Can you Adam and Eve it?

Sorry for the delay in posting this – I thought I had lined it up yesterday to post at midnight as usual, but clearly the red wine led to a bit of a blonde moment

I was really pleased with this picture – my attempts at photographing stained glass windows NEVER come out. It depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Tomorrow I’ll start showing some of the delights around and about the Cathedral.

Inside Glasgow Cathedral

I found the inside of the Cathedral rather austere, but there’s no doubt it’s ever so impressive. The people give you an idea of the height and size of these enormous columns. Beyond the screen in the background of this picture is another part of the Cathedral with pews, which is where I presume services take place today. In this section were lots of information stands and a small shop, but mainly it was just open space which certainly gives a feeling being a small part of a vast universe.

Cathedral and Victoria Cross memorial

Last weekend I took a walk around the Cathedral precinct, so over the next few days I’ll show you a few of the sights. Glasgow has several Cathedrals (I’ve already shown St Mary’s, the Episcopal cathedral, on this blog), but if you ask any local about “the” cathedral this is the one you’ll be directed to. It is dedicated to St Mungo, also known as St Kentigern, who is one of the Celtic saints – he was consecrated Bishop of Strathclyde around 540 AD, and is said to be the founder of what is now Glasgow. The denomination of the Cathedral is Church of Scotland.

The small monument in the foreground is a memorial commemorating all the Glaswegians who have won the Victoria Cross.

Buchanan Street buskers

This is another busking bagpiper I’ve seen quite a lot in Buchanan Street. As you can see from the all-black kilt, sporran and bag, his style isn’t as traditionally Scottish as some of the other buskers. I’d say his musical style is edgier as well – though still recognisably Scottish.

Caffeinated Tardis

A few weeks ago Dido at Edinburgh Daily Photo (a blog that’s well worth a look if you haven’t already discovered it) showed a picture of a former police box that had been turned into a coffee vendor. In Glasgow we have those too, but our police boxes are the more traditional Tardis types, and you can find these “Coppuccino” boxes all over the city centre. This one is in the middle of Buchanan Street.

Spot the fake

For my final glasshouse picture, here’s another from the cactus and succulent room. One of these is a fake – can you spot it?

Open wide….

Another room in the glasshouse is devoted to cacti and succulents. This stunning little flower was attached to a cactus, and seemed to be gaping open so much it made me think of the dentist – “say aaaaahhhhh!”

Somewhere over the rainbow

This glass feature appeared over a (it has to be said slightly rank looking) water feature. As you can see it features the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC, or more popularly the Armadillo) in the centre. I didn’t notice that at the time, I only noticed it just now as I came to blog this picture!

Typical Glaswegian

One of the rooms in the glasshouse is set aside for lizards, frogs, snakes, creepy crawlies, a few birds and a few rodents (chinchillas, degus etc). I felt a bit uncomfortable at the birds and furry critters in particular being caged in rather confined, cheerless spaces to be honest. This lizard did make me laugh though – it reminded me of the human Glaswegians who pay good money to sit under a lamp and turn orange.

Wickerman?

As you first go inside the glasshouse, past the little gift shop, this somewhat disturbing sculpture sits among the plants which border a little indoor pool (home to koi carp, and even a duck – not sure what that was doing indoors). Tomorrow I’ll show you some of the other unexpected wildlife that can be found in the glasshouse.