Last Friday was the first chance I got to experience Glasgow's live music scene! There are venues all over the city, and one that it pretty well known is King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut. A rather amusing name, which sounds as if the place would be Egyptian-themed or something- not at all actually! Just your typical Scottish pub inside, and then upstairs is the stage area and another bar.
 |
| My friend Shannon and I at the concert! |
The headline band was called Azure Ray, a very mellow and chilled out band. Beautiful blending, and I enjoyed them, but I also got the feeling that I would get depressed and sleepy if I listened to them for too long... My favorite part of the evening wasn't the main band, but this solo guy who goes by the unorthodox name of Beerjacket. Bizarre you say? I totally agree. However, he was amazing live! It was just him playing guitar and doing rhythm with a foot pedal, but he produced this amazing, full sound. He reminded me a bit of Jason Mraz...
You can listen to this video, but not see anything- it's Beerjacket
I also visited the Glasgow Botanical Gardens last Friday! They are ridiculously close to where I live, maybe a 10 minute walk, so I have no excuse not to go more. The Gardens are comprised of pretty extensive grounds, and then several greenhouses. The fact that is was windy and pouring rain when I went meant I headed straight inside! It's amazing how a simple glass building can create another world, and a considerably warmer one too. The Gardens are amazingly peaceful too- all you hear is the tinkling and gurgling sound of the fountain, footsteps and whispered voices. Because they have benches all over, you can easily just come and bring your reading or other work to do, surrounded by beautiful flowers- not a bad idea. Needless to say, I plan on going back just to explore and read for class!
 |
| The first area in the palace, with the main fountain on the right |
The other adventure this weekend was.... visiting England for the first time! Because I flew in straight to Glasgow International, I had never touched English soil, and so going to Newcastle with the International Society was my first chance! It wasn't too long a drive by bus, maybe 2 or 3 hours, and then we had plenty of time to just explore the city. There are a lot of Scots in Newcastle (surprise, surprise, it being only 3 hours away!) so there was quite the mix of Scottish and English accents. The city is lovely, some incredible architecture on the famous Grey Street, and down by the River Tyne.
My friend Charlotte and I literally just wandered about the city. We had a map in case we got lost, but with only a vague plan in our heads on priorities, we just explored! Going into shops when we pleased (it still feels very wrong to go into and H&M here...), walking along the streets and stopping in a café and random Photo Gallery. The gallery was on a Jewish Ghetto in WWII, and had some incredibly powerful images of Ghetto life. It's absolutely amazing that these people could go through such horrors and still laugh, smile and go on with their life as best they could.
While walking the streets, we also go to witness a great impromptu hip-hop dance performance by a couple of kids dancing to this guy playing bass in the street. I couldn't resist catching a bit on video, so here you go (ignore my random voice comments)!
A special note should me mentioned about the bridges. There are roughly... a hundred bridges over the Tyne. Okay maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but look for yourself, you can see one after another, all different designs and colors!
 |
| Really neat iron work on the lanterns! |
 |
| Grey Street! |
 |
| 101 bridges- or at least 4 are going on here |
 |
| At first we had no idea what this building is and it kinda looked like a slug. Turns out it's an incredible Concert hall called "The Sage Gateshead" We explored inside a bit too! |
 |
| The Millennium Bride- this is what we walked over to get to the Baltic Art Gallery, only to discover only 2 floors were open.. |
 |
| The new Castle of Newcastle! |
 |
| I cracked up when I saw this sign. Still don't know why it was there. |
All in all, a fun trip! We went to this random place called Holy Island for a bit the next day, but it was rather miserable and pouring all day, so after a quick walk to the Castle and exploration of an old church ruin, we went into a pub to get slightly dry and eat lunch. I got a this delicious panini and home-made carrot soup!
I was extremely American on Sunday- and yes I did watch the Super Bowl! Slightly different crowd though- Wisconsinites, Aussies, Canadians and Austrians, which made it really fun.
This week is back to real school, as I actually have a lot of work to do- French studying and getting started on essays. It's so easy to forget about work here, but it also has to be done! Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment