Glasgow, Scotland

Finally, it rains in Scotland! After a week of great weather, Glasgow turns on the weather I had been expecting. It rained constantly all day, but I was inside for most of it.

The girls and I started off the day walking to the tourist info to decide what do.

My first stop after that was St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life & Art. My reason for this was to see Dali’s Christ of St. John of the Cross, a controversial, but most intriguing, painting of the crucifixion. Controversial because it is a rare perspective of looking at Christ from above, and not the traditional frontal view of his death. I love me some Dali, and this painting was no exception.

The museum also had displays covering many religions (i.e., Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.) and their role in Scotland. There was even a painting from the Aboriginal Dreamtime.

Behind the museum is the Glasgow Cathedral. This church was built in 1238, and has numerous small chapels, which were full of art students trying to copy the gothic style, and also the tombs of St. Mungo.

After lunch I met up with Kathy and we did a tour of the city’s chambers, located in George’s Square. The City Hall was built in 1880 and houses offices of Glasgow’s Lord Provost (Mayor), local council meeting rooms, dining/function room, and two, three-floor marble staircases. The tour gave us a brief history of the building and a run-down of how the local council works.

This took and an hour, and gave us enough time to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art afterwards. This was four floors of some great works, but the two pieces that stood out for me were by an artist who had done these 3D paintings. The first one was in a triangular shape of a building, which looked all fresh and new in the afternoon shadows, but when you looked at it from another angle, the building looked like it was in a state of ruin. The other painting was of three hallways, which moved when you did. Very trippy, but amazing! I’d love to know how it was done.

With it still raining, another night in was on the cards, so I go some take-away, went back to the hostel and watched a couple of UEFA Cup games.