Glasgow

Before we headed up to the Highlands, we stopped off in Glasgow for 2 days. We are hoping to move to Scotland sometime after our Caribbean tour (just waiting for house prices to come back to reality) so we wanted to spend a bit of time in Glasgow as it is on the short list of possible residency locales.

The weather was pretty rotten while we were there and it might have colored my perception of Glasgow. I just didn't find it to be a city where I felt comfortable. Mark lived there for several years and assures me its a good city to live in but I remain unconvinced. Some places just feel right and I never got that feeling from Glasgow.

We did have the best traditional meal of the entire trip in Glasgow. Do not be out off by the location of Cranachan in the swanky shopping arcade of Princes Square, they take food very seriously here. I had a starter of smoked salmon with creme fraiche that was very good and the best fish and chips you can imagine. Seriously- skip all the other opportunities in the UK to eat fish and chips and save the calories for Cranachan. Light, incredibly fresh, melt in your mouth fish with nary a hint of grease. Outstanding.

Our hotel Jury's Inn was fine if a bit business like, very similar to what you will find in the US. If you are missing US style accommodations you'll probably be happy here. I thought it was a bit spendy but then again, I am a tightwad traveler. It did have a good shower though. I base a large portion of my praise for UK hotels based upon the shower facilities. If you think this odd you obviously haven't been to the UK yet.

We spent the majority of our day in Glasgow at the Kelvingrove Museum and thought it was outstanding. Not just because it was FREE but because it was very kid friendly and had a good variety of exhibits. Kitty loved the animals, I loved the Mackintosh and Glasgow style section and the Spitfire and Scottish cultural exhibits made Mark swell with National pride.

We might very well end up in Glasgow- it does have somewhat reasonable housing, employment options and the West Coast of Scotland offers fantastic sailing/cruising grounds. I promise to try to learn to love Glasgow if it ends up in being where we end up but I can't promise I'll actually love it, just that I will try and that is all anyone can ask.