Glasgow Cathedral
Our first stop in Glasgow was the Glasgow Cathedral, also called the High Kirk of Glasgow or St Kentigern's Cathedral.In the picture to the right you can see the Glasgow Cathedral and the Glasgow Necropolis, a Victorian cemetry on a low but very prominent hill to the east of the cathedral. Fifty thousand individuals have been buried in the necropolis. Only a small percentage are named on monuments, typically for the period, and not every grave has a stone. Approximately 3500 monuments exist here.
The scaffolding on the outside of the cathedral was not a very pretty sight, but I was mesmerised by the cathedral's beautiful interior and the atmosphere inside. I felt we were extra lucky; the organist was practicing while we were there, adding to the magical atmosphere. For a moment I just sat down on a bench, blocking out all sounds except the music, including nagging from the kids, and just enjoyed the serenity. It's moments like these that give me energy.
The history of the cathedral
The Protestant Reformation of 1560 did away with the need for bishops answerable to the Pope. Although bishops did continue in the established church in Scotland until their final abolition in 1689, their role was greatly reduced. Their cathedral was ‘cleansed’ of its Catholic trappings and put to use as a parish kirk – in fact, three parish kirks. The choir housed the Inner High Kirk, the west end of the nave the Outer High Kirk, and the crypt the Barony Kirk.
However, a growing appreciation of the qualities of medieval architecture led to another change. By 1835 both the Outer High Kirk and the Barony Kirk had vacated the premises, leaving the great medieval cathedral to return once more to something approaching its former glory.The present cathedral
Glasgow Cathedral, unlike most other historic buildings, is Crown property and is cared for by Historic Scotland on behalf of Scottish Ministers. During all these years the cathedral has continued to be a place of worship and it still has a regular and active congregation.
The cathedral contains some beautiful stained glass windows and on parts of the ceiling there are really beautiful carved stone bosses, shaped as floral decorations.Beautiful stained glass windows
In what I believe was the vestry of the cathedral, the stained glass windows had an interesting twist. The top part of the stained glass windows were traditional religious motifs, whereas the bottom part contained the coat of arms of those donating the windows. At the very bottom of the window were inscriptions of who donated the windows and who they were in memory of.
The crypt
In addition to the size of the crypt, I was impressed by the beautiful carved stone bosses in the ceiling in the Blackadder Aisle, built around 1500 by Archbishop Blackadder.
Lunch at The Willow Tea Room
After our visit to Glasgow Cathedral, it was time for lunch. I wanted to see the Willow Tea Room in Sauchiehall Street, created by the Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1904.The Willow was the only tea room building where Mackintosh had complete control over every aspect of the design. He modelled the exterior as well as the interior of the building, and even designed the cutlery and waitresses' dresses.
It's a good thing we had the exact address, as the entrance to the 
tearoom is not very clearly marked. We walked past the tearoom without noticing it and even when we turned around and started to look for the specified number in Sauchiehall Street, we still had trouble finding it. In the end we decided to have a look at a jewellery shop around the correct address and it turned out we had to go through the jewellery shop to get to the tearoom. But it certainly was worth searching for.
Tenement House
After lunch we went to see the Tenement House, the house lived in by Miss Agnes Toward from 1911 to 1965. More a time capsule than a museum, the Tenement House is an almost undisturbed record of life as it was in a modest Glasgow flat on a tenement estate in the early 20th century.The house remained largely unaltered during the more than 50 years that Miss Agnes lived in the house, as she threw very little away. The rooms of this Victorian tenement flat also retain many of their original fixtures and fittings. Clues to how people lived are dotted all around, from the coal bunker to the jars of homemade plum jam dated 1929 on the larder shelves. The kitchen sink (or ‘jawbox’) still has the washboard and wringer where small items of laundry could be washed.
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos inside the house, but The National Trust for Scotland offer a virtual tour on their website so you can see what it looks like.
A relaxing afternoon in Glasgow
After lunch we just had a stroll down Glasgow's Style Mile, including spending lots of time at the largest Waterstone's bookshop in the Northern hemisphere, if I remember correctly. It certainly was huge!Eventually we ended up having dinner at a restaurant called Cook and Indi's World Buffet, which served a Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Indian buffet, including a dessert buffet with ice cream. The restaurant was chosen by our children during our stroll down Glasgow's Style Mile. and we all ended up finding plenty of food to our taste. And just for the record: I was not the only adult thrilling at having the opportunity to help myself to as much ice cream as I wanted from the dessert buffet!
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