We left Halifax in the pouring rain for our five hour direct WJ flight to Glasgow and I was hoping to catch some sleep on our overnight journey.   My seatmate, almost 2 year old Beatrice, had other plans however and as soon as she saw me and my head of grey hair she said “nana”!  She was wide eyed with big blue eyes and pigtails and I knew sleep was not going to come easily.   If I closed my eyes she would give me a little shrug to show me something and on one occasion opened my eyes much to her mother’s dismay.   I reminded myself of my recent trip from Calgary to NS with our two year old granddaughter, Caroline, and thought “I can catch up on my sleep later.”  Finally after two hours she passed out across two seats and her mother was on the floor with her head on the seat as she was so relieved and so was I.   Sleep, however, did not come and two hours later Beatrice was awake and not so pleasant as it was clear exhaustion had set in.  The seatbelt sign was on due to increasing turbulence and Beatrice did not like being restrained so we all had to hear her moans,  groans and sometimes screams but no one really seemed to mind.   Within a half hour the co-pilot apologized for the turbulence and reminded us to keep our seatbelts on as we would be landing shortly.  Another ten minutes and we could see land – I was so relieved until we shot up in the air again into the clouds and more turbulence.  A few minutes later the flight attendant apologized, again, for the turbulence and said we  couldn’t land because of high winds but that we had enough fuel for about 45 mins……….and then what I wanted to shout but all was silent.   A half hour later we were still circling the airport and dealing with turbulence when little Beatrice, who had been quiet, projectile puked and fortunately it landed a few inches away from me, rather than on me.  I grabbed the puke bag, gave it to her mom who looked shocked and said “she’s never thrown up before…….ever!”   My lucky day I thought as I grabbed whatever napkins and puke bags I could  find as all the flight attendants were buckled in their seats.  A few minutes later it seemed the pilot accelerated, everybody was quiet and finally we landed with a bang and everyone clapped, even white little Beatrice!   Later that day we learned that storm Callum, coming from northern Ireland, was the cause of the upset and that there were many cancellations in Scotland and Ireland as a result.   The rain continued for two days, sometimes quite heavy, so we happily spent two days touring around on the hop on/hop off bus and learned a great d eal about this old city.

Glasgow is the most populated city in Scotland and the third most populated in the UK.  The population grew during the industrial revolution(shipbuilding and marine engineering) and by the late 19th early 20th century the population was over one million Glaswegians which is what the people of Glasgow call themselves.  Today the population is approximately 621,000 partly due to urban renewal in the 1960’s when large-scale relocation of people was underway, mainly meaning the boundaries were changed and many smaller towns were formed.  Today over a million people still live in the greater Glasgow area.  It is in the top five of cities to visit in the UK and it’s very obvious even at this time of year when tourism is starting to slow down.   It is built along the River Clyde  and when we walked along the river, on the only day it didn’t rain, we were amazed that there were no boats, canoes or kayaks on the river as it was a beautiful fall day.   When we asked about this we couldn’t get a clear answer and were uncertain if it was to do with pollution or liability/legal issues on the River Clyde – more exploring needs to be done!    As tourists we visited the Cathedral, the Barras weekend market which was a bit of a disappointment and highly over-rated, the Glasgow Green and People’s Palace, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Riverside Museum, George Square and St. Enoch Shopping Centre but didn’t buy much – you can google for more info if you wish!  Overall we enjoyed our stay here, visited a few pubs, tried the scotch, haggis and meat pies and although we will probably try the meat pies and scotch again we are done with the haggis……not our cup of tea so to speak!   The people here are extremely friendly and as I was told by one young man at the pub “Glaswegians are the friendliest people in the world.”  Tomorrow we are headed to Edinburgh to meet our friends, Alison and Steve, and are quite pleased about this reunion!  Here are a few pictures but we didn’t  take many as it’s no fun having your picture taken while you’re standing in the rain!

The cathedral

What’s most interesting about this cathedral, built from the 1200’s to 1500’s, was the stained glass which was all over the place…..here’s a little sample.

Walk for the kidney foundation

On Sunday, the only day it thankfully didn’t rain, we walked the River Clyde for over two hours as did these bridge walkers raising money for kidney research – an amazing turnout.

Walking the river Clyde with some interesting buildings in the background – Glasgow is known for its architecture

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was so worth the visit

Walked for three hours and now how do we get home?