Your Friends They're All So Arty

August 30, 2022

Street mural art in Glasgow

After all the bar hopping, piper viewing, restaurant feeding, castle climbing, and boat riding, I found time to visit some art galleries and museums in Edinburgh and continued the art tour (and a beer tour) in to Glasgow.

The National Gallery of Scotland is on the "Mound" near Edinburgh Castle, just on the hill above the Princes Street Gardens. Actually housed in two separate buildings, for permanent collections and for rotating or traveling exhibits. The permanent collection is excellent and the exhibit on display this month was "A Taste for Impressionism | Modern French Art from Millet to Matisse." 

Here are some of my favorites. The description placard is included in the photos.

The National Museum of Scotland is a collection of Scottish history, culture, antiquities, science and technology, and nature. It's almost like a single, miniature version of many Smithsonian Institute Museums.

The tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots lies here. As does some of her necklaces and other items related to her throne. If you are into such things, it also includes Scotland's contributions to fashion. It's a terrific place to visit.

Departing Edinburgh and arriving in Glasgow, a quick 1 hour train ride away, I participated in a Street Art tour. Glasgow is known for murals all over the city, painted by respected and not so respected artists. If you are not established or not a "true" street artist, perhaps a fine art graduate, you're work in the street most likely will get tagged with graffiti. There apparently is a code in Glasgow.

Whether tagged or not, or repainted, tagged, repainted again, the murals are a fascinating look at daily lives of Glaswegians.

This final photo appears as if it is a pixelated portrait, which it kind of is. But if you were to view it with your own eyes, and not through the lens of a camera, it is nothing but vague dots and squares, quite pixelated. The technology uses in the painting is amazing in that it makes the camera adjust and "calculate" the portrait and displays what you see here. I wish I could show you what it really looks like. You have to go to Glasgow now.

Speaking of Glasgow, I spent 2 nights and about a day and a half here, and I wish I spent more time. It has a different vibe than Edinburgh, more blue collar and playful I suppose (see what they think of the Duke of Wellington).

Right in the city center, not far from the Duke, is a terrific wide pedestrian only avenue, Buchanan Street, filled with restaurants and shops. Even a McDonalds. Or is it MacDonald in Scotland 😉.  Glasgow never takes itself too seriously.

I recommend using the Hop-On-Hop-Off buses to get around to other parts of the city, especially the West End. You can take a one-line subway also to the West End. It is home to more museums and the beautiful campus of The University of Glasgow.

Before arriving to the West End, don't overlook the Riverside Museum, also free, and a stop on the Hop on bus. Riverside is a museum devoted to 20th and 21st Century life in Glasgow. It is a quite entertaining place. And if you go out back, you can see how life was on a tall ship.

One of the great things about Glasgow, is all of the publicly owned museums are free! The Kelvingrove museum, on the public University of Glasgow included.  Kelvingrove features Impressionist and Renaissance paintings as well as ancient artifacts.

Walk through the middle of the campus, and at the end of Byres street (where you can also find any world cuisine you desire, including my first dip in to the wonderfully wierd world of haggis), you'll reach the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. It's a quite beautiful and pastoral respite from the fast moving city. It feature greenhouses for tropical and aquatic plants. Just be prepared for the very humid and hot condition in there - I emerged quite sweaty! 

The River Kelvin flows through the middle and includes a river trail that leads to an arboretum. 

The architecture in Glasgow is fascinating, as there are no real skyscrapers but you can see some buildings are more modern than others, often right next to each other.

Don't overlook Glasgow on a trip to Scotland. It deserves more than just a day trip from Edinburgh, and quite possibly, 3 full days. I hope you enjoyed my artistic ventures and city life from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

Next, it is time to storm some more castles!