Glasgow by train, Kelvingrove Museum and Ubiquitous Chip!

Richard and Vanessa were sorry to bid farewell to Keith and Wendy at around 9 am at the airport, but at least Keith and Wendy had four further ‘mini visits’ to look forward to before their arrival back in NZ on 5 August, including the promise of warmer sunny weather in Belgium and the UK, followed by much hotter weather in Kuala Lumpur.
Richard and Vanessa took the hire car back to Waverley Station under the stressful circumstances of limited petrol supply and road works/diversions in the New Town, but got it back in time and without running out of petrol, and then journeyed on to Glasgow by train.
Our Edwardian hotel (The Kirklee) was in Hillhead, in Glasgow’s leafy West End and within walking distance of the Botanic Garden, the University, the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery and Byres Road, which is a popular ‘eaterie’ area.

We had a light lunch at the Kelvingrove and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring it, including joining a guided tour. It would take several visits to see all its contents. We were particularly impressed by Dali’s “Christ of St John of the Cross” (which Richard remembered seeing on a previous visit quite a few years ago) and the new gallery of paintings by the Glasgow Boys.  Of all its fascinating collection, Sophie Cave’s “Floating Heads” apparently prompts the most interest.

In the evening we splashed out on our most expensive meal of the holiday in the restaurant of “The Ubiquitous Chip”. We had three courses each plus wine and coffee, and fully appreciated why it has such a fine reputation – the ambience and the food were both great. It has recently been awarded The Good Food Guide Readers’ Restaurant of the Year for Scotland 2013.