Last day in Glasgow

Slept like the dead last night. Last true vacation night – tomorrow we leave at 5 AM, so you never sleep well, and the journey home is never a vacation day.

Brad has breakfast every morning. It’s a buffet, it’s expensive, and he eats one pastry, pineapple chunks, black coffee and porridge.

There are these gorgeous rounds of butter that, if I was hungry in the morning, I would have chunked onto a croissant, smothered in fresh raspberry jam, before mounding 3 plates of food, instead I get a cappuccino. Can’t bring myself to squander the money for the only thing my stomach can handle at that hour – yogurt.

However, at 10:40, I’m ravenous, and what did I eat? You got it:

Left overs from last night’s feast, cold from the box — smoked fish with peppers, hake and squid with chickpeas, roasted carrots and cabbage with apples. All of it.

Fortified by our respective meals, we headed out once again to see the last few things on our list. First off, the Glasgow City Council building. An 1880’s treasure of craftsmanship and decor.

Pictures don’t do it justice. Just an amazing building full of mosaics (1.5 million tiles), marble, onyx and carved sandstone. Glasgow was a hugely important city in the late 1800’s and this building was its trophy. When it opened, 400,000 came to tour it.

Next is the Cathedral dating back to 1100. Just a massive building — originally catholic and in the 1500’s changed to Scottish Presbyterian. How they built these things between 1100 and 1200 boggles the mind. And building for 100 years – think of starting a building in 1923 and finishing in 2023. With oxen and horses and pulleys. The height of it, and the wood timbers at the top….

Look at how thick those columns are next to Brad, and the height of them!

But the real reason we came over was to film a shot from the PBS series, Annika, at the Necropolis – a 37 acre graveyard with the most amazing monuments. I love me a graveyard.

I was gonna use the spa again and take pictures, but inertia got me. We are at the 12th day of the vacation. Like my 11:00 AM need for food every single day, the 12th day of the vacation is it. I’m done, I start packing, I hibernate in the room.

The spa is in the basement of the building and it is beautifully dimly lit. It has walls that are totally made of moss, real moss. There is a large very warm pool with swirling water that is lit with a soft blue light and an alcove you can swim to that is dark with only pins of lights that look like stars. There is a huge round jacuzzi pool lit with a soft amber, and 3 saunas with geometrical seating plus a salt room. It’s lovely. I’m sorry.

We’re so ready for home – no more fish and chips, no more bangers and mash. We found an Americanish bar and had fried chicken and rock ‘n roll music (I did have curry sauce on my chicken). It was great, it was easy, and it was around the corner. The moon is full, and Glasgow looks mysterious and wonderful.

We’re packed, the alarm is set for 4:25 AM, and we are leaving the UK having enjoyed it thoroughly, but ready to get home. Christmas here is lovely and festive and fun, but there is nothing like a New England Christmas – I’m convinced of it. It is the ultimate. There’s no place like home.

You know, by now, that I will file an addendum while on the plane. Talk to you stateside.