View From The Top (of a double decker bus)

So here goes for two days of fun adventuring.  Yesterday I met up with Roxie who is also on the trip with me, but has been staying in various hostels around Glasgow.  We were set to meet at the University main gate, so I went early to have a look around the place since from what I've seen it is one of the most beautiful places in the city.  I wandered a bit and found the gift shop which is across from the elevator that takes you up to the Hunterian museum.  Since I had about an hour and a half (and the museum is free, which I also found out that like all the museums in Glasgow are free, yay!) I decided to check it out.  Apparently a large portion of it was donated by Mr. Hunter from his own collection so it's mostly a hodgepodge of ancient tribal artifacts, gems and minerals, bugs, some dinosaur fossils, a science section dedicated to Sir Kelvin, and a large medical section with tons of diseased and healthy body parts and medical devices.  My favorite part was the small section of conjoined and mutated animals that were apparently of great fascination and were once termed "monstrosities."  The museum itself is beautiful and has large arching ceilings and I believe is one of the oldest buildings in Glasgow.

After my little tour I met up with Roxie and since we were both starving we headed down a little ways to Ashton street, which is this small very pretty little cobblestone side street with a ton of little restaurants (at least 5 were mentioned in my guidebook), clubs, and my favorite part, a little cinema called Grosvenor Cinema that has two screens and comfy leather seats where you can get a bite to eat and enjoy a pint with your movie...so I'll be there a lot.  We ate at a restaurant called Brel that used to be stables but is now known for there selection of Belgian beers.  They had live jazz going on on the back patio and we enjoyed a very nice meal and a pint.  From there we pretty much ended our night, although I have plans to meet Roxie again on Monday to find the Accommodation office and see if she can't move into the dorms early as well because the whole hostel thing is definitely not the most convenient situation.

Today I decided to hop on the double decker tour buses I've seen going around town.  They are only 9 pounds and you can hop on and off at any of the stops and the ticket is good for 2 days so hopefully I will get some use out of it tomorrow.  I learned a lot about the city and got a lot of good info about the East End which I had not been to yet. There is a place over there called the Barras which is pretty much like Saturday Market for those of you who have been to Portland, and I plan on scoping out some good deals there next weekend.  There are also a ton of other museums on the East side which I also want to visit, because again, free.  I hopped off at St. George Square where there are some lovely statues of Queen Victoria and other nobility and I took a few shots of the building where they conduct court.  I did some shopping and got some Starbucks, because I hadn't had coffee in days (and it was showing) and when I came out it was pouring.  Thankfully one of the buses pulled up right as I got to the stop and I spent a cold and wet ride back home.  Oh also the Celtics and Rangers played today so there were a lot of guys dressed up who were yelling very loudly.  That's pretty much it, and in the next few days I plan on going to some more museums and perhaps some pubs so I will keep you all updated.