Glasgow, Scotland, June 25, 2022

 Saturday, June 25, 2022

We ate snacks for breakfast and then walked to the Tenement House. It was up on a hilltop and we passed the Jewish Heritage Center and also discovered a lovely viewpoint. 

A mural thanking the healthcare workers for their Covid service

Jewish synagogue

The Tenement House was fascinating. I highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to visit Glasgow. The Tenement House was lived in by Ms. Agnes Toward from 1911 to 1965 and it has been kept in the original condition with many original artifacts. I love history and this is like stepping back in time. Tenements had a common entry with a common courtyard and laundry area. Residents had specific days to do their laundry so that everyone had a chance to use the laundry facilities. Residents were responsible to keep the entries clean and tidy and neighbors all knew each other and kept an eye on all the children. There was a sense of community in tenement buildings that is sadly lacking in apartment buildings today.

Coal fireplaces

Original tile work

Washroom and toilet

The coal fired kitchen stove

The front of the Tenement House

After we left the Tenement House we walked to the Mitchell Library. It has a large genealogy department and the helpful librarian showed me a useful website called Scotland's People.

Love Mural - at a bridal store

delicious mussels

For lunch we went to Stravaigins and I had a cider and awesome mussels. One of Pounce's strengths is her ability to navigate. She is wonderful at looking up maps on her phone and getting us where we need to go. She has an internal sense of direction that is second to none. I probably relied on her too much, but I will admit that it was nice to have a partner with that skill set. She is the one that found this restaurant on her phone.

The city coat of arms

bridge over River Kelvin

After lunch we walked over to the Botanical Gardens. Pounce works for a landscaping company in the summers and was interested in seeing the gardens. I was amazed at how huge they were.

Kibble Palace at the Botanical Gardens

Kibble Palace

Poisonous plant section

A wall for mason bees, the natural pollinators

For dinner we went to a bar called The 78. I had a salad and roasted red pepper soup with a half pint. Then we headed back to the hotel. It had been a full day with over 27,000 steps and my feet were hurting. I had gotten a notice that ScotRail would be on strike tomorrow, which had been our plan to get us to the West Highland Way start in Milngavie so I arranged to have an Uber driver pick us up to take us to Milngavie in the morning. We believed we had figured out our luggage. Our hotel room was warm and it was noisy outside with the window opened for air so I downloaded a white noise app, put in my earbuds and slept quite well.