The Kelvingrove Art Gallery of Glasgow

In the middle of urban and industrial Glasgow Scotland sits the Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Glasgow is the heart of Scottish commerce with the largest economy in Scotland and the largest city, by population. Glasgow is the third largest city in the UK and is home to many colleges and universities. Glasgow is very modern and while you can find some charm, I wouldn’t call it a pretty city. Its urban and fast moving with wastepaper blowing around at you on the streets.

Amidst the steel and concrete, you’ll find some charming older buildings and churches with architecture from another time, and the Kelvingrove building is one of these, built on a lovely plot of grass amidst the concrete and towers of steel.

Inside, you’ll find the Floating Head installation by Sophie Cave which, if you’ve seen photos of the museum, you’ve probably seen. The floating heads wear multiple expressions and mingle with lights and dance with chandeliers and each other.

There’s a nice collection of French artists, a collection of golden age paintings by Dutch artists and a great collection of Scottish colorists. At 1pm daily (3pm on Sundays) you can accompany your visit with an organ concert. If you’re in Glasgow, add Kelvingrove to the top of your list of things to do.

I also went for a whiskey and chocolate tasting at the Clydeside Distillery. Clydeside is built on the landfilled area which used to house a major quay for the export of whiskey internationally and the required precursor to the shipment, the tax collection. If the taxes weren’t paid, the boat didn’t make it out of the quay. I’m not all that super interested in seeing vats of mash and listening to the process of distilling, though I did find it interesting at the Jack Daniels Distillery a couple of decades ago, so I endured the tour for the tasting, which was quite good with interesting chocolate/whiskey pairings.

I walked back to our hotel near George’s Square (the area to stay, in my book), over the highways, among neighborhoods and between skyscrapers with a little whiskey in my jar and taste of chocolate on my tongue and felt I’d done Glasgow justice.

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