Kelvingrove - Paths that lead us

Early in the morning, Glasgow was anything but bustling, but the sun was bright, the air was crisp and we had all settled in for the bus ride around town. As we warmed up, dozing was about to begin when Terry suddenly exclaimed "Park Here!" and Davey spotted a place among the fallen tree limbs and pulled over. We scurried off the bus, watching out for scattered branches, back into the briskness of the morning. Yes, we were fully awake again, promptly!

Terry took us on what we thought was a short little stroll to see a statue, but it was so much more! We had arrived at Kelvingrove Park, another place listed on the Heritage Trail. In fact, this place is so large that it has no less than 35 important elements to take in. We could not stay that long, but it is on my 'return to Glasgow to see' list!

Once again,  you never know what is hidden just around the corner, and it takes a really great tour guide to make sure that a group of sleepyheads does not miss a thing! Thanks, Terry! Follow the captions for some of your favorite people and some new places!

The tower from the University of Glasgow. We spotted it peeking above the trees as we followed the path to the statue. The University was founded in the 15th Century and was a major center for the 18th Century Enlightenment.

I think everyone except the photographer made it into the photo! It was so cold and at the time we were anxious to see the statue and get back on the warm bus! I came to really appreciate it when the kids just jumped right in when I called out...GROUP PHOTO! They got quite good at organizing themselves very quickly.
In the background you see the University of Glasgow again. 

Look behind the beautiful ladies and you will see "the statue"...far in the background is the Kelvingrove Museum (the one that reminds me of our Smithsonian Museums). Because there was a path, it drew us in!

I can't seem to get the famous statue to rotate, but this is the statue William Thomson, Lord Kelvin. You likely recognize him by the academic robes of Cambridge University. He has his notebook and pen in hand, has his mariner's compass, and his navigation sound machine is at his back. He is remembered here because he entered the University of Glasgow at age 10. By the time he completed his advanced studies at Cambridge, he returned to become the Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow U at ....age 22!   You probably recall him from science classes, however, for he is the guy who proposed the Kelvin scale (for temperature), the Second Law of Thermodynamics, registered over 50 patents, and recorded over 600 academic papers. Whew! That was one busy scientist! (and like me, you did remember all of his accomplishments, didn't  you?)

Scotland is full of statues. They memorialize people for all kinds of things. So guess this one. His name is Lister. Hints: He is wearing his academic robes and was the Professor of Surgery at University of Glasgow. He is most known for his work with antiseptics which was a serious help since plagues and disease of all sort were rampant in his time. Did you make the association with "Listerene"....gargle gargle.

River rising. Remember the heavy rains from the previous three days? The River Kelvin is generally a rather small brook-like thing. Not so on this morning. The current was swift and the water was near the top of the banks. I quite imagine that it was cold as well! Look at the towers in the background.

Look! The fashionistas are awake! When we were not pulling darts out of the downed ladies, they were often found posing for the photographers.

Zoomed in view of the Museum. It is a red sandstone building in the Hispanic Baroque style with flamboyant pinnacled and domed towers. (Well, that is how the guidebook describes it! It fooled me!)

Next up....personality! When kids discover a trail, they are bound to try to follow it til the end. They did not make it acres and acres into the gardens, but they had a great time of discovery as evidenced by many of their photos.

The guidebook calls this statue "The Psalmist." It is supposedly a favorite of the Tree Lovers Society, since it is carved from a fallen tree.

SELF Portraits! 

OK Kiddos, it is time to come home! Back to the bus!

So, the thought for today is this....do you look right out the window each day and put one foot in front of the other and just follow your routine?  OR....do you see a path and wonder where it will take you? Do you take time to smell the roses along the way, to savor the little things that God puts in your path? It might be the strength of a rushing river, swelling to the top of its banks (don't get too close though!), or it might be a fallen tree trunk that someone creatively turned into art, or as I saw in the many photos I did not post, the tiny flowers growing between the cobblestones, the beauty of the bare branches of the trees, the shadows of students admiring the memorial of a person who lived long ago.....The kids saw a lot of these things. They observed the world around them and embraced it. They followed the path to see where God would lead them. I hope they do this for the entirety of their life!
Blessings!

Building...for now, or for Eternity?

Glasgow...we made it into the city center before the shops began to open. A driving tour is the best way to initially see a new city, though it does not exactly give you your bearings without a good map! We did not have time to walk all of Glasgow, so photos from the bus and from a few times when we got off the bus, will have to suffice. Glasgow is definitely a place worthy of a return visit though!     For a little history, it is worth noting that this city grew like crazy during the Industrial Revolution, as most large cities did At one time it was known as "The Second City of The Empire" meaning that it was second after London. While industry has changed over the centuries, with banking being huge in Glasgow (ever heard of the Royal Bank of Scotland?) it is a very vibrant city. The architecture ranges from many centuries old to the very new.

     

This is the Museum of Modern Art which started as a town home in centuries past and has been renovated over the years. The tower on top was added as were the Corinthian Columns on the front. The statue is the Duke of Wellington. (You find these statues a lot in the UK!)

You will see more of this later, but it is Glasgow University located near Kelvingrove Park

I am pretty sure this was the original train station. Check out that clock!

This cute little building is now the Tourist Information Center. I love the way they saved the old buildings and found practical new uses for them. So much better than demolition of a great history!

This is another Art Museum and I would best describe it as the Scottish version of our Smithsonian museums. Practically everything from Scottish history can be found here.

I had this one in here for a good reason. I seem to have forgotten the reason. A lot of these buildings are red sandstone.

This is the OLDEST medieval building in Scotland, right here in Glasgow. They try to keep it clean but it is constructed of sandstone, which is soft, so that is a chore. It has a nice charm to it. We did not get to go inside the Provand's Lordship, but it is near the Glasgow Cathedral which you will see later. This was built in 1471 and was originally a part of St. Nicholas' Hospital.

I do recall a story about these cranes but this photo was important to someone, so I thought I would post it. Glasgow is an ever growing city and still has the largest population in Scotland.

I could do an entire blog on the Bridges of the River Clyde. There is even a Historical Trail that leads you to each and every one of them. This is a fairly new bridge and they are really into suspension bridges in Scotland...and strange ones at that. This one is unique because you are looking at one span, one arc. It starts on one side of the highway and ends on the other so the suspension cables are pretty interesting. Someone in our group took the top photo, but I snagged the second photo from the Glasgow site because we did not get to see the bridge at night and I thought it was pretty incredible. While I love people, I also love architecture and though math and physics don't come naturally to me, I find the physics of this stuff just fascinating! I hope the kids got the value from it too!

This is called the Second Rotounda, because there must be a first one somewhere. It is not really often that you see circular building so they are pretty unique when you find a good one. It is nice that they are saving it.

Because I ran across quite a number of versions of this shot, I picked the best one and figured it was worthy of posting because CLEARLY the kids found it quite fascinating. I am guessing those are not Fords in the parking lot.

This was a short post but I thought you might like a quick tour through the city. We did make a couple of stops where we were able to get out and stretch, snack, stretch, eat....we did a lot of that and the kids enjoyed it EVERY time!

Buildings as you know are things and really don't have the eternal value that souls do, but they are interesting to study at any rate. It is particularly interesting to see buildings that have stood the test of time and have lasted over the centuries. This makes them special because they have been here so long, but it makes them really special if things of eternal value take place, or took place, within those walls. You will get to see some of those types of buildings along the way.

For today, maybe it would be good to consider and evaluate what we are building in our own lifetimes. What are we investing in? Do we spend all of our time and money on things that will rust, wear out, and just deteriorate in a landfill....or do we spend a significant part of our time building for the Kingdom? It is something we all should continually evaluate because we never really 'get there' do we? Hopefully this trip is/was a real growing experience for the young people involved, and for all of those who are following the blog. As for me, I try to invest in things that have something happening for the Kingdom, whether it is a building project at church, or the creation and continuation of a unique school like TMA where The Master is the really important thing. Admitedly, it is very hard to stay on task, especially when I spend too much time near the Apple store....but things that involve the Word of God and the Souls of Men are really the only things that will survive into eternity.  Just a little food for thought for myself today!

Blessings!

Off to Glasgow - Detours are not always a bad thing.

Though most of us were ready for some real sleep, we became fully awake when we were met with the cool, brisk...no, frigid, blustery, Glasgow morning air. The short walk to the bus felt a bit longer than short and the residue from the rains of the past few days was still puddling along the curbs and in the 'car park' potholes. The bus was a welcome sight!

Loaded up and warming up, students and their daybags were quickly on the bus. We met Davey, a true Scot, and our delightful bus driver. The kids warm up to new people quite quickly which makes a trip that much more fun!

Terry, who probably thought we would NEVER arrive, was happy to get the day moving along. We dropped him at the airport 'Holiday Inn Express" (Does that sound funny to anyone?) to pick up his bag and while we waited, we had our first experience with the airport security. The guard was gracious however, and let the bus remain parked at the curb for Terry's quick run in and back out. I guess we see the same thing at the Orlando Airport where they monitor traffic at departure and arrival lanes, but we think of it as keeping traffic moving. We are not quite as accustomed to keeping vehicles out because of what they might be carrying. (There was no danger, but evidently Glasgow experienced a car bomb a few years ago)

Since our morning was a 'flex time' schedule, we were not sure what to expect but it turned out that Terry had a full day ahead for us and even let us see a good bit of Glasgow. (Flex time, because you have to expect that the flights will be delayed, so we made no promises for Glasgow sightseeing.) We were thankful that God gave us a nice tailwind coming across the Atlantic, so even though we arrived early and had a fair amount of wait time for the changing of our 'fashionistas'....we still had quite the early start. Nothing opens in Glasgow til 10 AM, so we were not sure what we would actually see. Departure from the airport was around 9 AM (or for those in the US...about 4 AM in your snuggly beds!)

The bus had massive windows, great for sightseeing and photography, tables for four, and a few backward facing seats. (It takes someone with a 'strong constitution' to sit in a backward facing seat!) It also had a nice intercom so EVERYONE could hear Terry! (unless they were sleeping, of course!...day sleeping...what a WASTE of a great trip!)


Leaving the airport was quite a trip! We passed through the airport about twice after we left. It is funny the way a lot of the journals indicated that Davey was lost, but actually, he was continually encountering detours due to the flooding and trees blocking roads. It would be as if the exit to SR 417 were detoured back though the airport and then through SR 436 to Underhill and back to SR 417. Crazy, but we get that stuff during hurricanes, and what they had just experienced in the previous few days had been hurricane force wind and rains. But it was ok, because it was still VERY early!

We got to see a bit of the country side before getting into Glasgow, but I will lump all of those photos together. 

The kids kept asking about schools. We saw a few but only captured a few shots from the road. The school has children already at recess! School goes until around 4 PM. 

Lovingly known as THE ARMADILLO, this is the Clyde Auditorium. It is located right beside the River Clyde, which is the main transport thoroughfare that runs through Glasgow, making it such an important city. It does not show here, but the building is shiny and silver!

*****

Detours often lead you to the most remarkable places. Spencer had mentioned to me throughout the planning time that he was so excited to go to Scotland because of his ancestry. He did not tell me until right before the trip that they were from an area called Renfrewshire. This is located about six miles west, just outside of Glasgow, which is in the central Lowlands. I thought it was so neat that we were actually in the AREA of his ancestry! Now...take a look at the photos below

Formerly known as Renfrewshire, the town is now known as Renfrew and our detour took us right through it!

Many of us tried our best to get some great shots, but from a moving bus, you get a lot of movement that was not intended! We saw a lot of things with the name of Renfrew though.

Minus the graffiti, the photo would have been a bit better, but this was one of many Renfrew roads, streets, or lanes!

I did find that there is something else special about good ole "Renfrewshire." Far back in history, the area was known as "The Cradle of the Royal Stewarts."  In 1397 it became the County Town of Renfrewshire. The CURRENT Barrow of Renfew is His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay. (back in Jolly olde England, His Royal Highness is more often referred to as The Duke of Wales)   Evidently the family is still a large landowner!

And of course, you want to know more!
The History of Renfrew by J.A. Dunn
www.Renfrewshire.gov. uk

I guess the message here is that you can plan your day, but if you leave God in charge of where you are going, you might just get some really swell surprises! Spencer may or may not descend from British Royalty, but he is a child of the only King who really counts!  It really pays to be flexible when you travel because you just never ever know what God has in store for your day!

Blessings!