Glasgow: Odds and Ends

I have been in Glasgow for a week with no other task than to wander around and look at things.  I have two other blog posts about some aspects of my wandering and poking but there are a few other things to show.

My house and neighborhood
The top two shots show the row of buildings--I am staying in the one with the purple door.  Much of Glasgow was build in the mid-late 1800's as was this terrace, so this style is all over. We are on the top floor. The living room looks out to the tops of the trees in the park across the street.

Queen"s Park is a really big park, we are on the north end of the park, about in the center east/west.  I enjoyed wandering around and got a pretty good bird list, including a little grebe. 

Coffee and lunch

So many good choices, so little time.

Glasgow Cathedral

The Glasgow Cathedral is one of the few religious buildings in Scotland which was not destroyed during the religious ward of the Reformation.  Some elements date back to the late middle ages; St. Mungo founded the church there in the 800's but that building was wooden. The current stone building was begun in the 12th C. during the Norman expansion; most was restored during the 18th and 19th C. during Glasgow's expansion within the British empire.  The decor and graves and monuments reflect Scotland's importance in the military expansion and maintenance of empire.  It remains active as the Cathedral of the Church of Scotland.

Bagpipes and kilts

The Piping competition was happening this week so Glasgow was full of pipers wandering around in kilts or playing in odd spots.  .  I enjoyed coming across classes of students learning piping and drumming.

Kilts are the formal dress of choice for ceremonial occasions and there are stores all over selling outfits. Here, a wedding photo.

The single piper below was playing When the Saints Go Marching In,  just as some Hare Krishnas went by.