Something I've been jealous of, in other cities, is Christmas markets. Glasgow is a BIG city, so the events have been well publicized and easy to track. I've had this event marked down since before Thanksgiving. I planned on us tasting the food, desserts, as well as the mulled wine and cider. From past articles, I read that there are usually two markets, one in George Square and one in St. Enoch Square, in downtown Glasgow. The larger one in George Square was cancelled, and to make up for it, the city put up a big display of Christmas lights. The other square has a smaller market this year, but it seemed just as exciting.
Yesterday was Pedro's last day of the fall semester so I asked if we could use the weekend to see the Christmas market and possibly the city lights. As we walked to the train, we realized the lights may not be possible due to all the fog (a bit eerie).
Once we were in the city, the market was easy to find - St. Enoch Square was sporting a giant Christmas pyramid!
It was an enormous version of an old Christmas decoration I used to see at my grandmother's home, which made the experience all the more exciting. The square was set up in a U, with shops full of winter accessories and baubles, food vendors and candy stands along both sides of the walkway. We decided to walk through it all before choosing something for lunch.
I didn't take many picture because the fog made it frustrating and there was a steady stream of people walking around. There were a few unpopular stands as well, selling odd things like giant cheese wheels or polished wood panels, but one stand that was particularly empty was displaying moonshine - I had to stop. The poor saleswoman looked particularly bored, so I walked up to her and said, "I haven't seen moonshine since The States!" and she immediately dived into an excited explanation of the moonshine they crafted. We had a nice conversion and she seemed particularly enthusiastic about the American history of prohibition and the mafia. She gave us some samples, though she joked that it's nowhere near the "flammable stuff" we drink in America. We ended up buying a jar that tasted exactly like ferrero rocher! (It may or may not be half empty now...)
Then we got food (Pedro choose French and I choose Thai) and searched for a place away from the crowd to sit and eat, which happened to be by the moonshine stand. We saw a variety of people and their dogs, enjoying the sights, music, and free samples. We topped it off with some mulled wine, which was deliciously spicy and warm. The stand had more food than we could possible try, all sorts of crepes, churros, fudge, pastries and more. So we settled on some flavored chocolate truffles to eat on the way out.
We started towards George Square, walking down Buchanan Street, which is one of the main shopping streets. It was lined with lights, and a few shops had beautiful displays in the windows. We even went through the mall to see some giant Christmas reindeer.
George Square is where the best of the Christmas lights are supposed to be, though it was far too early for all of them to be on, so we roamed around. It had already been a foggy morning, and it was even thicker now, making it difficult to see and take pictures.
The tree was real and looked like it was too heavy for its own good, leaning slightly, but I thought it looked nice. It probably looks better at night with all the lights around it. What was nice to see, were the silk poppy flowers still on the cenotaph from the last time we were there on Remembrance Day.
After finishing our walk around the square, we decided not to stay for the lights. It would be another 3 hours for the full display and the fog was causing buildings to disappear and halos to form around lights. We'll be back on a clearer night!
P.S. -
Plus side of the fog: by the time we were back in Anniesland, Azkaban had disappeared completely.
