Independence Day notes: Ditching the queen to take in some golf

Comings and goings of the royal family:
Queen Elizabeth is following us. But we escaped Glasgow before she got there. This is Royal Week in Scotland, so we might have another chance in Edinburgh later this week.

Crowds in Glasgow gather  in St. George Square to bid us farewell ... or maybe it was to welcome a certain matriarch of the royal family.  

Meanwhile, we arrived at St. Andrews, home of the university where Prince Williams attended and met Kate Middleton. The woman at the table next to us at dinner said she was at St. Andrews getting her PhD while William was here and "wanted to see him desperately." Alas, she never did.  Kate and William, as it happens, were at Wimbledon today watching Scotsman Andy Murray make it to the semifinals. We're watching the highlights of the match on the BBC at the University of St. Andrews New Hall bar as we blog. And they're showing that Kate reacting to Murray's match will be on the cover of four major papers in the morning.

Sign of the day:
Old people crossing -- slower than deer, more amusing than children.

Seriously? They get their own sign?

Snapshot of the day: Magic buses

Antique buses lined up in a salute to Queen Elizabeth at Glasgow's St. George Square ahead of her visit. We passed by on the way to the train station. 

Shot of the day: 
We arrived in St. Andrews in time to see part of the 75th Annual World Open One Armed Golf Championship on the Old Course along the ocean.

It was rather impressive watching a foursome tackle the 18th hole. Elizabeth and I followed them all the way from the tee to the green.

This gentleman got within a few feet of the green on that shot with one arm. 

And in other news ...
On Independence Day, Brits get their revenge on an American - Boston-bred Bob Diamond got sacked from Barclays bank on Tuesday amid a rate-setting scandal and faced a government committee on Wednesday, July 4. While Diamond refused to admit any guilt, the news coverage has not been favorable.

Bob Diamond is in the rough. 

Note: This is the second year in a row we arrived in the UK in time to catch a scandal. Last year it was Rupert Murdoch's media empire, this year the banks. We're not sure if it's us or them.

Quick picks: floating heads and a dangerous unicorn

Our second and final day in Glasgow featured a lot of walking and an eclectic mix of museums and landmarks. A few things that stood out:

The Lighthouse: I admit I had never heard of the architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh before we began planning this trip. We learned a lot about his work on our various excursions today, including an exhibit on his influence on the Glasgow Style at the Kelvingrove Musuem and Art Gallery as well as a trip to one of his signature buildings, the Lighthouse. It offers a great view of Glasgow for those brave enough to climb the circular staircase. Surprising fact? The building was actually designed to house the Herald, a Glasgow newspaper.

The Lighthouse was designed in 1895. 

View from the top. There were a heck of a lot of stairs to get there.

The Lion and Unicorn staircase: My first thought upon seeing this staircase at The University of Glasgow was, "How unique is that?" My second thought was, "Has anyone ever died after being impaled on that horn?" I am not normal. But considering the stairs date to 1690, surely it has caused at least a minor flesh wound or two.

The staircase was moved in 1870 when the college changed locations, and the staircase had to be changed from a right turn to a left turn. 

See what I mean about that point?

The mini-subway: Glasgow has a 15-stop subway that runs in a big circle. According to Rick Steves, you can ride all the way around it in about 25 minutes. It really doesn't serve much of the city center, but it's great for getting out to the artsy West End for dinner. It made me consider the possibilities of a small subway system in a city like Columbus.

Ryan on the subway on the way home from dinner at Two Figs. There was only one other person on the car with us. 

And while there's really no comparison to the London Tube, I still looked up the record for the shortest time to pass through all of its stations: 16 hours, 29 minutes, 13 seconds to physically visit all 270 underground stations (set in 2011 and recognized by Guinness World Records).


My favorite photo of the day: The floating heads display by Sophie Cave, taken at the Kelvingrove  Museum and Art Gallery. The museum was similar to the Field Museum in Chicago, both in terms of collection and architecture, though the exhibits were organized more poorly in our opinions. The museum contains a large organ and concerts are scheduled every afternoon.

Each one of the more than 50 heads has a different expression.

Ryan's sign of the day:

Yes, I told him that he has the sense of humor of a 12-year-old boy. 

Scottish cliche checklist: Cross bag pipes off the list. We saw a piper performing outside a favorite tourist hangout on our way to dinner. But we didn't take a photo because we didn't want everyone else to know we were tourists, too (they undoubtedly thought we were, but why confirm it?).

Glasgow to everyone: You will rethink your life

Scotland is known for its writers: Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott and the dude responsible for Wee Willie Winkie (see previous post).

But in addition to having great literature written into its DNA, the city of Glasgow can dole out the some brain-twisting philosophy.

Is the city trying to tell me something?  

 Yes, that's a drive-by thought-provoking dose of fatalism ... on Cathedral Street no less.

We saw dead people

Believe the hype. The Glasgow Necropolis boasts that it is "one of the most significant cemeteries in Europe." And if you want to give your bones the greatest view for eternity, this really is the place.

Elizabeth leads the way through the Necropolis as Glasgow looms. 

The graves have taken over a steep hill like spiky stone hairs.

"It's like a giant army standing at attention at the top of a hill," Elizabeth said as we reached the crest. It felt more to me like being in the presence of an oversized, morbid chess set.

Like disciplined soldiers on the front line.

The grave markers overlook central Glasgow and its majestic cathedral (although we can only confirm its majesty from the outside because it's closed to visitors this week.)

Some dead guy's view of the cathedral (left) and the Royal Infirmary. Convenient location to the graveyard, huh? 

And this cemetery contains the final resting place of some of Glasgow's most notable figures, such as:

• John Knox, a 16th century homicidal, sword-wielding Protestant priest
• William  Miller of Wee Willie Winkie fame -- as in the nursery rhyme.

Big Wee Willie.

• And theater owner and actor John Henry Alexander, whose epitaph was almost worthy of the Bard himself -- and conveniently left out that 65 people got trampled and died when someone falsely shouted fire in 1849. 

A whole lot nicer than "Here lies ..."

I guess that's why they don't let journalists write for tombstones.

First impressions from a tired brain

Exhausted is probably the best word to describe us after our first day in Glasgow. We arrived here at 7 a.m. local time (that's 2 a.m. EDT) and have been on the go pretty much ever since. At one point, Ryan fell asleep mid-sentence. Fortunately, we were in our hotel room to change clothes at the time.

Ryan taking a five-minute nap in the hotel room. 

Our trip has not been without a few surprises so far.

Severe climate adjustment: Louisville was a nearly unbearable 100 degrees Fahrenheit when we left on Sunday. The weather is Glasgow when we arrived Monday morning  - 52 degrees Fahrenheit and raining. I have already worn three pairs of shoes today: the flats I wore on the plane, tennis shoes and rain boots (at least this year I was a little more prepared for the cold).

Braving the rain outside the Tenement House, a two-room Victorian flat that contains more than 95 percent of its original furnishings and fittings -- including gas lighting and the original toilet! 

Language barrier: While they do speak English here, it's not always easy to understand (a combination of the Scots accent, unfamiliar words, and the speed at which the residents talk.) There have been a few times when I've just nodded and hoped that I supplied the right answer. But apparently we're not the only ones who feel this way:

Article from the 2 July 2012 morning edition of Metro (p. 9).

Hours until the first kilt sighting: Six.

Kilt!

The brow is universal: To our great surprise, the first question from our superb host at the guest house was about Anthony Davis. Ted is a huge NBA fan and brought up "the brow" as the only thing he knows about Kentucky. It seems that one-and-done players are just fine for building a worldwide brand. And clearly, no matter where I go, I will never completely escape UK basketball.

Anthony Davis (Photo by Dennis Adair/Flickr)