Lioness Among Lions

And we're back!
As I was updating, my computer decided to up and die. I'm very lazy and it took me this long to recover the photos from my memory card. Here we are.

Actual birthday in Glasgow!!

While wandering around the night before, I'd found a Tim Horton's. I was vaguely aware one existed here - and it makes sense, given how many Canadians come here for school - but I also vaguely recall being told it is closed. Turns out, it was open! And the Scot working behind the counter was friendly and helpful enough to be a Canadian. She gave me excellent directions and was very kind about my confusion.

Glasgow is home to a building designed by Zaha Hadid. I have long admired her work and sought it out. I had a near hit in Hong Kong and I wasn't going to let it slip away. What a perfect adventure on my actual birthday!

Following the directions from Google Maps, I took the train in to the central station. After that, Google Maps abandoned me. This ended up being my good fortune, however, as a wrong turn lead me to another Tims! So my birthday breakfast was a double double and a donut as one does.

This is a Rudolph donut, obviously. A Boston Cream with a red timbit nose. It was gooey and delicious and perfect.

I asked for directions to the necessary next step from a very nice police officer. She called her cohort over just so they could hear my accent (and hear me apologise about 20 times for taking up their important time with my silly directions question).

Glasgow has a unique subway system. It has two lines; one that runs clockwise and one that runs anti-clockwise. It is also orange. This has lead to the nickname "Clockwork Orange". It is very easy to navigate! The trains themselves are very small; narrow and low. I am not a tall human and I almost felt like I had to duck.

I took the subway to the Riverside Museum.

This museum was designed by Zaha Hadid. I finally did it!
The building itself is remarkable. It is roughly Z shaped and clad in zinc. It connects the city to the rivers Clyde and Kelvin. There are no internal supports, and the shape of the interior ceiling is the same as the exterior roof. It is very spacious on the inside! The set up flows very well. It honestly took my breath away when I first set my eyes on it. Zaha Hadid was an amazing architect.

The museum is dedicated to all things transportation. There is a piece of the plane from Lockerbie there, and a running track of ships that historically traversed the Rivers Clyde and Kelvin. There is even a turn of the century Glasgow cityscape to scale. I wish I hadn't slept in so I could have spent more time here. I also wish I took pictures inside.

After my time here, I met my cousins!
Karen, Danielle, Kieran, and Jayden are on the Hood side - mom's mom.
Let me tell you, there is no mistaking Hoods! The resemblance was instant and uncanny.

We went to dinner at a mall. Inside the mall was a giant slide for the kiddos (and for adults too if we were so inclined). There was also a climbing park! This wasn't like a West Edmonton Mall kind of place, it just happened to have these things.

It also had a ski hill.
Inside the mall.
With a chairlift and everything.

Seriously. A ski hill. And an instant resemblance. It wasn't all that cold and it smelled like ozone.

Dinner was excellent. It was great to meet people I'm related to! Karen, Danielle, Kieran and Jayden are awesome. I tried Irn Bru. It tasted.....well, it tasted. I'm glad I tried it, but I won't seek it out.

We made a rough plan to go to Loch Lomond the next day.