London to Glasgow — Stomping Feat.

Dec 5

Dec 5 London to Glasgow

We have arrived in Glasgow. Even on first impression it is an intriguing city. The city centre sees smatterings of Victorian and Georgian buildings with beautiful carved stone facades, interspersed with strong modern buildings made of steel and glass.

The Clyde River, the once seminal lifeblood of the Glaswegian shipbuilding economy that was the city’s predominant economy in the Victorian era, is a beautiful river. While ships are still designed and built along it edges, green open spaces and major highways are skilfull intertwined along its banks, providing easy access to all areas of this thriving Scottish city that has much more to offer beyond its industrial and shipbuilding roots.

I read this morning that Glasgow was the only Scottish city to see in an increase in it’s economy in 2016, and you get a sense that its people are making the most of it. The city rumbles until all hours (well past my bedtime) of a Friday and Saturday night, filled with people out exploring the hundreds of old and new restaurants, bars and clubs. For daylight hours, we have already discovered four small batch coffee roasters/cafes that do a mean flat white, easily reaching our high Canberran expectations of specialty coffee matched with delicious food.

While I will dedicate much of my blog to experiencing the food and drink of this city, I can already tell that there will be so many more (less calorie oriented) things for me to experience and document in this city. Walking around the Botanic Gardens, Glasgow Green or Pollok Park, shopping at independent markets and boutiques and signing up for craft club(s) are all things that will so easily occupy my time. The Glaswegians (we have met so far) are as friendly as their reputation tells, and I trust that will only add colour and depth to our experiences in this city.

The River Kelvin, Botanic Gardens Glasgow

A few days in London before we made our way to Glasgow were an added treat. Checking out a great photography exhibition behind the scenes of fave TV show ‘The Mighty Boosh’, a return to The Borough Markets for round two (two years later..) of the best cheese toastie I have ever eaten (thanks Kappacasein Dairy!) and a three hour long visit to the European history section of The British Museum, were highlights of a great few days.

Cheese Toastie from Kappacasein Dairy, Borough Markets London

London also was the setting of my new thing for this week: being in a studio audience during the filming of a TV show. ‘No Such Thing as the News’ is a BBC2 TV show made by the QI elves who make my favourite podcast. It was a surreal experience, added to thanks to my jetlang, and the ‘reshoots’ of some of the facts, shattering all illusions I had about how TV is made. To top the night off, even with my jetlag, I came second (thanks to all my podcast listening and pub trivia attending, I am sure) in the pre-show ‘audience participation fact quiz’. We all know that I’m not even sorry for being a massive nerd.