I love city breaks. There's a lot to be said for taking a few days away and exploring somewhere new, and we ended up settling on an impromptu trip to Glasgow. I've only been to Scotland once before, a couple of years ago for The Fringe, so I was looking forward to hopping on the train and heading back up to be greeted by thousands of James McAvoy sound-a-likes. I'm very fond of the Scottish accent and I swear that by the end of our trip, my inner monologue had a Glasgow twang going on...
We didn't do too much planning before we left and kind of treated it as a relaxed few days to get to know the place. Having said that, I did research some options for eating (priorities, guys) and turned to Kate's post about her top places for food in Glasgow. We went to Cup three times in four days, which I think speaks for itself really doesn't it? It's getting a bit worrying how often I seem to talk about American-style pancakes on this thing but I have to say that Cup offered the best ones I have ever had the pleasure of demolishing. They also did incredible home-made scones, served warm with jam and although we didn't have an opportunity to sample a full-on afternoon tea, they looked amazing (that's on the list for next time). I honestly can't recommend the place enough if you're in the Glasgow area!
Other highlights included more food at Babbity Bowster, The Willow Tea Rooms with its amazing Charles Rennie Mackintosh interior (they love him there, seriously) and a personal fave, Saramago at the Centre for Contemporary Art, where I had a mezze plate which caused the two French men sat to my left to 'ooh' and 'aah' to the point where I felt like I should offer them some hummus (I didn't).
Highlights which didn't involve food tended to involve beautiful art and architecture instead. As I said, CRM as he's known to his pals (which I feel we now are) is a big name in Glasgow and rightly so. The Mackintosh House is definitely worth visiting and I also really enjoyed our tour around the School of Art, which again was designed by Mackintosh. There were students working and moving about the place which gave it a really bustling atmosphere and you definitely got a feel for the history of the building. A final favourite was the Kelvingrove gallery which is a lovely building with an impressively large and eclectic collection of works. It also gets extra points in my book because they'd hung the paintings lower than is typical (there was some scientific study behind it...) and as a self-confessed shortie, that's always going to be helpful to the old stiff neck sitch.
I really enjoyed my time in the city and am definitely tempted to go back again. The locals were so friendly and helpful, and being able to walk to most places easily or just hop on the subway is ideal when you're only there for a few days. I don't want to come across as some pancake-obsessed weirdo but I genuinely think that unless I can find some as good as that at home then I will probably end up visiting again just to get my fix...excessive? Nahhh.
