Today was our one full day in Glasgow. As mentioned before, it’s more of a recharging stop than anything else. Our hotel, the disappointing Express by Holiday Inn, was conveniently located next to the St. Enochs Shopping Centre, and the Arglye Street shopping district – as Glasgow is the second largest shopping city in the UK, next to London. So we went shopping. First stop St. Enochs, which is pretty much like any shopping mall. You have your anchor stores, and a bunch of smaller stores and a food court (billed as the largest food court in Glasgow, it’s laughable in comparison to our main mall in Santa Clara: Valley Fair.) We flitted from shop to shop, until Ken just ran completely out of steam – which resulted in a stop at a bakery/cafe that was near (but not in) the afore mentioned food court. After we recharged, we continued around the centre, especially the two anchor stores, until we ran out of shops.

 We then returned to our hotel (with a couple stops in Pound stores) to get caught up on some of the mundane tasks (like the accounting…) until boredom had set, and we just needed to go out again. we went back up to Argyle Street, and wandered about until we ended up in the Woolworth’s. First of all, we used to have Woolworth’s in the US – so it was a must for us. Once in, we knew it was fate. The store had all sorts of items that we loved (well, Shaun the Sheep and Doctor Who stuff…) So much, that we ended up with multiple bags of things for ourselves and friends back home…

Part of our second journey out into Glasgow was to do a reconnaissance of Glasgow Central train station, which we accomplished. We found the best access to the main platforms, and where the customer lounge was (sadly, no first class lounge at this station.) Also, we might be inclined to stay at the hotel attached to the station if ever we’re in Glasgow again. But today, the station seemed to be full of fans of either the Scottish or Croation Rugby teams (Ken being a significant chunk of Scots and Croat ancestry didn’t care about split loyalties, as he’s just not that into sports – plus the match was a draw at 1 all…)

 We continued some shopping, both in the station and again on the high street, before dropping off our acquisitions in our room and heading for dinner. The previous night we were too late for the adjacent restaurants, so for tonight we had made note of the serving hours of an Italian eatery next to our hotel. The name of the restaurant is in a bit of contention, as the name on the door (something involving Mama) didn’t match the name on the receipt (Planet Uno.) The food was excellent, but the decor was spectacular. The central piece being a giant mosaic mirror ball of the Earth. We sat next to a picture of Neptune (not the other one that comics like to use) through a kind of port hole. The manager was an Italian-Glaswegian, who had lived in San Jose whilst working in San Francisco for three years. Small (but shiny) world…

Well, it’s back to the hotel for a bit of relaxing and sleeping. Tomorrow’s an other big travel day, as we head to Wales and Portmeirion…