I planned to take a bus out to the Nike factory to start the day (thirty minutes each way) while everything else was still closed, but given the previous experience I put it to the back of the queue instead. I got my first chance to try out the SPT subway system they have in Glasgow, it's a pretty basic underground system that provides just one loop around the city, and a second track going in the opposite direction - so no Flinders Street style chaos.
I got off at Ibrox station first, which is right next to the Ibrox Stadium - home of the formerly bankrupt then resurrected Glasgow Rangers football club. I thought the stadium would be better than Celtic but it was a bit old and run down by comparison, at least on the outside. The Rangers club store was much smaller too, they didn't even have any magnets.
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| Ibrox. |
A couple more stops around on the subway to Kelvinhall. After making my way through Kelvingrove Park I headed down to the riverside.
Parked on the River Clyde was the creatively named Tall Ship. It was a smallish old ship with free entry (bargain) but they were really pushing the four pound guidebook at the entrance - seemed kind of unnecessary for a boat. There was actually a surprising number of decks and rooms on the ship, and some fun little activities, so a good use of thirty minutes until the Transport Museum opened.
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| The tall ship. |
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| I'm on a boat. |
The Transport Museum was next, and they were advertising it as "European museum of the year 2013". It was also free but given those claims it was a bit of a let down. There was a bunch of old buses and trams that were probably all used in Glasgow at some time, but the cars were all attached along and up the wall so you couldn't even see half of them.
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| The museum of the year! |
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| Inaccessible cars. |
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| Some old vehicles. |
After a quicker than expected visit it was off to Partick (not Patrick), grabbed some lunch at the supermarket, then took a quick subway trip back the other way to Ibrox again.
The useless girl at the club store gave me some useless advice about the stadium tours I was considering doing. She said they run every half hour - actually there's only three or four per day. Then she sent me the wrong way to where the tour starts, not where you buy tickets from! On the way to the wrong place a downpour started and we had to seek shelter out of the rain. By the time it finally relented it would have been too late for the tour so we took off for lunch instead.
A second subway trip back to Kelvinhall again, to visit the similarly named Kelvingrove art gallery and museum. The building itself was good, as was the history of Glasgow room, although quite brief. They had the typical Egypt and ancient animals rooms you can see anywhere. The upper level was mostly paintings, my favourite was "Windows in the west", and the French section at least had some Monet and Picasso that I had heard of.
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| Kelvingrove. |
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| My favourite painting. |
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| Another good painting. |
One more subway trip back to Buchanan Street in the city centre, then to the Buchanan bus station which wasn't actually on Buchanan Street at all.
Because I didn't do the Ibrox tour there was time left after all for the retail park, the bus seemed to take forever because school kids kept getting on and off. From Nike I got a pair of pants and a few pairs of running socks, yet I actually got cheaper Nike shorts from the Sports Direct next door.
Back at Glasgow I searched out Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street to find something for dinner, the city was much busier in the evening than Melbourne would be at a comparable time - maybe we need to build more city apartments still to avoid being a ghost town.
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| Buchanan Street. |
To avoid travel delays on Saturday morning I booked a Friday night flight back to London instead, Gatwick this time. There's a case for and against both travel options, but as long as you don't arrive incredibly late at night I think the evening option may usually be better.
When we got to the airport the flight was already twenty minutes delayed, and probably ended up more like thirty minutes. They announced there would probably be more delays coming in to Gatwick, but instead we turned up to a completely empty airport!
For some reason you can't use your Oyster card at the station at this airport, which was a surprise to me, so I had to run back to the machines to buy another kind of rail ticket. The stupid train kept getting delayed two minutes at a time, must have happened nearly ten times in all. With all those delays added up we didn't reach the hotel in Croydon until nearly midnight - I still think it was the right choice though.
- Glasgow
- Tourist Rating - 7 out of 10
- Good
- Bigger city
- Efficient simple subway system
- Shopping options in the city
- Bad
- Bit too cold and windy
- Not as many tourist attractions
- Missed Out
- Celtic Park tour
- Ibrox Stadium tour
- Loch Lomond
- More exploring the city
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