Glasgow, Day One

The goal for Glasgow was to adjust to the new time zone, and the goal would be accomplished by sleeping, eating well, and walking. Our flight landed at 7:00 a.m., and even though it took some time to get through passport control, collect our luggage, and travel by cab to our hotel, we weren’t able to check in until 11 a.m. 

Sauchiehall and Renfrew scenes

With time to kill, we explored Sauchiehall, one of Glasgow's several major pedestrian mall that was steps from our hotel and featured sporting goods stores, a large W.H. Smith, several grocery stores, bagel shops, noodle bars, Boots pharmacies, and more. The walking and window shopping rendered us tired and cranky so we stopped into the bagel shop for coffee and wake-up tea (breakfast tea, white), then eventually made our way back to the hotel where we waited for two rooms next to each other. 

Fortunately CitizenM had made a priority of ample, well-designed public spaces with comfortable sofas for napping lounging and crazy seating on which to climb. CitizenM (“m” for mobile) was possibly the coolest hotel in which we have stayed. 

The hotel offers small but super stylish rooms at an affordable price. At best our room was 250 square feet but very efficient with an enclosed shower/toilet and an XL bed built into the far end of the room. The bed is crowned by a picture window that keeps the room from becoming claustrophobic. 

Most of the room’s features, such as LED lights that change color in the shower, climate, and entertainment system (TV, music, projected artwork), are controlled by an electronic tablet. 

We took naps and showers and, feeling only marginally less tired, met Dorothy and David for a late lunch at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed Willow Tea Room. Charles Rennie Mackintosh (heretofore CRM) was the biggest draw for me in Glasgow. Like Frank Lloyd Wright, Mackintosh was an artist, an architect, and a designer. Although his style, which came to be known as Glasgow Style, had elements of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, it was so unique as to not fit into either, especially with figures and objects abstracted from recognition. Sadly we would not be able to see the Glasgow School of Art, where CRM was a student and then the architect of the building that houses the current GSA. Just a few weeks before our departure, GSA had a fire that did considerable damage and disrupted end-of-term exhibits. Tours wouldn’t resume until after our return home. Ah, we’ll just have to visit Glasgow again one day. 

The Willow Tea Room was named after the street name, Sauchiehall, which means “alley of willows” in Scottish Gaelic. CRM’s hand is everywhere—in the abstract Glasgow rose and other botanical lines, and in the rectangle, which formed a repeating pattern in the fireplace surround, chairs and settles, and the façade. He designed the exterior, interior, cutlery, and server uniforms. 

Winston and I shared a traditional afternoon tea: a three-tiered tower of finger sandwiches, cakes, scones with clotted cream and jam, biscuits, and a pot of the house blend tea. Welcome to Scotland, indeed. 

Now that we were fortified, we could do some sightseeing. Our first stop was the Glasgow Cathedral, which was built by King David I in the 12th century on the sight where St. Mungo was said to be buried. 

According the Historic Scotland, this is the only medieval cathedral on mainland Scotland to survive the Reformation virtually intact. 

Afterward, Dorothy and David headed back to their hotel, while John and I took the lads on a long walk.

We climbed up to the Necropolis. This “city of the dead” boasts enormous monuments and sweeping views of the city. 

Rather than trying to figure out how the bus worked, we walked back to our hotel. The walk probably took only 20 minutes. Thirty minutes tops. First, though, we found an Indian restaurant for dinner because when in Glasgow, one eats curry. Then early bed to beat the jetlag.