Sunday Afternoon

I rode the tour bus back to the center of town. The rain had stopped and it even looked like we might get some sun. I got off and started meandering around downtown. It was so much less pressure to get anywhere with no rain. I had a bit of trouble finding the Lighthouse, which is not anything like your typical lighthouse. It's the former home of a Glasgow newspaper that's now defunct. But the building is in the heart of downtown and has a tower in one corner that offers 360-degree views of the city.

The rest of the building has been converted into a museum dedicated to design. I thought the displays were pretty mediocre, but the six-story spiral staircase climb to the top of the tower revealed views that made it all worth it.



After the Lighthouse I was able to find the Tobacco Merchant's House - the oldest private residence in Glasgow, and I even popped into the Museum of Contemporary Art which was right nearby. Both my guidebook and an internet site panned it, and I have to say my expectations were just about met. Apparently a lot of things that you had around the house as a kid now count for contemporary art, including slingshots made out of school supplies.

Feeling like I had earned a break, I walked a couple of blocks over to the Counting House Pub. This is a pub made out of a former bank lobby. I liked the idea, especially since one of my favorite spots at home used to be a pub and restaurant from a converted old bank, before it changed hands again and became a health food store (blech). At any rate, I wasn't too impressed with the Counting House either.

It was very bright and clean with marble floors, but it had about the same atmosphere as a bank branch still: quiet and lots of marble. Plus they had this system for ordering food where you went up to the bar, gave them the number of what you wanted from the menu, then the number of the table you were at. Then someone else delivered your food. Just seemed very machine-like to me. Therefore, I had one adult beverage and left.

Outside, it was getting warmer and although it was still overcast, it didn't seem like it was ready to pour like it did earlier. I hopped back on the next tour bus with an aim of ending my day with a visit to Glasgow Cathedral and the St. Mungo Museum of religious art on the same grounds. St. Mungo is a nickname, lest you think he wrote that oldie "Summertime." I never did find out what his given name was.


The museum was not very big, but every item it had was interesting. They had statues of Hindu gods with two dozen arms, ancient Buddhas, stuff from Mexico's Day of the Dead, not to mention crucifixes and images of Mary.

After that I headed over to the Cathedral and nosed around. It was massive and had endured all kinds of wild history. A church had apparently been on the site since the Dark Ages and had been looted twice. Different parts of the church dated from then right up to the present day. Behind the church was the Necropolis, which is the not-as-old-as-you'd-think cemetery on the hill behind the cathedral. It was filled with massive monuments to bishops and regular folks, all with great views of the city.

All in all I ended up with a pretty darn good Sunday afternoon. Turned out the night would be even better . . .