Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum
Our first Scottish museum was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, situated in a large park within walking distance of our B&B. The massive Spanish Baroque sandstone building was constructed with the profits from Glasgow’s 1888 International Exhibition.
The Museum’s collection is eclectic to say the least! Priceless paintings by Rembrandt, Cassat, van Gogh and Picasso are mixed in with large stuffed animals and the largest collection of armor and weapons in the UK.
We were disappointed to have narrowly missed a recital on the massive Kelvingrove pipe organ.
Kelvingrove Interior and Pipe Organ
A WWII Spitfire in the Kelvingrove
Glasgow is a gritty, working, friendly city with a rich heritage of art and architecture. Museums close at 5PM, so that leaves many hours of sunlight. It did not get dark until 9, so after dinner, we headed for a local pub. All eyes were glued to the flat-screen TV where the USA-England World Cup football match was starting. Scottish fans declare that they support two teams: Scotland and whoever is playing England, so everyone was rooting for team USA. The game tied, but I got a few big, wet Scottish kisses when USA scored its single goal. After the game, the band played a John Denver tune to honor us, their American guests.
We slept deeply in a brass bed with heavenly bed linens at The Flower House. Our host, Susan served us lovely Scottish breakfasts with fresh Scottish strawberries in the mornings.
The Burrell Collection, Glasgow
For our second and last day in Glasgow, we visited the Burrell Collection. The collection of Sir William Burrell, a shipping magnate, is housed in a beautiful modern building, situated in a lovely green park, incorporating ancient stonework into its structure. Glasgow is from a Gaelic phrase meaning “The green place”. A stunning collection of stained glass is displayed against the outer windows. Upstairs is a small but focused painting collection featuring some lovely Degas pastels in one gallery and in a second gallery a collection of Italian oils.
Stained Glass in the Burrell Collection
Glasgow is also famed as the home of architect and designer Charles Rennie MacIntosh. We made our way to the Glasgow School of Art, one of his most famous architectural designs. By wonderful coincidence, the graduating student’s Degree Shows were in full swing, so we spent several hours touring the Art and Design exhibits.
Basement of the Glasgow School of Art
The basement hallways were lined with the School’s historic collection of classical sculpture casts used in the life drawing classes–a reminder of traditional art instruction methods.
You can see portfolios of the Graphic Design Graduates at http://www.gsa.ac.uk.
Glaswegian Street Musicians
Glasgow city center of pedestrian promenades has a lively street life with people of all ages filling streets. The street musicians above performed with such fierce intensity that we could imagine them storming down from the Highlands into battle.
Finally, one can see men wearing kilts, both formal and casual about the streets of the cities of Scotland as normal apparel.
Observed your web blog via yahoo the other day and absolutely enjoy it. Keep up the fantastic work.