On Saturday we walked to Glasgow’s West End – a hip neighborhood that is home to several cafes, bars, boutiques, Botanic Gardens and the University of Glasgow campus. The West End is a bit over 3 miles from the City Centre and normal people might drive or take the bus. We chose to walk (as it wasn’t raining) and it took us about 45 minutes to reach our first destination.
Kelvingrove Art Museum and Gallery
Kelvingrove is one of the most visited museums in the UK (outside of London) and houses one of Europe’s great art collections. The museum was opened in 1901 and I spent just as much time oggling at its exterior architecture as I did its collections.
Reppin’ ND with Clyde
Also outside the building was Clyde – the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The giant floral sculpture is taller than a double-decker bus and made mostly out of succulents, which I thought was neat.
The museum has 22 themed galleries ranging from arms/armour, ancient Egypt, Scottish art and French impressionists (including one of the largest collections of 17th century Dutch art in the UK – random). The obvious crowd-pleaser is Salvador Dali’s Christ of St. John of the Cross. Overall our trip to Kelvingrove was really nice and I think we felt we took in enough culture to warrant our next stop…
A nod to American craft beer
BrewDog is Scotland’s token craft beer company (think Goose Island or Stone Brewing Co.) and can be found at most pubs in the city. Surprisingly, the beer market in Scotland is not great and the options are largely light lagers that make PBR seem fancy. We sampled some of their headliner beers, such as the Punk IPA, Dead Pony Pale Ale, Fake Lager, and had a few off the menu as well (Shipwrecker Circus). I also snuck in a pint of Summer Love from Victory Brewing (USA).
The food definitely didn’t disappoint either. We stuffed our faces with burgers and chili-coated chips (aka fries) dipped in a garlic mayo. Spicy jalapeño burger for Steve, pork burger for me. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
We walked off our burgers and beers along the river and enjoyed the sunshine. A lovely day altogether in Glasgow!
Asialas Abroad 