Glasgow – Day 1

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After leaving Fort Augustus on January 7, we took a bus to Fort William and then had a 4+ hour train ride to Glasgow, where we stayed for 4 nights and saw some sights. 🙂 On the way, the kids enjoyed special cookies (note the kilts!), and we enjoyed some beautiful scenery.

   

We stayed in a cool tenement apartment building with gorgeous crown molding and details from the Victorian era.  There was even a cozy electric fireplace!

   

The first day, by chance, we caught a cab right around the corner from our apartment…

and headed to the Glasgow Science Centre, which was recommended by the friends we met at Fort Augustus. 🙂  It was great!  We were there all day!  It’s as much fun for the adults as it is for the kids, and there’s lots to learn, too!

We started off on the third floor — BodyWorks — where there was everything from a multitasking station (how fast can you complete the tasks as they come up)…

to Mindball (decides who’s more relaxed)…

to balance tests, to riding a bike with a skeleton to watch your bones in action!

to a DNA dance party, to working a robotic hand…

 

to a hanging strength test (no problem…oh, this is hard!), and so. much. more!

 

The next floor was called Powering the Future, which was all about generating energy, transforming it, storing it, and transferring it.

G headed for the energy dance floor to light it up! L cranked the handle, generating energy to race a car around the track.

Playing with water power and finding out what sort of science career would be a good match!

On the first floor, we saw a Science Show Theatre demonstration about future fuels that included fire and explosions and liquid nitrogen!  Cool!!  Have you ever seen a balloon shatter — not burst — shatter!  The one below did! 🙂

Also on the first floor were all kinds of other cool, hands-on exhibits.  Some of our favorites included making L look like he was high-fiving his twin!  G and L floating in the air!

Trying to use air direction to get the beach ball through the hoops, playing a stringless harp, and communicating via the whispering dishes.  (That’s me waaaayyy down at the other end.)

 

Two great quotes I spotted while walking through the exhibits!  The second one is at a funny angle, but it says: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

It was a beautiful evening, so we decided to walk along the River Clyde into the city center and make our way back to our apartment.  The light was just right for some cool reflections from the buildings and bridges along the river.

As we walked through the city center, we spotted this window of a clothing store with hundreds of antique sewing machines hanging in it!

The Christmas lights were still out, including the ceiling of lights near the Gallery of Modern Art, and thanks to a tip from our Scottish friends again, we spotted the Duke of Wellington and his horse wearing traffic cones, which is a tradition that apparently started in the 1980s for some unknown reason.

 

By this time, we were all starving!  We asked the kids if they were hungry enough to try Indian food, which they hadn’t had before, and they were game!  There was a place near our apartment that was recommended by the apartment owner — Nakodar Grill. It was great!!  G had chicken tikka, and L had chicken korma. We ordered some honey ginger nan as well. They both LOVED all of it!

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