We decided for this trip to try out a tour bus that made circuits around some tourist spots and allowed you to hop off and hop on wherever you like. They also had a track that played throughout the ride giving you tidbits of information about the part of the city we were in. I liked this feature, but later on in the day (when we were just using it as a glorified taxi back to our parking garage) we had a live operator on an intercom and that was much nicer and had a bit more personality as well.
We rode the tour bus around the city once then jumped off to wander the streets.
Ruthven Lane *
There was a set of vintage shops that we stopped at that were pretty cool. There was a craft fair going on and we bounced around all the different shops, taking a bit longer in a costume shop where we tried on all manner of strange period clothing. Frankly though, the prices were a bit inflated.
Cafe Nardini ***
We stopped off at a little place on the corner that looked like an old-fashioned ice cream parlour to have our first proper bite to eat. We both enjoyed our food thoroughly, but were once again confounded by the process of ordering and receiving food. That or I was impatient from being jet-lagged.
Janet Dreamcrusher happened to like the waitress’ hair, and since something about extended periods of exhaustion make me immune to shame, I was the foreign ambassador who asked for it. I think we made her day though, because she was gracious enough about it as I asked the Dreamcrusher about the angle she wanted.
Necropolis ***The Necropolis in Scotland is also referred to as the “Merchant’s City” or the “City of the Dead”. It is a hillock upon which several of the ‘merchant kings’ of Glasgow were buried often astride of monuments of themselves dedicated by their surviving relatives/friends/children. It'll take a fair amount of time to walk the grounds, especially if you like taking pictures like us. The views from the top of this huge graveyard are breathtaking and wonderful, definitely something to stop at and take a walk through. After all, how often can you say that you tread over the graves of the 1%?
St. Mungo’s Cathedral **The Cathedral beside the Necropolis is beautiful and also the site of once of the coolest things I read on our trip, a little quote from Rober Louis Stevenson - “I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.” Inside is the tomb of St. Mungo and several incredible tombstones and crests that decorate the ceilings and walls. Cathedrals and churches always have some mystical feeling to them, and St. Mungos supplements it with an epic feeling of vastness.
High Street **
High street is bustling and easy to get to, has plenty of places to grab a bite and shop, and the major mall and car park are right there close to the center of town. It’s an easy place to drop off the car for the tour buses or just putz around and explore some high end clothing stores or just people watch.
Clanadonia - Tribal Music Dudes **
We happened upon a drum and pipe band performing in the street and had a seat. As with most drum circle kind of bands they really are meant to be seen live, and watching them and their infectious playing was a lot of fun. They played very upbeat music and the guys look like they genuinely enjoy what they do, so give them a listen if you get the chance.
Hanoi Bike Shop ***
I got a sweet potato curry and a jasmine rice while the Dreamcrusher ordered pho. Before our food came in we were given an oil that we were warned was extremely hot and could be used to up the ante on our meal. I’m used to people being a little delicate when it comes to describing heat but something about their manner made me second guess myself and I only dropped a teaspoon into my curry when it arrived, for science.
Thank. God.
Just a teaspoon was a much bigger kick than I expected, and if I had gone with my first impulse to slosh half the cup in I’d probably have died on the bikeshop floor clutching my throat and begging for water.
Botanical II **
We shot back over to the botanical gardens to burn off the last of our energy and checked out the local vegetation in the upper gardens and played around on a children’s playplace. Unfortunately the plays and such weren’t running on Sundays so we missed out on that, but had they been that’s where we would have parked it in the grass and trees.
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