UK Trip - Day 5: Glasgow
The main objective of today was to get a few more things done on our last day in Glasgow before our scheduled train to Edinburgh.
After leaving the hostel, we took the subway to Shields Rd and walked to the Glasgow School of Art MFA Degree Show located at a large art space called "Tramway." It is located in an area in the southside of Glasgow called Pollokshields, further away from the city center in a more residential area. To get there we walked through a large Pakistani community-- streets lined with Pakistani shops, restaurants, and people.
Overall the work at the Degree Show was impressive-- very definitely fine art (as opposed to a more commercial bent). There was a good range of media-- video, audio, painting, photography, sculptural installations... and I actually bought some work there-- an editioned set of three letterpress books, prints, and a cd with audio recordings that were all part of Emmett Walsh's installation (see the 5th picture).
It seems that this is degree show season in the UK because in planning this trip I noticed that many of the art schools in Scotland and London are having their shows right now. The show dates range from a couple months to just a few days, so as it turns out, we are here at the perfect time (for me... sorry Katie).
[Since once again, I did not use my camera today, the pictures of others will be used to "spice up" my potentially spiceless written descriptions.]
Obligatory funny foreign signs (courtesy Katie) as seen on the way to the MFA show at Tramway:
After the MFA show we headed back into the city center taking the subway to Cowcaddens and walking to Renfrew St for the Glasgow School of Art BFA Degree Show. There we saw work from the Ceramics, Product Design, and Visual Communications departments. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get to the Fine Art Photography dept, which I would've wanted to see.
Following that we took the subway to St. Enoch and walked back to the Hostel to pick up our luggage, which we'd been storing in their coin lockers. Then we took the subway to Buchanan Street and walked to the Queen Street Rail Station to catch the 6:15 train from Glasgow to Edinburgh. The ride took a little over an hour. I didn't realize how close the two cities are to each other.
Soon after arriving in Edinburgh and being dropped off by our taxi driver, we realized we'd been dropped off in the wrong location. The hotel was nowhere to be found. As we were rolling our luggage around looking for the hotel, I spotted some canine poo droppings on the sidewalk. Fortunately I was able to avoid a collision. As soon as I turned to Katie and said "watch out for that poooo..." I saw her hesitate and say "where?!?" This was right as her foot came down (almost in slow motion) on a sizable, mooshy piece. She will spend the next couple hours trying to work it out of all the grooves in the treads of her tennis shoes. In the meantime, I realized--- the hotel was on "Holyrood Park Road" and I had asked the taxi driver to take us to "Holyrood Road"-- a completely different street. So we had to catch another taxi-- much more difficult this time in this area. When we finally caught another taxi and got inside, I kept trying not to laugh-- As soon as we got in, there was a definite smell-- The driver probably thought one of us farted! And after we got out, I also realized although I'd avoided stepping in anything, there was something on my suitcase wheels!?! Why??!
Chancellor's Court dorms. Photo from this site.
Finally we got to the hotel, called Chancellors Court, which are actually dorms on the campus of University of Edinburgh. That probably sounds odd and like it'd probably be something like a hostel. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and spaciousness of our room as well as the surrounding facilities. These are nice dorms! They are new and clean and we got two twin beds (instead of the bunks we had in the hostel). There was also a TV (which we didn't have to pay to use) and a phone-- We were sooo glad to be able to have a phone that worked with our phone cards! We also had a bathroom with shower and a bunch of clean towels and little bottles of shampoo and soap!! This was very exciting for us at this point, having gotten used to more spartan accommodations the past few nights. Being able to lay back and watch tv at night felt like such a luxury. Making things simple, we went to the pub on campus and had dinner there.
Our lovely dorm at University of Edinburgh
My dinner: Cumberland sausage and mash and a Reef orange and passion fruit vodka mix. That's one long spiral sausage on mashed potatoes covered with a ton of gravy. Once again, I know what you're thinking. And once again, not as bad as it looks. I'd never had Cumberland sausage before and when I first saw it, honestly I was a bit scared... but it was fine, good I'd say. The sausage had a unique texture... I don't know how to describe it, but it was different. Oh and the super girly drink in a bottle with a straw in it was delicious.
More haddock for Katie, plus a Vodka Kick Vodka Cherry girly drink.
Back at the dorms... an assortment of Scottish/British snack foods.
Irn Bru is a popular carbonated energy drink. I didn't realize it was an energy drink until we tried it and it had that disgusting medicinal/artificial energy drink taste.
HobNobs are tasty and useful "digestive biscuits." Indeed, they are both "Nobbly and Oaty." They taste like crunchy oatmeal cookies. Both Katie and I wish we had stocked up before we left!
They have the craziest potato chip (er "crisps") flavors in the UK! Why settle for simple BBQ or Nacho Cheese when you can have an entire entree on your chips?? We tried Chargrilled Steak, Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Thyme, and Caramelised Onion & Sweet Balsamic Vinegar. What was really bizarre is that they actually tasted like what they were named for.
Must be seen to be believed. Photos from this site where you can see even more crazy British crisps!
After leaving the hostel, we took the subway to Shields Rd and walked to the Glasgow School of Art MFA Degree Show located at a large art space called "Tramway." It is located in an area in the southside of Glasgow called Pollokshields, further away from the city center in a more residential area. To get there we walked through a large Pakistani community-- streets lined with Pakistani shops, restaurants, and people.
Overall the work at the Degree Show was impressive-- very definitely fine art (as opposed to a more commercial bent). There was a good range of media-- video, audio, painting, photography, sculptural installations... and I actually bought some work there-- an editioned set of three letterpress books, prints, and a cd with audio recordings that were all part of Emmett Walsh's installation (see the 5th picture).
It seems that this is degree show season in the UK because in planning this trip I noticed that many of the art schools in Scotland and London are having their shows right now. The show dates range from a couple months to just a few days, so as it turns out, we are here at the perfect time (for me... sorry Katie).
[Since once again, I did not use my camera today, the pictures of others will be used to "spice up" my potentially spiceless written descriptions.]
Obligatory funny foreign signs (courtesy Katie) as seen on the way to the MFA show at Tramway:
After the MFA show we headed back into the city center taking the subway to Cowcaddens and walking to Renfrew St for the Glasgow School of Art BFA Degree Show. There we saw work from the Ceramics, Product Design, and Visual Communications departments. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get to the Fine Art Photography dept, which I would've wanted to see.
Following that we took the subway to St. Enoch and walked back to the Hostel to pick up our luggage, which we'd been storing in their coin lockers. Then we took the subway to Buchanan Street and walked to the Queen Street Rail Station to catch the 6:15 train from Glasgow to Edinburgh. The ride took a little over an hour. I didn't realize how close the two cities are to each other.
Soon after arriving in Edinburgh and being dropped off by our taxi driver, we realized we'd been dropped off in the wrong location. The hotel was nowhere to be found. As we were rolling our luggage around looking for the hotel, I spotted some canine poo droppings on the sidewalk. Fortunately I was able to avoid a collision. As soon as I turned to Katie and said "watch out for that poooo..." I saw her hesitate and say "where?!?" This was right as her foot came down (almost in slow motion) on a sizable, mooshy piece. She will spend the next couple hours trying to work it out of all the grooves in the treads of her tennis shoes. In the meantime, I realized--- the hotel was on "Holyrood Park Road" and I had asked the taxi driver to take us to "Holyrood Road"-- a completely different street. So we had to catch another taxi-- much more difficult this time in this area. When we finally caught another taxi and got inside, I kept trying not to laugh-- As soon as we got in, there was a definite smell-- The driver probably thought one of us farted! And after we got out, I also realized although I'd avoided stepping in anything, there was something on my suitcase wheels!?! Why??!
Chancellor's Court dorms. Photo from this site.
Finally we got to the hotel, called Chancellors Court, which are actually dorms on the campus of University of Edinburgh. That probably sounds odd and like it'd probably be something like a hostel. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and spaciousness of our room as well as the surrounding facilities. These are nice dorms! They are new and clean and we got two twin beds (instead of the bunks we had in the hostel). There was also a TV (which we didn't have to pay to use) and a phone-- We were sooo glad to be able to have a phone that worked with our phone cards! We also had a bathroom with shower and a bunch of clean towels and little bottles of shampoo and soap!! This was very exciting for us at this point, having gotten used to more spartan accommodations the past few nights. Being able to lay back and watch tv at night felt like such a luxury. Making things simple, we went to the pub on campus and had dinner there.
Our lovely dorm at University of Edinburgh
My dinner: Cumberland sausage and mash and a Reef orange and passion fruit vodka mix. That's one long spiral sausage on mashed potatoes covered with a ton of gravy. Once again, I know what you're thinking. And once again, not as bad as it looks. I'd never had Cumberland sausage before and when I first saw it, honestly I was a bit scared... but it was fine, good I'd say. The sausage had a unique texture... I don't know how to describe it, but it was different. Oh and the super girly drink in a bottle with a straw in it was delicious.
More haddock for Katie, plus a Vodka Kick Vodka Cherry girly drink.
Back at the dorms... an assortment of Scottish/British snack foods.
Irn Bru is a popular carbonated energy drink. I didn't realize it was an energy drink until we tried it and it had that disgusting medicinal/artificial energy drink taste.
HobNobs are tasty and useful "digestive biscuits." Indeed, they are both "Nobbly and Oaty." They taste like crunchy oatmeal cookies. Both Katie and I wish we had stocked up before we left!
They have the craziest potato chip (er "crisps") flavors in the UK! Why settle for simple BBQ or Nacho Cheese when you can have an entire entree on your chips?? We tried Chargrilled Steak, Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Thyme, and Caramelised Onion & Sweet Balsamic Vinegar. What was really bizarre is that they actually tasted like what they were named for.
Must be seen to be believed. Photos from this site where you can see even more crazy British crisps!
posted by Christy | Saturday, June 14, 2008
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