 courses for 15 quid. Noice. Sweet waitresses with that accent and hey-yar greeting too.
Accommodation: Gotta love the Whitehouse Apartments. Classic Glasgow architecture in a beautiful crescent in a seemingly upmarket suburb in the West End (or are Porsches and Bentleys common on the streets of Glasgow?). And lovely people happy to have a chat but leave you be. Actually, I think that lovely people thing is just a Glaswegian thing… kinda like the Irish I think.
Then there was Edinburgh.
We caught an 8.30am train to Edinburgh from Glasgow and the guy seated across from us was drinking vodka. Not only was he drinking vodka but the vodka was being served by the train drinks cart gentleman who wheeled his offerings up and down the aisle. I think Sydney trains need a drink cart gentleman for all trains of 45 minutes or longer too.
Edinburgh is a beautiful city. Only 45 minutes from Glasgow yet so different in so many ways. Sadly it was so cold and rainy and windy in the afternoon that we were forced to retreat indoors without exploring any further than the standard tourist attractions. (See Lonely Planet if you really need info on standard Edinburgh tourist attractions… this ain’t the place for it.)
Then the road trip to London began…..