Shopping in Hong Kong

Of course, when I say "shopping" I mean for food, kitchen implements and handicrafts rather than for clothing, purses, jewelry and electrical appliances.
Discover Hong Kong has a shopping page on Chinese Authentics Clusters or Chinese Foods, Antiques, Arts & Crafts, so I will review it and add it to my google map.
There seem to be a lot of interesting Chinese markets on Hong Kong Island, for instance, Tai Yuen Street/Cross Street in Wan Chai, which you can read more about in Hong Kong Fun in 18 Districts and Western Market, formerly Sheung Wan Market.
We should also check out the temples for some peace and quiet.
And we won't want to miss the flower, bird and goldfish markets.

Getting Around Hong Kong

MTR is the transportation site for Hong Kong. They have a Journey Planner in English that is a flash application.

Hong Kong

I'm getting ready for the prenuptial trip to Hong Kong in May.
First I'm making a google map so I can keep track of what is where. Then I've gone to the Hong Kong Tourism Board site: Discover Hong Kong.
We'll have to go to Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island for the Funicular and the view. To get there, take the Peak Tram from the Lower Peak Tram Terminus on Garden Road (Bus 15C from the lay-by outside Central Pier 6 or walk from MTR Central Station Exit J2).
We'll also have to take the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island, just to see the harbor.
And then I'm searching through Flickr to find some good photo galleries of Hong Kong by tourists.
And then we did some exploratory searches for flights from Pittsburgh to Hong Kong. The best one right now is on United, either via Chicago or San Francisco, at $972.

Heavy Rain (Showers)

So the forecast for Saturday is "Heavy Rain", worse than Friday which is only "Heavy Rain Showers". You can check out what the weather in Glasgow looks like with the St. George Square webcam or with this streaming video of Buchanan Street. (On my apple, I have to depress the mouse button with the cursor on the side scrollbar to keep it from flickering on and off - maybe it is different in windows.)
The Evening Times has traffic webcams. They also have a video tour of the West End called "A Walk on the West Side" (except it is not playing on my apple). I'll check out the rest of the West End videos at work on a Windows machine. The Evening Times layout on the mac is all screwy as well and some of their links aren't active.
OH WAIT!! I just rechecked the weather forecast and now it says that on Saturday there will be "Sunny Intervals" and the "Heavy Rain" has been pushed off till Sunday.

Walk It

So there's another route calculator besides Transport Direct. This one is walkit.com but it seems to work best from landmarks rather than street addresses. For instance, you can put down restaurants or schools but not just an address. The results will give you walking directions (no public transportation) and uses directions like: "You’ll soon pass GAMBA Restaurant and then PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS Business Facility." This could be handy, if you don't have a map.

scottish dialect

Apparently Sauchiehall Street is pronounced "Sucky hall Street". And Glasgow is "Glazgo". Here's a bit of Scottish Identifiers:
ARE you Scottish?
You know you are Scottish if (edited).....
1. You can properly pronounce Sauchiehall Street, St Enoch, Ecclefechan, Milngavie, Auchtermuchty and Aufurfuksake.
2. You actually like deep fried pizza from the chippy
3. You're used to four seasons in one day
4. You know what haggis is made of and you still like eating it
5. You arnae surprised to find curries, fish and chips, pizza, kebabs, fags, and nappies all in the one shop
6. You know irn-bru is a hangover cure (a soft drink with a unique combination of 32 flavours). Is that related to Iron City? In the movie The Crow Road, they really do use Irn Bru for a hangover!

Edinburgh

I imagine the best time to visit Edinburgh would be on Sunday when Papi can come with us. One can take the Scotrail train from the Queen Street station at 9:30 am and get into Edinburgh's Waverly Station at 10:28. I'm not sure what the fare would be since they have a variety of ticket types.
edinburgh.org, the official tourist website, says the Edinburgh Art Festival runs from the 5th of August to the 5th of September and the Edinburgh International Book Festival runs from the 15th to the 31st of August. They say Edinburgh is hopping in August and hard to get a room in. And the Edinburgh Military Tatoo festival runs from August 7-29th. I'm thinking now maybe we DON'T want to go on a Sunday! Then there is the Fringe Festival (initially those who weren't selected for the Art Festival) from the 7th to the 31st of August.
They say a must see is the Edinburgh Castle but I think I'd rather spend the 13 pound admission ($21.50) on dinner instead. Although for "Concessions" (aged 60 and over) is only 10.50 ($17.40). I wonder if foreigners qualify for concessions.
I'd like to go to the Royal Botanic Garden but there probably won't be time. I think just wandering around the old town, having lunch in a pub and maybe going to the National Galleries of Scotland should fill up a day. They have an exhibit on Spain: From Goya to Picasso that we might enjoy, except that it has an admission fee of 8 pounds...

The Barras

Now that I have rescheduled our flight from Pittsburgh to Newark for an earlier one at 11:29 am, I can move on to other plans, and don't have to continually check its performance.
When we arrive on Saturday, if we are not too pooped, we might want to go the The Barras in the East End. This is Glasgow's largest weekend flea market (Sat and Sun 10 am to 5 pm). The Rough Guide calls it an "offbeat diversion from shopping mall banality."
The TripAdvisor has some reviews of it. One says "Theres rows and rows of jars of old fashioned sweets, tablet macaroon, chelsea whoppers, spanish gold, lucky tatties! Sweets i havent had since a wee girl and didnt know existed anymore!" That's at the Sweetie Stall. And she's right: Aniseed and Cinnamon, even something for Fernando. Plus there is another sweet shop called Glickman's.

Another local said: "If you are a tourist then I would recommend that you buy your Scottish souvenirs from here, as you will find that they are a lot cheaper than other shops within the city centre." And another posting: "Great for a Saturday out, try the whelks and mussels, hot doughnuts, browse stalls, great atmosphere, part of the real Glasgow. Must visit for any tourists."

Flight Delay Information

I just discovered the FFA's Flight Delay Information website. It's because the Continental flight we will be taking to Newark (3:15 pm) was 5 hours and 33 minutes late!!! It's because of thunderstorms on the east coast and because this particular plane does shuttles to and from Newark, and also because this particular flight is ALWAYS late. This Continental flight sucks.

Free Wifi in Glasgow

Although our apartment is supposed to have free wifi, it never hurts to have alternatives as backup.

• Glasgow Wifi
• Locate a McDonald's with free wifi

Weather Snippet

City of Glasgow

The City Government has some information for the visitor:

• What's On
• See Glasgow

And others that are just interesting:

• Glasgow Allotments - community garden plots

Getting around Glasgow

OK assuming we make all the connections and arrive at the Glasgow airport at 7:30 am Saturday morning, how do we get into town?
If you go to Transport Direct, you can plan your route. They give you options for Bus (Arriva 500) and Coach but both are Arriva 500. They leave pretty much every 10 minutes from 6 am to 8 pm. The first bus leaving Glasgow is 5 am, then 5:30 and 5:50. That's for our return flight at 9 am on Friday, August 28th. It supposedly takes 17 minutes.
And if we lived in Scotland, the trip would be free since we are over 60!!

First Group is supposed to provide the city's bus service. They have a map of the bus stops in the city center. Most places we can walk to but to get to the Burrell Collection one needs to take a bus. Maybe the #45.

Weather in Glasgow

I see that it is 66.2 degrees with drizzle. Here it is 70 degrees and overcast so there's not much difference. I definitely will have to look for a better weather widget for the blog. Why do I want to know New York's weather? Maybe Wordpress has better offerings.

36 Hours in Glasgow

My sister just sent me the link to the New York Times travel article on Glasgow that appeared yesterday! 36 Hours in Glasgow.
It looks like there are a few places I haven't considered so I'll add them to my google map, especially since I am weak on the West End sites beyond the Botanic Garden.
The nytimes recommends our Continental flight to Glasgow from Newark. As if it wasn't already crowded enough!

Shopping in Glasgow

Maybe we can pick up a kilt and some bagpipes.

• Hector Russell Kiltmakers
• James C. Begg Bagpipe Shop

I'll put a lot of these on my google map of glasgow, of course.

Glasgow Subway

The underground in Glasgow is called the subway and there's a website where you can plan your journey: http://www.spt.co.uk/subway/

Things to Do in Glasgow

• Glasgow Museums
• The Lighthouse - Centre for Architecture, Design and the City. Free on Saturdays.
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh House - Free on wednesdays after 2 pm
• Glasgow City Council: Visitors
• Burrel Collection

WiFi Access

I had to make sure the apartment we booked had wifi access. This is what Booking.com says about it:
Located in Glasgow’s city centre, within the financial district, these modern apartments are within easy reach of the commercial district and all of the bars, shops, restaurants and visitor attractions.

Providing 25 stylish, contemporary fully furnished apartments, with one, 2 or 3 bedrooms, Glasgow Centrale Serviced Apartments offer the very best in city centre living. All apartments come complete with an open-plan lounge area and fully-fitted kitchen. Furthermore, they boast digital TV and complimentary Wi-Fi access.

The perfect location for both business and leisure guests, Glasgow Central Station is just a short walk away, providing access to the rest of Scotland and England, and Glasgow’s Queen Street Station is also nearby, with an express service to Edinburgh.

Things to eat in Glasgow

Well, first, we have to find a source for Haggis. Maybe McKean's of Scotland. Good Golly Miss Molly! They even have a vegetarian alternative!
Maybe we'll stick with restaurants:

• Gamba - best restaurant in Glasgow. seafood and expensive
• Mussel Inn - kilo pots of mussels, Fodors Choice
• Gamba
• Pulcinella
• Sannino Pizzeria
• Fratelli Sarti $19.75 pre-theater, Fodor's Choice
• Rogano - Fodor's Choice, seafood, fixed-price lunch menu (2 course 15 pounds, 3 course 20)

I've been using google maps street view to scope out the apartment's neighborhood. Very downtown and not too many shops. At least we won't have to worry about drunks leaving the pubs at closing time. By the way, where are the nearby pubs? Good gravy! I did a search for pubs near the apartment and the map came up positively pockmarked, peppered with shrapnel.

Walking Scotland

So I am back looking at walks for Sunday, August 23rd.

• Walking Scotland

The ScotRail train from Glasgow to Wemyss Bay leaves at 9:50am, arrives at 10:52 am, taking about an hour. One can return at 20:50 (8:50 pm) and arrive in Glasgow at 21:40. For the 3 of us it costs 20.25 pounds ($33) for off-peak travel. Now I have to see how far we can walk along the coast and how many pubs we can visit.

Glasgow Hotels

While we are waiting to see whether Fernando has his session on August 28th before we make plane reservations, I am scoping out the hotels. EUSIPCO has a list of hotels near Glasgow, G2 3NY, UK on Google Maps.
Booking.com, a sponsored site on Google Maps, has a good collection of hotels, better than the American booking sites, which is to be expected I suppose. Here are some possibilities:

• City Apartments
  
• Library Apartments
• Glasgow Centrale
• Albion Hotel - This is a bit further away from the city center.
  
• Victorian House Bed and Breakfast
• Alba Lodge Guest House - I must admit I like the west end better than the Center City but the rooms look tight for 3 people
• Alamo Guest House - the superior triple looks nice

Evidently both can be accessed from Glasgow Hotels and Apartments, The McQuade Group that offers hotel and self catering accommodation to the west of the city centre of Glasgow. I've created a Google Map with some of the hotels and the venue location.

Scotland

I'm trying to check out the possibilities in Glasgow and thought I'd investigate rambles. There's one long walk along the coast of Scotland to the Southwest called the Ayrshire Coastal Path. It might be interesting to take a train down to Largs and catch a part of the trail north or south. Or find out which of the seafront towns might be interesting and start from there. They say that "From Ayr northwards to Largs, most of the walk is easy and suitable for all age groups - along natural beach terrain, cycle paths and pleasant coastal town promenades." Other sections of the trail are difficult and rocky, or depend on the tides.
Evidently ScotRail offers service to the region from Glasgow.

Walk to Lawrenceville

On Sunday (3/22/2009) we did our training on a walk from the University of Pittsburgh to Bloomfield and then down towards the Allegheny River to Lawrenceville. On Butler Street we picked up an Italian hoagie (we had to wait 15-20 minutes for it!) but it was worth the wait. While we were waiting we checked out a bead store (much better than History on Craig Street). I'll have to go back to select tools and material for a necklace. From there we went to Allegheny Cemetery (but didn't run across Stephen Foster's grave), where people drive way to0 fast for the dead. On the way back to Oakland we had to hightail it since Fernando wanted to see the Pitt game at 2:30 pm.
Here's the gmaps route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2657901

Aftermath

We walked the 8 miles, give or take, and then regained any of the calories that we burned at D's Six Packs and Dogs with a large order of fries and beer. Fernando also ordered a chili dog to top it off. I had cole slaw with my Great Lakes Blackout Stout but I still stuffed myself on the fries. I told Fernando to only order the small fries...
Now we are back home recuperating. It is 5:40 pm but looks like 3 pm. I do not like starting daylight savings time so early and would rather have my light hours in the morning when I am fresh and feel like getting out and gardening. Right now I am absolutely pooped, although I took a hot bath to soothe my aching legs. All I feel like doing is reading.

Practice Walking

This lack of postings will never do!
We are practicing walking on the weekends. Today we will do 8 miles. This is not in preparation for the Camino but for the Pittsburgh Marathon May 3rd when we will walk 13 miles in the half-marathon. I didn't think Fernando would go for the 26 miles and so didn't push it. He's been very cooperative and, although he complains that his GPS says we are walking more miles than the gmaps pedometer route says, he continues to accompany me.

The first week we did 6 miles in the strip, essentially following the marathon route. Last weekend we did 7 miles through the South Side from the Hot Metal Bridge to the Smithfield Bridge and then back along the city side on the Jail Trail. This week my planned route starts in Edgewood, goes through Frick Park up to Reynolds Street and along Reynolds to Mellon Park, then back on Beechwood Boulevard to Aylesboro, past where Will used to live with Mike, into the Homewood Cemetery and around it (we have never been inside the Homewood Cemetery) and then back to Reynolds Street, back through Frick Park and back to Edgewood.