City Weekend

 

Last weekend, we took ourselves off on a short city break, which turned out to be somewhere quite unexpected. 

It even 'snowed' overnight.

The stores had been decorated for Christmas already.

There had been rumours of night time car chases but, thankfully, there appeared to be a heavy policy presence.

Although they looked inviting, the restaurants must have been closed, as they were completely empty.

And none of the taxis were running.

If you hadn't already realised, we were actually in Glasgow, which is currently being used as a filming location for the next Batman movie. It was incredibly exciting getting to see where the filming was taking place. Not so exciting was me getting some of the 'snow' in my shoes. It was, in fact, salt!

Of course the city has so much more to offer. We couldn't miss the Duke of Wellington statue, complete with not just one, but five traffic cones! We enjoyed wandering around the Gallery of Modern Art, which was so great. Even though I found myself just as fascinated by the coloured windows and the gorgeous stairwell, as in the art itself.  

Our next stop was the beautiful Botanic Gardens, where we were able to enter the huge glass houses, filled with the most gorgeous plants. There were so many to see, and I'm pretty sure we didn't manage to get around all of them. 

The gardens were just as beautiful, with the most colourful flower beds.  We walked along the river, where we were lucky enough to catch sight of a Kingfisher. A real treat, as it had been ages since I'd seen one. 

The following day we spent time walking farther around the city, admiring more of its stunning architecture. Unfortunately, as it was closed, we didn't get to go into the cathedral on this occasion, but we did manage to explore the Necropolis; a large, imposing Victorian Cemetery, filled with elaborate monuments and tombs. From there, we walked towards Glasgow Green, the oldest park in the city (I kept referring to it as Green Park - wrong city!) then back along by the river, returning to the city centre.

It was a really enjoyable weekend, and a much welcome distraction from the challenges I've been up against this year. The last few days have been taken up with health appointments, along with preparations for returning to work and school. I can't believe how quickly the holidays have gone, this year, and even though I'm looking forward to autumn, I'm not ready to let go of summer just yet. 

Back soon. 

J. X