Glasgow

Tuesday 19 August

After finishing our shopping and booking out of the hotel room we still had some time to further explore Glasgow. We therefore crossed the city to visit Glasgow Cathedral. The first stone building on the site was dedicated in 1136 while part of the present building was consecrated in 1197. Glasgow Cathedral was one of the few Catholic churches in Scotland to survive the Reformation intact. It is owned by the Crown and is looked after by Historic Scotland.

In the forecourt of the cathedral is a statue of David Livingstone.

Decorative light fittings can also be found in the Cathedral forecourt.

Over the road on the other side of the Cathedral wall can be see part of the Glasgow Necropolis- a major cemetery.

Near the Cathedral is the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art. Upstairs was an exhibition, In Honour's Cause - Glasgow's First World War memorials.

This was a most effective exhibition consisting primarily of photographs of World War I memorials outside and inside buildings in Glasgow.

The final place we visited was the Gallery of Modern Art.  Outside the Gallery is a statue of the Duke of Wellington seated on his horse. Apparently it has become a tradition for traffic cones to be strategically placed on the Duke and his horse, usually by students, to the consternation of elected officials. A social media protest has caused officials to review their decision to spend large sums of money altering the statue plinth to stop the practice.

The exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art was entitled Generation: twenty-five years of contemporary art in Scotland. The exhibition did not impress us at all so it was a very quick visit to the gallery, however we did find Wellington's statue amusing.

Our flight to Dubai left in the evening. While we were waiting at the airport we noticed the bright blue sky outside - a little ironic considering the wintry weather we had experienced during our mid summer visit to Scotland.