Author: Yinglan

The thing about Glasgow is the weather. We were there for three days and for three days, all we saw was clouds. It was like the first few days when I visited China in 2017. I kept expecting blue skies and sunshine but got none. So I decided to turn the photos into monochrome.

According to YouTube, there’s not much to see in Glasgow. It doesn’t seem to be a popular tourist destination. I tried to plan the trip for Glasgow the same way as Edinburgh and London but couldn’t. Most YouTuber talked about food, whiskey, and shopping when it comes to Glasgow but surprisingly, the city is chock full of history. There’s a story behind every building and street.

We decided to join a tour on our final day in Glasgow, one of those hop-on-hop-off sightseeing buses. We were tired of walking. According to my Fitbit, I walked about 50 miles last week. That’s a lot of miles.

We went around the city 4 times. We went around all 21 stops the first time listening to the audio commentary. Then mom got cold, so we made a pitstop back to the hotel to grab a coat before hopping back onto the bus. On the second go-around, we got off at the 12th stop for the Riverside Museum, which is a museum dedicated to the everyday life and transportation.

I was thoroughly intrigued and surprised at the advancement of transportation in the UK. For a moment there, it seemed like the US was a little behind at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

After the Riverside Museum and seeing the “Tall Ship” Glenlee, we hopped back onto the bus and headed for the People’s Palace. This is the fountain outside of the People’s Palace. It’s said to be the largest terra cotta fountain in the world, according to the tour guide.

The People’s Palace is another fascinated place for history geeks like me. It detailed the everyday life of people of Glasgow in the late 19th and early 20th century. I particularly loved the photography exhibit. It was a project of 80+ photographs detailing a day of life in Glasgow in 1955.

These two places were definitely the highlights of Glasgow.

We hopped back onto the bus one last time before called it a day. This time, we encountered a live guide. It was super helpful to have someone point out each and every buildings and landmark instead of having to guess according to the recorded commentary as sometimes, we get stuck in traffic or if the driver was driving too fast.

Like I said, Glasgow is an absolute fascinating place for history geeks.