Further Adventure into City Center

First thing we realized last night was our 24 hour bus tickets were no good.  I looked up the time tables for the bus we took yesterday, and it said no service. Darn. The alternate bus routes would have required us to walk past the train stain, so we decided to just take the train. We could eat breakfast at Annie's Coffee House on the way too.  So we headed out, only to find the coffee house closed.  Everything was closed it seemed.  We managed to find a chain similar to Dunkin Donuts near the train station and ate our breakfast on the platform. Using the app, we bought open roundtrip tickets for Glasgow Queen Street. 

The platform let us off right at George's Square, which is when it finally clicked. Today is Remembrance Sunday, a day to honor and remember those who died in the Wars. The streets leading to George Square were closed and filled with men and women in various uniforms.  It looked like they were still preparing for some kind of ceremonial service, so we walked around to look at the Square before it started.





War Memorial in front of the Glasgow City Chambers

We still had a bit of time before the ceremony, so I suggest we find the Duke of Wellington Statue (I couldn't wait to see if the traffic cones were there!)

On the way, I saw this ad, must be getting close!
(Glaswegians are so cheeky)
Once we turned the corner, I saw it and totally outed myself as a tourist, if the giant clunky camera wasn't enough. 

S: There it is! Him and his horse have a cone today!

P: I guess we lucked out then.


Unfortunately a lot of city exhibits, like the Gallery of Modern Art behind the Duke, were closed.  Not sure if it's because Remembrance Day, the Climate Summit visitors, or a combination of both.  So we decided to walk through the city to enjoy the sights, even if the shops were closed. 




We eventually headed back to George Square to see the ceremony.  There were Poppy Appeal vendors set up everywhere.  I've seen these silk poppy flower pins everywhere recently, usually at a store near check out.  You make a donation to the Armed Forces Charity and take a poppy to show your support. 
We got one each and went to stand at the barricades they set up for the ceremony. 
We watched as representatives of each branch of the military marched into the square to the tune of drums and bagpipes.   



They surrounded the memorial, and were joined by several veterans from the crowd. After everyone was gathered, there were more songs from the bagpipes.  Several people walked up to the center at this point to lay poppy wreaths in front of the memorial.  In-between songs, there were just moments of silence. 




Once every one finished leaving flowers, the flag above the City Chamber was lowered to half-mast and the Minister gave a short speech.  We couldn't understand much because of the microphone echo along with a thick Scottish accent, but a long silence followed and then everyone started to disperse.  It was nice to experience one of their national holidays. 

We found a place to eat lunch, and talked about where to go next.  I knew Pedro was curious about the Necropolis (highest point in the city-surprise, surprise) so we went there next.  We walked right past Buchanan St, which is a famous shopping street, we're not big window shoppers, but I snapped a picture.

The Glasgow Cathedral is just before the Necropolis.  It's the oldest church on the mainland of Scotland. 
I thought the street lamps were pretty cool here.  They have the symbols from Glasgow's coat of arms.  They come from the stories of St. Mungo, the founder and patron saint of Glasgow. 

Right around the cathedral was a bridge that took us the Necropolis. There were several paths winding around the hill.  It reminded me of Greyfriar's Kirk in Edinburgh, but bigger. 






We decided this was a pretty good view to end our tour.   I do look forward to coming back closer to Christmas to see the city all decorated.  There were already some neat lights around the squares, so we'll have to stay until it gets dark.

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