A day on the town

So I think I caught the craft & design fair at an odd time.  That, or the advertisement was very misleading. As soon as I walked in, I went "aww no". There were only about eight stalls set up, and I was the only person there at the time.  Not exactly the bustling and lively fair that I saw online, but it is every weekend, so I'll try again another time. 

I still browsed the stalls, trying to be respectful while feeling all the pressure of the being the ONLY potential customer there. Talk about all eyes on you.. I did visit one booth, where there was a whole bunch of art full of what I could tell were cheeky Scottish sayings, but I just didn't quite understand.  I asked the lady what each one meant, pointing out odd ones here and there. She almost looked embarrassed, wondering if I was going to take offense, but we had a good laugh talking about them.  She could tell I was American, but I told her I lived her in Glasgow.

Artist: Aye, you're a Weegie!

S: A what?

Artist: A Weegie, a Glaswegian.

Now that I had heard, but Weegie is proper cute! I'm a Weegie.  I made sure to buy something with Weegie on it and a few others, glad I got to talk with her. 

From there, I was wondering what to do, since I had planned on spending a lot more time at the fair. Luckily, I was on High St, not to far from where Pedro and I visited the city center earlier. I could see straight down the street to Gallery of Modern Art behind the statue wearing traffic cones. So I thought, why not? It wasn't open last time we were here, and I knew my way around this area. I saw some cool art along the way as well.

The Gallery of Modern Art has 4 small galleries inside, so I made it through fairly quickly, but I enjoyed the architecture of the building as well.  Even saw an Andy Warhol piece! 

After the gallery, I went down Buchanan St, AKA the shopping district. It's Saturday, so of course it was full.  It's closed off to traffic, so it was not only filled with shoppers, but street performers as well. Some I'd seen before, including a guy that jumps through three consecutive hoops of fire and knifes.  (yikes)

I was heading to the St. Enoch Center, which is like a mall, when Argyll Arcade caught my eye.   

It was a bright, L-shaped little avenue with jewelry shops lining either side. I had to look this up once I got home, because it was such a beautiful and unique looking place. And because I cannot resist a Harry Potter reference, I shall call it Diamond Alley. It was built in 1827, one of Europe's oldest covered arcades and Scotland's first indoor shopping mall. It was like a museum itself.  Instead of going into each shop, every one of them had all their jewelry on display in the front windows so everyone can walk down to look at everything. With the glass ceiling letting in the natural light, all the diamonds and gemstones were glittering like crazy. I am going to have to take Pedro here whenever we're back in the city.

I went on to  St. Enoch center, where I accidentally stumbled upon a mini comic con.  I saw a batman, boba fett, harley quinn and a whole hodgepodge of characters. I found a few handmade craft shops there, saw more interesting art. I am really enjoying Scotland's sense of humor, with their cheeky nature and how it shows up in their arts and crafts.  I hope I get to see more of it in our adventures.