I've added a new plug-in for my blog, which uses PicLens Lite to create slideshows of photos posted here. If you wanna give it a whirl, click the link at the bottom of the post. It's a very cool thing. Below's a shot of Cleveden Crescent, the Glasgow West End street we stayed on our first night in town this trip. There are a number of these crescent-shaped streets around Glasgow, redolent with the Victorian architecture that is the city's hallmark.
One of my favorite things about the Victorian architecture is the details... like this beautiful period doorbell below. Why don't we make things this simple and lovely anymore?
Speaking of lovely details, behold this rainy rooftop, the view from our room at the White House Apartments.
As regular blog readers will know, I have a particular (and peculiar) fondness for the image of a lovely cup of coffee and I take shots of my coffees on my travels the world over. This one's a white coffee, as they say, set against the pink formica table tops of the University Cafe on Byres Road. I love the fact that the Uni, as its called, has been around forever and my mom and dad came here on dates, probably sitting across from each other at this very same table.
Some of the best details of Glasgow's architecture requires a glimpse upwards. Behold this birdie perched on a beautiful spire. The stained glass on the bay windows of the red sandstone tenements are another architectural hallmark of Glasgow's West End.
There is a very specific quality to the light in Glasgow. I'm a sucker for how it hits the red sandstone tenements in the morning.
Speaking of tenements, below is the view from the kitchen window of the flat we rented for the majority of our stay. At night you get a glimpse into other people's worlds, somehow both sweet and voyeuristic...
Again with the Victorian details: gorgeous green glass tiles adorn the fireplace of our rental flat.
On one of our days, we took a trip to the People's Palace and Winter Gardens, the museum to Glasgow's social history. While the museum proper wasn't the most riveting thing we'd done, there was a concert of multicultural music in the Winter Gardens, complete with wee kiddies banging along on percussion. Lovely and very moving.
Did I mention the weather was glorious while we were there? Stumbled upon this oeuvre en produce at a green grocer's on Byres Road on our way to the Botanic Gardens. Never have I found eggplant quite so beautiful.
This is Kibble Palace at the Botanic Gardens. Apparently the glasshouse underwent a massive renovation in 2006.
Botanics, fittingly enough. Sunny days like these are not what one typically associates with Glasgow. It was a stunner.
Don't let this pretty green plant fool you -- it's in the carniverous section!
I often forget to take photos of actual people when I'm traveling, but here's actual proof that Chris was with me!
Sigh. I know. For someone who professes not to be such a girlie girl, I'm a sucker for stunning pink blooms. I don't know what these flowers are but I remember them from when my grandma and grandpa would take us to the Botanic Gardens. Anyone know?
I'm also a total sucker for meringues. I managed to get away without eating one of these fluffy wonders (from Kember & Jones on Byres Road) but not without snapping their likeness.
And proof that I was there too -- along with my aunt Noriko and my uncle Douglas. Coffee and people watching at the Patisserie Francaise on Byres Road, our last afternoon.
(For those who wish to see even more shots of our brief visit, visit my Flickr page here.)