Thursday, May 29, 2025

Glasgow, Scotland

 The agenda today was a 3 hr train ride to the seaside town of Oban.  We stopped on the way for a carryon breakfast.  They are very vegetarian in general here, both restaurants and grocery stores.  This “No Sausage “ roll was perfect for me  basically a large croissant filled with vegan sausage substitute  



Beautiful weather even though the forecast was for overcast skies. The city of Greenock is across the River. This is where Duane visited fairly often back in his IBM days. 



Lovely views along the train ride. 








A huge house in the did…kinda reminds me of the hotel from The Shining…

















This is the ruins of the Castle Kincurn dating from the 1400’s. 









More scenery, this is Loch Lomond.   



Arriving at Oban. 



Neat old town, pretty touristy.  



We have limited time before we need to catch the train back, so we hiked right away up to the hilltop McCaig’s Tower. It was built in the 1800’s by a wealthy philanthropist.  He had big plans for a collosseum replica and other buildings as his legacy. Unfortunately he died fairly young and didn’t complete it. 



Still a cool structure with terrific views 











Walking back thru town enjoying the old structures. 



On a side street we saw these strange knitted covers on electrical poles. Maybe my sis can tell me why??








There are two cathedrals on the waterfront. The first is St John’s, a little less grand but still beautiful. 









And St Colima’s Cathedral, which was a little more grand. 















Further walking on the waterfront. 




We turned around at Dunollie Castle…








And took a stroll thru a hilly nature preserve. 



Beautiful harbour view from the trail. 



In town we goggled “best fish n chips”.  




Apparently this establishment had won some accolades from Trip Advisor and is extremely popular.  We shared a plate and it was good!




Back to the train station for our return. 



More beautiful scenery out of the other side of the train. 



And I did manage to find a couple of fields with some Highland Coos.  










That’s pretty much it for the day!




Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Glasgow, Scotland

 The view from the hotel in Glasgow is interesting.  Usually, the view has been of another roof top or an a/c unit….this time it’s the back of a church and an ancient graveyard!




Did a bit of city exploring. Got a day-pass for the subway.   Not very busy.  



Nice modern trains. 








First on the list today was to visit the Glasgow Botanical Gardens.  It has a rich history. The glass a wrought iron greenhouse was built at another location in the 1860’s.  It was disassembled and moved to its current location in the 1870s. 




Very nicely presented plants from all over the world. 






Bird of paradise...always a fav.







A full room of or hids although just a few were blooming.

















A cool old stairway up to the rooftop...gate locked unfortunately. 




This is a type of "pitcher" plant...monkeys tip up the bloom and drink fresh water accumulated there. 










Banana plant. 



And lots of various blooming plants. 







Lovely spaces outside as well, nice garden in the middle of a big city. 






A bit of a walk, we found the beautiful University of Glasgow campus. 












Destination was the Hunterian museum on the University grounds. 


Beautiful building.  




And of course lots of interesting curated museum pieces. 




Turned out to be another lovely day as well. 



Back on the subway, we made it over to the Riverside transportation museum. 



This may look like a photo of model cars. But it's real cars!







Very well done and nicely presented. 







But all the activity seemed to catch up with me so we called it a day. Walking back from the subway, the city scene is vibrant on a sunny afternoon.