a full Glasgow day!

There was so much to this day! So many details that one could spin into wonderful recollections. But of course, time is precious when you travel. The fuller the day, the more bare bones is my story here and that's a shame. But the hope is that a photo and a caption can plant a seed and that the readers may then think about family travel and all that it entails and smile, with perhaps their own recollections of trips they have taken with young ones, or when they themselves were young.

Let's start with the structure of this last full day in Glasgow: the weather is important! We are sliding into an unusually warm spell in northern Europe. Today was still a bit chilly at the outset, but by the end of the afternoon even I shed my sweater.





My occasional breakfast shopping companion is with me today on my morning run to "Whole Foods" and the bakery. At the grocers, I glance over at this bin of Samphire. I had it for the first time for dinner and thought it then to be thin asparagus. Not so! Samphire grows here in coastal salt marshes and it retains the sea's salty taste.






We're here for the fruits and croissants!






(multitasking: reading to one, keeping the other safe...)






Breakfast.






After the morning meal, Sparrow takes his morning nap. Snowdrop and I head for the Kelvingrove Art Museum (passing these views onto the university)...






One set of rooms addresses "being Scottish." What does it even mean? What things do we usually associate with this rugged, northern country? With the islands spilling out to the sea?





Snowdrop and I come up with five things that have very Scottish associations. Some obvious, some not so much...

And then we focus on the museum's paintings. The rooms of French art have places for kids to engage in the art that they see on the wall. Snowdrop approves.






(picking favorites)






(picking a wee souvenir...)






We join with parents and Sparrow at the Paper Cup for lunch.






(and a cup cake from a nearby bakery to take to the park)






At the Botanic Gardens.






Ah, the flowers of late June...






(the cupcake at last!)






foxgloves and views...






Sparrow in the rose garden...






In a meadow of English daisies...







At the playground: fathers and grandfathers...






Two kids, loving to swing very high!






In the afternoon, we separate. Dad takes Sparrow back home (nap time!)...






Mommy, Snowdrop and I go for an afternoon tea at the Willow Tea Rooms. My daughters and I had always loved this sweet custom of afternoon treats, scones and clotted cream. Time to let Snowdrop enjoy it as well...






She is a chocolate fan. Clotted cream over scones? Eh. Deeply chocolate cake? Heaven.











You'd think that after this, we wouldn't have room for dinner. Not so. We walk so much that the appetite returns rather quickly. Here's our final Glasgow eating destination:












The wee one tries a bit of haggis and does not hate it. Such a Scottish lad!






On the walk home, Snowdrop explains that she is dropping a life in Belfast in favor of Glasgow. Who can blame her -- Scotland is bewitching! She tells us her life's plans here -- luckily they include bringing her whole family.






So perhaps this isn't our last time here... Who can tell...