Glasgow Cathedral & Necropolis

Finished some pending official work in the morning. Prepared the lunch and while planning for a walk out I noticed that the cathedral is close by. So decided to take a walk to the place.

While I was getting out of the hotel, the receptionist warned me about the rain and handed over an umbrella. That was so kind of him. Appreciated.

14 minutes walk to the cathedral. It just stopped raining then. The offline maps worked great. It was navigating me with ultimate accuracy.

The sky was bit dark. I expected another rain before reaching the cathedral. But it just drizzled all the way long. Didn't have to use the umbrella. Like a soft touch from the nature, the walk was more enjoyable with the drizzle. What a feel.

This is not the cathedral. Looks like an another church on the way.

Not sure who this is. The cathedral premises had a lot of statues like this one all around.

Cathedral view from the front gate. The place was so neat and clean. No wonder why this place has a Gold environment status.

Lots of tourist were enjoying the architectural beauty of this place. Tall and artful roofs and that old touch of architecture so amazing.

Looked like the music vent connected to a huge organ.

Is this the organ to which those numerous pipes connected to? Might be.

Side view of the cathedral

On the way to cathedral hill. Green meadows.

The way up to the Necropolis (The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery). 

Either take left or right, and climb up the mountain.

Lots of monumental structures all around this place. I was walking in between them and clicking pics for some time.

That is the view of the cathedral and the surrounding areas up from the hill. I was anyway tired of climbing the hill. So sat down and enjoyed the view and the cool breeze for almost half an hour before heading down back to the ground. Priceless moments and memories.

The cathedral hotel just outside the premises. That was a cute little structure which carries that old charm attached with a beer garden.

A tour video of the cathedral below

The Chocolate Factory

I saw one pound store in the morning while walking towards the Central Station. The shop had a very good deal but I didn't want to get into a shopping mode in the morning. Kept the visit for the evening.

So in the evening, I decided to pay a visit to the pound store. Suddenly this shop caught my attention. I was wondering how did I miss it in the morning. It is a chocolate shop. Home made and lots of other varieties. It was even good to walk around the shop. I wanted to click the picture, but didn't want to do it without the owners permissions.

Saw this old lady (Is that Mrs. Mitchell? I think so) in the counter and so I requested her the permissions to click the photos. She gracefully agreed. I started clicking all around like I got the permission to fire the machine gun :) Sharing some of the pics here.

This is the front view of the shop. It catches the attention of the people, especially the kids.

Different varieties of chocolates arranged to tempt the people :)

This is the marshmallow section.  That big smiley face is made of soft marshmallow.

I didn't get what this is. Doesn't matter, it is chocolate.

No idea what this is. But it was written sweet on the label. Didn't get the rest of it.

Aha. This was favorite one in the bunch. The Wonka bar from the Charlie and the Chocolate bakery.

Am I getting the golden ticket?

The chocolate sticks

The Reese's + other heros

The marshmallow collections

Scottish tablets?

Puff candies all around

More marshmallows

Yummy butter cookies

Mint balls section

This shop has a crazy collections of chocolates for sure. Keeping an eye on this place :)

Dare Enough For A Change

Finally I decided to take a deviation. Downloaded the Google Offline map of this area and felt too much of confidence. Walked for almost 4 miles and clicked photos all around. 

Majority of the establishments are bar attached restaurants. Pints and Spirits are adorned more than the water. Might be that the extreme cold climate. Its a part of the culture.

I hear a church bell kind of sound from a far distance from the hotel room. Came to know that it is from this tower. It rings for every hour. Soothing voice.

I like the road intersections. There are some interesting buildings on the dividers.

Walking to the interior part of the city. The old days touch kept on coming in

Clicked this picture as this building looks symmetrically awesome. A rectangular chunk of art.

The brownish row structures. Old shops on the ground floor. There were some Indian restaurants too.

The end of this road takes me to the hotel. Combination of maps + landmarks saved some battery life.

Glasgow Central Station

The path I walked took me to the Central Station. Walked in and around sometime enjoying one of the magnificent infrastructure of Scotland. 

This is a major mainline terminus and the larger of the two present main-line railway terminals in Glasgow.With over 27 million passenger entries and exits between March 2013 and April 2014, Glasgow Central is the tenth-busiest railway station in Britain.

It is the terminus for all inter-city services between Glasgow and destinations in England. Something of my interest for sure.

According to Network Rail, over 38 million people use it annually, 80% of whom are passengers. The station is protected as a category A listed building (Category A: "buildings of national or international importance, either architectural or historic, or fine little-altered examples of some particular period, style or building type.").

Could find some pretty interesting facts about the station in the below footage.

Spent some around, a small shopping at the Tesco Express and headed back home for lunch.

The Architectural Elegance

Clicking the photos around while on a walk is my favorite. That happens when I am on a vacation and gives Ani a tough time making her posing almost everywhere on the way. But she is sweet enough to do whatever I say. Glad that I got a prefect partner who cares to the extreme :)

These are the structures that I walk by for couple of days now. Initially this was a sheer amazement for me. Each and every building around is a masterpiece.  There will be something special for every building. Unlike a plain kind of design, all got a royal art touch. 90% of the buildings carry this taste and it makes the city so beautiful.

Uphill climb. Kind of San-Francisco touch

See the brick styles. So massive

So authentic in look and feel

It was 5:30 in the evening. Might be that it is Friday. Not much people were around. 

As I mentioned earlier, this is the second art form that I witnessed on the way to office. Looking nice.

By the way, I haven't seen even the 1% if the city yet.

The Street Arts

Noticed this on the way to office. There are several ones on the way. Beautifully crafted city.

A Different Morning

Got up at 5 in the morning and simply gazed through the window and enjoyed the drizzle. Took a walk through the street at 7 sipping a hot coffee. 12 degree made the walk short.

The city is just waking up

Hot coffee made some sense finally.

The streets are so empty in the morning

On a morning walk

How to Grill & Bake fun on a Christmas?

Whats more fun than spending time together on a Christmas night. That is what we planned. Decided to do a grilling session for preparing the Christmas dinner.

Confirmed the menu the day before and Ani led the shopping for the items. 

Invitation & Menu

It was real fun to prepare the recipes for the grilling. Prawns, Chicken, Fish Fillets were all ready the day before. Perfect marination overnight.

The tough part as usual is to make the charcoal burn. We bought some Weber charcoal and lighter, which made the job easier compared to the last time.

The charcoal burned in few minutes, however cechi took all the efforts to make it burn :) Excellent job!

The prawns ready to grill on the skewers

Ani wanted to engage full heartedly to the grilling, however she did the complete job of marinating the items for us to grill.

Get smoked :)

Yummy prawns BBQ in the make

Fish Fillets

Encouraging the charcoal cubes in between

Veg Biriyani and Fish Fillets

Ready for dinner

Ani's creative shot :)

Ani tried the fruit cake for Christmas the first time. To be frank, it was awesome. The main ingredient is the wine soaked dry fruits. 

It was a real yummy deal.

Altogether a fun filled and joyous Christmas night...

When to grill next?