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.

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.