Scotland 2019 part 8 ~ A day in Glasgow

Our final full day in Scotland was spent in the beautiful City of Glasgow. For decades the city had a reputation for poverty, crime, social issues and over-crowding, but today Glasgow is a clean, vibrant, cultured and trendy location which now openly attracts students and visitors from all over the world.

During my apprenticeship years of the late 1970’s, I attended two colleges in the city. It was a time when the Glasgow was not particularly pleasing to the eye and the air was thick with diesel fumes. During those days while walking from the grubby Central (train) Station to college, my eyes never really left ground level, the magnificent Glasgow architecture was barely noticeable under the grime of that time.

Today with enormous pride, I can boast it is not difficult to see how Glasgow has completely transformed itself; it is a beacon of how change can happen and reputations reversed.

We started our day at the Glasgow City Chambers, an eminent example of Victorian civic architecture, the building was constructed between 1882 and 1888 with materials from all over Scotland and the world.

After the magnificence of the City Chamber’s, we wandered around the city, taking our eyes well above ground level to admire just some of the beautiful buildings which today makes Glasgow such an attractive and appealing city.

The statue of the Duke of Wellingston in Royal Exchange Square with a traffic cone on his head, it has now become a permanant feature and tourist attraction

Not the Tardis, but an old Police Box in Buchanan Street, it is used as a shop during the summer months

We departed the city via the Central Station; originally opened on 1 August 1879, it currently serves just under 33 million passengers a year and is the twelfth-busiest railway station in Britain and the busiest in Scotland. During the early 2000’s the station was completely refurbished and now looks absolutely wonderful.

The famous meeting place ~ Under the Clock"

Well that was a little bit of “Scotland 2019”, now the Westjet aircraft awaited us …

All that is left to say, is an old Scottish toast, lightly ironic in its tone, but reflecting quite a strong sense of Scottish specialness ~ 

"Here's tae us. Wha's like us? Damn few, and they're a'deid."

Haste Ye Back ….