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ENLARGE
The Military Tattoo in Edinburgh is typically sold out six months in advance.
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ENLARGE
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The Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, recently re-opened after a two-year renovation project.
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Third of three parts
The shortest distance between Ireland and the United Kingdom is between Belfast (Northern Ireland) and Stranraer (Scotland) and so we chose to take the Stena Line ferry, a trip that only took about one and three quarter hours on their speedy catamaran.
Their ferries are big and modern, have lots of amenities and even transport cars. At Stranraer Harbor we immediately boarded a train that took us to Glasgow in about two and a half hours. It was smooth sailing all the way.
ooo
Before going any further, I would like to point out that most of the population of Scotland is confined to its two major cities, namely Glasgow and Edinburgh. The real Scotland is the Highlands and they begin about 50 miles north of these two cities. But due to our time limitations we never made it up that way on this trip.
The shortest distance between Ireland and the United Kingdom is between Belfast (Northern Ireland) and Stranraer (Scotland) and so we chose to take the Stena Line ferry, a trip that only took about one and three quarter hours on their speedy catamaran.
Their ferries are big and modern, have lots of amenities and even transport cars. At Stranraer Harbor we immediately boarded a train that took us to Glasgow in about two and a half hours. It was smooth sailing all the way.
ooo
Before going any further, I would like to point out that most of the population of Scotland is confined to its two major cities, namely Glasgow and Edinburgh. The real Scotland is the Highlands and they begin about 50 miles north of these two cities. But due to our time limitations we never made it up that way on this trip.
Invariably, comparisons between Glasgow and Edinburgh are constantly being made:
Glasgow is considered a workingman's town, brash, gregarious and bigger than Edinburgh which is more popular, particularly with tourists. While it is said that the latter has the royal aura, Glasgow has soul.
You could compare the two cities with the way San Francisco and Oakland relate to each other. It is not uncommon for folks to live in Glasgow, which is less expensive, and commute to Edinburgh. It takes about 45 minutes to go between these two cities on trains and busses running constantly between them.
We stayed two nights at the Kelvingrove Hotel on Sauchiehall Street in the more fashionable West End of Glasgow. We usually found little actual difference between hotels and B and Bs, except for the fact that hotels had a registration desk and 24 hour desk service and they were much larger.
We often like to go on a local bus - any bus - in cities we are visiting, riding to the end of the line and returning back to where we started, just to get a flavor of the local scene. However, in Glasgow we chose a City Bus Tour on one of the Hop-On and Hop-Off buses so popular nowadays in many major cities.
This way we learned about "Ashton Lane," a West End district where most of Glasgow's night life is concentrated. The mainly younger crowd here spilled onto narrow Ashton Lane, talking and sipping their beer, while there was a heavy security detail about. We chose to have dinner here one night at the "Ubiquitous Chip." a restaurant/bar that had three separate dining rooms, catering to distinctive different types of patrons. We never did learn the reason for the unusual naming of this restaurant.
Glasgow is considered a workingman's town, brash, gregarious and bigger than Edinburgh which is more popular, particularly with tourists. While it is said that the latter has the royal aura, Glasgow has soul.
You could compare the two cities with the way San Francisco and Oakland relate to each other. It is not uncommon for folks to live in Glasgow, which is less expensive, and commute to Edinburgh. It takes about 45 minutes to go between these two cities on trains and busses running constantly between them.
We stayed two nights at the Kelvingrove Hotel on Sauchiehall Street in the more fashionable West End of Glasgow. We usually found little actual difference between hotels and B and Bs, except for the fact that hotels had a registration desk and 24 hour desk service and they were much larger.
We often like to go on a local bus - any bus - in cities we are visiting, riding to the end of the line and returning back to where we started, just to get a flavor of the local scene. However, in Glasgow we chose a City Bus Tour on one of the Hop-On and Hop-Off buses so popular nowadays in many major cities.
This way we learned about "Ashton Lane," a West End district where most of Glasgow's night life is concentrated. The mainly younger crowd here spilled onto narrow Ashton Lane, talking and sipping their beer, while there was a heavy security detail about. We chose to have dinner here one night at the "Ubiquitous Chip." a restaurant/bar that had three separate dining rooms, catering to distinctive different types of patrons. We never did learn the reason for the unusual naming of this restaurant.
ooo
We thoroughly enjoyed visiting one of the premier attractions of Glasgow, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which re-opened just a few weeks prior to our arrival, having gone through a 35 Million Pound remodeling, that had kept the museum closed for two years. Although the building is quite old, it is a very beautiful and impressive Victorian red sandstone structure. Featured are Old Masters, Scotland's First People, oodles of civic art and the (free) museum is one of the most popular in the entire U.K.
Just as well known as the architect Frank Lloyd Wright is in the US, or Antoni Gaudi in Spain, is Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who graduated from the Glasgow School of Arts and then designed its present building. This school obviously has quite a reputation since we had to make a reservation and pay an entrance fee of $10 (U.S.) for a one hour walking tour.
Mackintosh's style can best be described as a combination of clean, modern lines, with touches of Asian and Art Nouveau influences. Some of his furniture, stained glass and paintings can also be seen in the previously mentioned Kelvingrove Museum and strangely enough in the Willow Tea Rooms, apparently a popular hang-out for tourists and locals alike.
Our final destination was Edinburgh, where we had a reservation at the Glendale Guest House, a 10 minute bus ride from the City Center, in a quiet, mostly residential district.
The world's greatest art festival takes place in Edinburgh every August. I realize that's quite a boast, but believe me, it's true.
We thoroughly enjoyed visiting one of the premier attractions of Glasgow, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which re-opened just a few weeks prior to our arrival, having gone through a 35 Million Pound remodeling, that had kept the museum closed for two years. Although the building is quite old, it is a very beautiful and impressive Victorian red sandstone structure. Featured are Old Masters, Scotland's First People, oodles of civic art and the (free) museum is one of the most popular in the entire U.K.
Just as well known as the architect Frank Lloyd Wright is in the US, or Antoni Gaudi in Spain, is Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who graduated from the Glasgow School of Arts and then designed its present building. This school obviously has quite a reputation since we had to make a reservation and pay an entrance fee of $10 (U.S.) for a one hour walking tour.
Mackintosh's style can best be described as a combination of clean, modern lines, with touches of Asian and Art Nouveau influences. Some of his furniture, stained glass and paintings can also be seen in the previously mentioned Kelvingrove Museum and strangely enough in the Willow Tea Rooms, apparently a popular hang-out for tourists and locals alike.
Our final destination was Edinburgh, where we had a reservation at the Glendale Guest House, a 10 minute bus ride from the City Center, in a quiet, mostly residential district.
The world's greatest art festival takes place in Edinburgh every August. I realize that's quite a boast, but believe me, it's true.
The two biggest components are The Fringe Festival featuring 1,800 shows, more than 16,000 performers with more than one million tickets sold in 2005. Just the brochure for the "Fringe" has more than 250 pages! We attended three performances, all of which were fairly short: "Tossers," a juggling act with eight artists, "Mummenschanz," combining mask-play, mime and puppetry (and which has been shown in the U.S. quite often), and a funny one-woman show, the story of a child star describing her dysfunctional family.
The Military Tattoo features military bands primarily from the United Kingdom, but also some from other countries, such as New Zealand, Switzerland and India. Attendance at the Tattoo is 8,500 per show and there are two performances nightly. Tickets are sold out six months prior to the event. Seating is in an outdoor arena, shaped similar to a soccer field, with all of the bands pouring out of the entrance to Edinburgh Castle, one at a time.
Somehow our B and B host was able to get us tickets to a 10:30 p.m. show, which ends at midnight with a huge display of fireworks.
It would take another article to describe this event, but suffice it to say that the sight of some 500 marching and performing musicians, both at the beginning and end of the show, stirred our emotions.
ooo
Actually, we had no intention to go home by way of Edinburgh and were not aware of the fact that August is the busiest and most hectic time to go there.
The Military Tattoo features military bands primarily from the United Kingdom, but also some from other countries, such as New Zealand, Switzerland and India. Attendance at the Tattoo is 8,500 per show and there are two performances nightly. Tickets are sold out six months prior to the event. Seating is in an outdoor arena, shaped similar to a soccer field, with all of the bands pouring out of the entrance to Edinburgh Castle, one at a time.
Somehow our B and B host was able to get us tickets to a 10:30 p.m. show, which ends at midnight with a huge display of fireworks.
It would take another article to describe this event, but suffice it to say that the sight of some 500 marching and performing musicians, both at the beginning and end of the show, stirred our emotions.
ooo
Actually, we had no intention to go home by way of Edinburgh and were not aware of the fact that August is the busiest and most hectic time to go there.
But since we used our Frequent Flyer miles for this trip we had no choice: there just were no seats available from London, Dublin or other more convenient airports to cross the Atlantic Ocean at the height of summer.
Scotland was not a cheap date. Our room in Edinburgh came to $170 (U.S.) nightly since we were there at the height of the season. But our hosts, Duncan Stewart and his charming wife Elaine, were so hospitable and helpful that we enjoyed our stay with them immensely and didn't mind the expense.
Speaking of money, a good rule of thumb is to figure that everything in the U.K. costs about double of what it would be in the USA. Take a cup of coffee: $l.50 here - and the equivalent of $3 over there (and no refills, except at breakfast). A ride on the local bus came to the equivalent of $2. Of course, this is due to the weak U.S. dollar these days.
Our other activities in Edinburgh included at one and a half hour boat trip on the Firth of Forth. This enormous bay is spanned by the world's first cantilever railroad bridge, built in 1890 and still going as strong as ever. It's an engineering wonder. We also spent some hours at the Museum of Scotland, a very modern building showing the history of Scotland in chronological order. It connects with the much older Royal Museum of Scotland, which covers art from other countries as well.
Better known attractions are Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, located at opposite ends of the "Royal Mile", the major shopping and strolling avenue of Edinburgh. However, since we only had two full days at our disposal we didn't visit either of these sites. We concentrated our efforts on the Art Scene, people watching and enjoying a few good meals.
In fact, we skipped a lot of the usual tourist spots on this trip to England, Ireland and Scotland, concentrating instead mostly on smaller towns and villages and out-of-the-way spots, where life is more leisurely and you can discover places known but to the local folks. So - no visits to Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, London, Dublin or to kiss the Blarney Stone - you can always buy a postcard instead!
Scotland was not a cheap date. Our room in Edinburgh came to $170 (U.S.) nightly since we were there at the height of the season. But our hosts, Duncan Stewart and his charming wife Elaine, were so hospitable and helpful that we enjoyed our stay with them immensely and didn't mind the expense.
Speaking of money, a good rule of thumb is to figure that everything in the U.K. costs about double of what it would be in the USA. Take a cup of coffee: $l.50 here - and the equivalent of $3 over there (and no refills, except at breakfast). A ride on the local bus came to the equivalent of $2. Of course, this is due to the weak U.S. dollar these days.
Our other activities in Edinburgh included at one and a half hour boat trip on the Firth of Forth. This enormous bay is spanned by the world's first cantilever railroad bridge, built in 1890 and still going as strong as ever. It's an engineering wonder. We also spent some hours at the Museum of Scotland, a very modern building showing the history of Scotland in chronological order. It connects with the much older Royal Museum of Scotland, which covers art from other countries as well.
Better known attractions are Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, located at opposite ends of the "Royal Mile", the major shopping and strolling avenue of Edinburgh. However, since we only had two full days at our disposal we didn't visit either of these sites. We concentrated our efforts on the Art Scene, people watching and enjoying a few good meals.
In fact, we skipped a lot of the usual tourist spots on this trip to England, Ireland and Scotland, concentrating instead mostly on smaller towns and villages and out-of-the-way spots, where life is more leisurely and you can discover places known but to the local folks. So - no visits to Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, London, Dublin or to kiss the Blarney Stone - you can always buy a postcard instead!
