Transported

The narration on the Hop-on Hop-off bus had informed us that the Riverside Museum had been named "European Museum of the Year" in 2013 so with that in mind, we caught the train at Dalmarnock to the Partick Station. Leaving the flat the change in weather was quite a shock. The temperature had plummeted to about 29°. When the wind blew it was absolutely frigid but we made the best of it. Leaving the Partick train station I found more street art.

Mark Worst's "Local Nature mural:

Merlin, also by Mark Worst:

This mural is of Lobey Dosser, a fictional sheriff from the fictional town of Carlton Creek, Arizona created by Scottish cartoonist Bud Neill. Lobey Dosser is most well-known for riding a two-legged horse named "El Fideldo". He's a beloved character in Scottish pop culture.

From the station we walked along the Clyde river (brrrrr!) to the Riverside Museum.

If I had done a bit more research I wouldn't have been as surprised as I was to find that Riverside is basically a museum of transport. That said, it was quite interesting to see all the various means of transportation represented in historical context.

Public transport was well represented, from old trolleys

with the seal of Glasgow (that's St. Mungo on top)

to the last generation of trams (aka The Clockwork Orange),

to various old buses.

There was a wall of cars

and bicycles everywhere.

And recalling my past, there were lots of models of ships, particularly cruise ships.

There was a wonderful short film about about shipbuilding on the River Clyde. Glasgow was the shipbuilding capital of the world for 250 years, so much so that the term 'Clydebuilt' was synonymous with high quality craft across the globe. The film included footage of how ships were launched. The ships sat on slipways, giant wooden ramps, and were held in place by what was essentially giant wooden blocks. When a ship was ready for launching, the slipways would be greased then the wooden blocks would be chopped up, allowing gravity to propel the ship down the slipway into the water. The footage was really quite dramatic.

For me, one of the most interesting parts of the museum was a recreation of a 1920s street.

The street had a pub, of course

a pawnbroker,

and a photography studio.

Quite an interesting place - probably more so if you were from Glasgow.

We hopped a bus back to town and Bruce left for a pub crawl. I walked through town and found an old shopping arcade on Argyle street. I love these old glass-topped arcades. Even when they're filled with unappealing shops there's something so magical about them. This one was filled with jewelry shops - nothing but high end jewelry shops. Are there that many Glaswegians with that much money? Wow.

It was so cold outside, I decided to cut my wander short and head back to the flat. On the way to the bus stop I passed the Glasgow WinterFest, but resisted the temptation to stop for sausages and mulled wine. (Not that much of a temptation, to tell the truth.)