Yet more travel news
Figured I'd better blog about Glasgow and Dublin before I head off to New Orleans this evening!
Both trans-Atlantic flights were alleged to be "very full", but I was able to get a four-across row with no other passengers on each. This was especially good on the flight over, as I could stretch out a bit (despite armrests that don't go all the way up - why do they do this?) and nap.
Easy transfer at Dublin for the flight to Glasgow, though, as always, the gates were as far apart as they could be. I took a shuttle into town, and then walked a short bit to the hotel, the Frasier Suites in the Merchant City. Quite nice, very friendly and helpful staff, good-sized room with a sitting area and kitchenette (though I never used that except for tea), and a decent breakfast. That night, I went to dinner at the City Merchant restaurant, which specializes in "fish from the coastal waters and rivers of Scotland"; I had salmon swimming, not in water, but in butter. Delicious. I had planned to skip dessert, but was tempted by the description of cranachan: whipped cream, whisky, honey, and fresh raspberries, with toasted oatmeal soaked overnight in a little whisky. It was as good as it sounds.
I slept well, and the next day walked up to Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art, having previously booked for the 11:00 tour.
The guide, a soon to graduate student, was quite informative. It was interesting to see the similarities between CRM and Frank Lloyd Wright - the Japanese influence; the flow from low dark spaces to bigger, brighter ones; and, of course, the control of the entire design - building, furniture, decoration, textiles. After that, I went for lunch to the Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street. Tip: if you have a reservation, you lunch in the Tea Room Deluxe:
After fortifying my innards, I headed to the Hunterian Art Gallery, most of which is closed for renovation, but I was able to see the reconstruction of CRM's home, filled with his gorgeous furniture. No photography permitted, sadly.
I crossed the street to the University of Glasgow, debating whether to go to the Hunterian Museum, as the posted closing time was 5:00 and it was already after 4:00. However, a second sign revealed that that night they were open until 7:00, so I went in, and managed to be there for a tour and also a talk by one of the curators about their Ptolemaic gold coins. The place is fabulous - Hunter was a mad collector, and of course they've acquired loads of stuff since. There is a new permanent exhibit of bits, large and small, from the Antonine Wall.
I walked back to the hotel and dined at a nearby Italian restaurant. Very delicious.
Slept badly, that night, though whether that was due to personal worries, too much tea, delayed jet lag, or a combination thereof, I don't know. So I got up a bit late. I planned to go to Helensburgh to see CRM's Hill House, but as they aren't open until early afternoon, I was in no rush. I walked to the train station via an old churchyard, full of "merchants of Glasgow", and hung out a bit at the Gallery of Modern Art. Formerly the Royal Bank (among other things), it now features a statue of Wellington with a traffic cone on his head:
I'm in love with Hill House:
I wish photography had been allowed inside; it's absolutely stunning. The living room has a delightful window seat where I would be happy to spend my days reading and contemplating the view. And my dining room set would suit the place much better than Mr & Mrs Blackie's, as mine is a CRM design and theirs was not!
That evening I went to a performance by the Scottish Ballet of a new work, based on Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire. It was brilliant. They made the back story part of the action, which made the narrative clearer than I think it otherwise would have been, and the dancers acted extremely well. The performance was at the Theatre Royal, which is a pretty fabulous building, too.
Took a cab to the airport, as always arriving with more than sufficient time. I finished yet another book on the flight, so had more to release once I arrived. A bus from the airport to Trinity College and then a cab to the hotel, which was quite comfortable. I was sharing with another Bookcrosser, and we had dinner at the hotel before heading up to the icebreaker and "craic". Lots of books on the book buffet, but I only selected small, thin ones! A fun evening, with step dancing!
The convention began in earnest the next day, with two local authors, Peadar O'Guilin and Adrienne Hines. I honestly hadn't expected much, particular from the former as I'm not into his sort of books, but both were quite interesting, and I think I would enjoy Hines' work. We were supplied with an excellent lunch, salmon for me again, and in the afternoon there was a presentation about the 2013 convention in Sweden (which I think I'll skip) and the 2014 event was awarded to Melbourne. I'd love to go to that one if I can manage it, though it won't be worth it unless I can spend a good month in Australia and New Zealand. Fingers crossed. For dinner, I chose to go to the "modern Irish" restaurant, which had lovely food.
Sunday was the flash mob and release walk/treasure hunts. There were three of the latter - short, medium and long; I chose the "medium", though I took the clue lists for all as they seemed to be quite a good guide to city walks. "Medium" took us past interesting architecture, to Dublin Castle and St Patrick's cathedral, and ended at an OBCZ called Accents, where I had a cup of tea and a slice of butterscotch cake that was absolutely to die for. (I found out later that I had won the treasure hunt, and was given a pretty little silver pocket mirror shaped like a shopping bag - open the bag and there's the mirror!) After that, I went back to Dublin Castle
to see the Chester Beatty Library, which is a book lover's dream. Case after case of books and related objects from all over: illuminated manuscripts, treasury bindings, ebru, Japanese scrolls, jade sutras, on and on! Then I did the guided tour of the Castle, which I recommend but wish it was a mite longer. Dinner again at the hotel and then off to the pub quiz. Our team didn't win, but did pretty well.
Monday, Futurecat and I went off to Trinity College, where people were wandering about in academic robes and listening to the announcement of the scholarship winners:
Lucky winners, indeed! Dispensation from fees, lodgings in college, free dinners and a stipend - no wonder everyone was cheering lustily! We then took a tour guided by a very charming, amusing and good-looking young historian, and then to the Old Library for a look at the Book of Kells. We followed that with a visit to the Long Library, an incredibly impressive, galleried and barrel-vaulted place where are displayed many of Trinity's treasures (like books printed by Aldus Manutius and William Caxton) as well as early documents relating to the institution itself.
We split up then, and I headed to the General Post Office to release a copy of Agony at Easter:
From there, I walked quite a bit, over to Merrion Square to see the Oscar Wilde Memorial (which is a bit tacky, if you want my opinion), but lovely green space. The National Gallery is right there, so I went in (as seems to be my luck this trip, most was closed for renovations). I was particularly blown away by Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ and a lovely little Vermeer. Walked then through St. Stephen's Green to the Iveagh Gardens, which had been recommended as a beautiful, and less-frequented, garden, and it was delightful. So serene and quiet! We did the Literary Pub Crawl that night, which was interesting, if long, and I did not indulge, as I was tired and needed to get up early the next day for the flight home.
Was able to pre-clear customs at Dublin Airport, which saved time at O'Hare, and Lilith and I were very happy to see each other again.
Both trans-Atlantic flights were alleged to be "very full", but I was able to get a four-across row with no other passengers on each. This was especially good on the flight over, as I could stretch out a bit (despite armrests that don't go all the way up - why do they do this?) and nap.
Easy transfer at Dublin for the flight to Glasgow, though, as always, the gates were as far apart as they could be. I took a shuttle into town, and then walked a short bit to the hotel, the Frasier Suites in the Merchant City. Quite nice, very friendly and helpful staff, good-sized room with a sitting area and kitchenette (though I never used that except for tea), and a decent breakfast. That night, I went to dinner at the City Merchant restaurant, which specializes in "fish from the coastal waters and rivers of Scotland"; I had salmon swimming, not in water, but in butter. Delicious. I had planned to skip dessert, but was tempted by the description of cranachan: whipped cream, whisky, honey, and fresh raspberries, with toasted oatmeal soaked overnight in a little whisky. It was as good as it sounds.
I slept well, and the next day walked up to Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art, having previously booked for the 11:00 tour.
The guide, a soon to graduate student, was quite informative. It was interesting to see the similarities between CRM and Frank Lloyd Wright - the Japanese influence; the flow from low dark spaces to bigger, brighter ones; and, of course, the control of the entire design - building, furniture, decoration, textiles. After that, I went for lunch to the Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street. Tip: if you have a reservation, you lunch in the Tea Room Deluxe:
After fortifying my innards, I headed to the Hunterian Art Gallery, most of which is closed for renovation, but I was able to see the reconstruction of CRM's home, filled with his gorgeous furniture. No photography permitted, sadly.
I crossed the street to the University of Glasgow, debating whether to go to the Hunterian Museum, as the posted closing time was 5:00 and it was already after 4:00. However, a second sign revealed that that night they were open until 7:00, so I went in, and managed to be there for a tour and also a talk by one of the curators about their Ptolemaic gold coins. The place is fabulous - Hunter was a mad collector, and of course they've acquired loads of stuff since. There is a new permanent exhibit of bits, large and small, from the Antonine Wall.
I walked back to the hotel and dined at a nearby Italian restaurant. Very delicious.
Slept badly, that night, though whether that was due to personal worries, too much tea, delayed jet lag, or a combination thereof, I don't know. So I got up a bit late. I planned to go to Helensburgh to see CRM's Hill House, but as they aren't open until early afternoon, I was in no rush. I walked to the train station via an old churchyard, full of "merchants of Glasgow", and hung out a bit at the Gallery of Modern Art. Formerly the Royal Bank (among other things), it now features a statue of Wellington with a traffic cone on his head:
I'm in love with Hill House:
I wish photography had been allowed inside; it's absolutely stunning. The living room has a delightful window seat where I would be happy to spend my days reading and contemplating the view. And my dining room set would suit the place much better than Mr & Mrs Blackie's, as mine is a CRM design and theirs was not!
That evening I went to a performance by the Scottish Ballet of a new work, based on Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire. It was brilliant. They made the back story part of the action, which made the narrative clearer than I think it otherwise would have been, and the dancers acted extremely well. The performance was at the Theatre Royal, which is a pretty fabulous building, too.
Took a cab to the airport, as always arriving with more than sufficient time. I finished yet another book on the flight, so had more to release once I arrived. A bus from the airport to Trinity College and then a cab to the hotel, which was quite comfortable. I was sharing with another Bookcrosser, and we had dinner at the hotel before heading up to the icebreaker and "craic". Lots of books on the book buffet, but I only selected small, thin ones! A fun evening, with step dancing!
The convention began in earnest the next day, with two local authors, Peadar O'Guilin and Adrienne Hines. I honestly hadn't expected much, particular from the former as I'm not into his sort of books, but both were quite interesting, and I think I would enjoy Hines' work. We were supplied with an excellent lunch, salmon for me again, and in the afternoon there was a presentation about the 2013 convention in Sweden (which I think I'll skip) and the 2014 event was awarded to Melbourne. I'd love to go to that one if I can manage it, though it won't be worth it unless I can spend a good month in Australia and New Zealand. Fingers crossed. For dinner, I chose to go to the "modern Irish" restaurant, which had lovely food.
Sunday was the flash mob and release walk/treasure hunts. There were three of the latter - short, medium and long; I chose the "medium", though I took the clue lists for all as they seemed to be quite a good guide to city walks. "Medium" took us past interesting architecture, to Dublin Castle and St Patrick's cathedral, and ended at an OBCZ called Accents, where I had a cup of tea and a slice of butterscotch cake that was absolutely to die for. (I found out later that I had won the treasure hunt, and was given a pretty little silver pocket mirror shaped like a shopping bag - open the bag and there's the mirror!) After that, I went back to Dublin Castle
to see the Chester Beatty Library, which is a book lover's dream. Case after case of books and related objects from all over: illuminated manuscripts, treasury bindings, ebru, Japanese scrolls, jade sutras, on and on! Then I did the guided tour of the Castle, which I recommend but wish it was a mite longer. Dinner again at the hotel and then off to the pub quiz. Our team didn't win, but did pretty well.
Monday, Futurecat and I went off to Trinity College, where people were wandering about in academic robes and listening to the announcement of the scholarship winners:
Lucky winners, indeed! Dispensation from fees, lodgings in college, free dinners and a stipend - no wonder everyone was cheering lustily! We then took a tour guided by a very charming, amusing and good-looking young historian, and then to the Old Library for a look at the Book of Kells. We followed that with a visit to the Long Library, an incredibly impressive, galleried and barrel-vaulted place where are displayed many of Trinity's treasures (like books printed by Aldus Manutius and William Caxton) as well as early documents relating to the institution itself.
We split up then, and I headed to the General Post Office to release a copy of Agony at Easter:
From there, I walked quite a bit, over to Merrion Square to see the Oscar Wilde Memorial (which is a bit tacky, if you want my opinion), but lovely green space. The National Gallery is right there, so I went in (as seems to be my luck this trip, most was closed for renovations). I was particularly blown away by Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ and a lovely little Vermeer. Walked then through St. Stephen's Green to the Iveagh Gardens, which had been recommended as a beautiful, and less-frequented, garden, and it was delightful. So serene and quiet! We did the Literary Pub Crawl that night, which was interesting, if long, and I did not indulge, as I was tired and needed to get up early the next day for the flight home.
Was able to pre-clear customs at Dublin Airport, which saved time at O'Hare, and Lilith and I were very happy to see each other again.