Great Britain Road Trip, Part III

We didn't do a ton of planning for our road trip. We picked locations that sounded interesting but didn't plan out specific sites to see. When we woke up in Glasgow (oddly to the sound of seagulls squawking, despite the fact that there is not a major body of water nearby), we didn't have an agenda, so we decided to take the downtown walking tour laid out in Rick Steves' Great Britain. Our first stop was the Glasgow School of Art, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It is still used as a school, but it also houses a Mackintosh museum.  Glasgow is a very hilly city, and the art school is at one of the higher points in the city. Erik not only pushed the stroller (90 pounds of kids, plus 10 pounds of stroller) up this massive hill, he ran to entertain the kids.

How did he do that?

Doors to the Glasgow School of Art

Glasgow School of Art

Unfortunately for us, the school's museum was closed for renovation, so this is all we saw of the school. They did have a lovely gift shop, where we dropped some cash on lovely artsy items.

The next stop was the Willow Team Room, also designed by Mackintosh, but as we had just finished breakfast, we didn't stop for more than a photograph.

The Willow Tea Room is upstairs.

A detail from the building

We saw lots of beautiful architecture in a city that looks as though it is struggling to make a comeback.  Glasgow has clearly suffered some economic hardship, with lots of empty buildings and many "for sale" or "for rent" signs on every block.  Downtown Glasgow on a weekday was about as busy as downtown Indianapolis on a weekend, with not much car or foot traffic.  Here are a few pictures from our walking tour.  I'd blame it on the rain, but I think it always rains there.

For sale

  

Along the way, we also enjoyed some sites that were not listed in our tour guide.  

Kilt shop

The Mitchells on Mitchell Lane

We found another carnival on a pedestrian mall in Glasgow, so we stopped to let the kids blow off some steam in the bouncy house and ride a few rides.  

Through the rainy bouncy house window

The double decker bus never loses its appeal.

Mega slide

Our last stop in Glasgow was The Lighthouse, another Mackintosh building that now houses Scotland's National Centre for Design and Architecture.  We started on the top floor, where there is a viewing deck for checking out the city skyline.

Glasgow from above

 

Malcolm on the viewing deck

There were some galleries open to the public with exhibits on architecture and design, but what we enjoyed seeing most were these famous signs for the toilets.

Erik and Soren climbed a spiral staircase into the lighthouse tower, which gave them an even better view of the surrounding city.  Malcolm and I stayed down below and looked at some Mackintosh chairs instead.

View from the top of the staircase. That's our red stroller down below.

View from the lighthouse. The gray and blue square-ish structure is the viewing platform we stood on earlier.

And that was it for Glasgow.  We got back in the car to drive to Edinburgh.  We took the scenic route to see a little more of Scotland than what was visible from the highways, some of it gray and grim, some of it green and lovely. We drove past the Firth of Forth and into the heart of Edinburgh.  To be continued.