Stop 5: Glasgow (Sept. 19-21)

We had an interesting time getting from Pitlochry to Glasgow. Our train trip involved a leg from Pitlochry to Perth and a second leg from Perth to Glasgow. Complicating this, Storm Ali hit with heavy rains and 80-100 MPH winds.

When we arrived at the Pitlochry station, we learned that one of the trains had suffered a "low speed derailment" to the north of us. The buses that had so far run as substitutes for the trains had all bypassed Pitlochry because they were full. We were encouraged to wait for the next one or, if we were willing to wait 2 hours, there was the possibility of a train. This sounded a bit iffy so we walked back to our hotel and had them call us a cab.

The cab got us to Perth in time for our connecting train but quickly learned that it was "delayed" because of downed trees on the track. As the delay continued, we noticed that most of the other trains were being shown as cancelled. We briefly considered traveling to Glasgow via Edinbourgh when a man approached us (probably because of our minimal luggage) and told us that he had a cab coming to take him to Glasgow. He wanted to know if we'd like to share the cab and we said yes!

The taxi dropped us at Queen Street Station, our original destination. We were actually ahead of schedule. Looking at the board in the station, it looked as if every train in the system had been canceled. We found out later from one of the Tourist Information people that people had been stranded all over Scotland with no rooms or taxi cabs available. Looks like we did good.

By that point we were out £155.20 (£40.20 for the unused tickets, £45 for the 1st taxi and £70 for our share of the 2nd taxi. It made sense to apply for a"delay of travel" refund. We'll see how that goes. If we get nothing back, we at least got to where we needed to be.


UPDATE: Received an email yesterday that Scotrail is refunding £85.20. Apparently, there was a free bus option that we were unaware of between Perth and Glasgow. Getting from Pitlochry to Glasgow ended up costing £70 instead of the £40.20 that we'd originally planned.Not too bad, considering. Next challenge will be to cash their £85.20 check at the bank.

For our one full day in Glasgow, we decided to do the CitySightseeing Glasgow Hop On Hop Off double-decker bus tour. We rode the circuit once (lousy seats downstairs so no pictures) just to see what we might want to revisit.

When we took a break for lunch, we decided to see the marble interior of City Hall before getting back on the bus.

Looking across the front of City Hall

Spectacular interior.

More spectacular interior.

We got good seats upstairs at the front when we got back on the bus,

Glasgow Cathedral.

Clock Tower.

There was a lot to see near the Peoples Palace so that was our first stop.

The Peoples Palace.

Peoples Palace and Winter Garden.

Inside the Winter Garden (it looked like they were preparing for a wedding).

Inside the Winter Garden.

Inside the Winter Garden.

This fountain outside the Peoples Palace is obviously a replica of the Queen Victoria statue outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.

This is the Templeton Carpet Factory. Because it faces out onto the park around the Peoples Palace, the builders had to make it look like the Doge's Palace in Venice.

Nelson's Column (predates the one in Trafalgar Square).

Some wind damage from the previous day's storm.

Back onto the bus...

Most of the Italian designers are located in this building. This statue was molded from chopped up credit cards.

The Gallery of Modern Art.

Our next stop off the bus was to tour the Clydeside Distillary and sample the whiskey. This distillery is so new that it's product is still in the casks and has yet to be released.

The stills.

The tasting. This was the only distillery that wouldn't tell us what we were sampling. Instead, it more of a class to tell us what we should be looking for when we taste.

Took this picture from the still room. This clipper is moored at the Riverside Museum.

Also taken from the still room. This is the original Queen Mary. We were told that the Queen Mary that is in Long Beach was supposed to be called the Queen Victoria. When they invited the King to christen the ship, they told him that it was to be named for Britain's greatest Queen. The King said that his wife would be overjoyed at the news. The name was suddenly changed.

-JC-