Shopping in the Shopping Capitol of Scotland

Today I got to visit the lovely city of Glasgow, which is Scotland's largest city. It is also considered the shopping capitol of Scotland, so of course it is a great place to go spend a lot of money! But really.

So this city is slightly strange, in the fact that there is very old-style architecture throughout the city, but also very modern architecture. It's quite fascinating really. I decided Glasgow reminds me of a larger Chicago, minus all the very tall, modern skyscrapers. Everything was also more spread out than Chicago. You never really felt closed in. That, combined with all the outdoor bars in the middle of the streets, sets Glasgow apart from Chicago.

Glasgow seems like a really fun, interesting, and lively city. It would probably be beneficial to spend more than just a few hours there - it would take more than a few hours to find all the Starbucks in Glasgow - but it is really busy at the moment. The Commonwealth Games kicked off last night, and this year they are being held in Glasgow. For those who don't know, the Commonwealth Games are like the Olympics, but only for the commonwealth states to compete in. For those who don't know what states are the commonwealth, they are basically whoever recognizes or follows the Queen of England. So places like Scotland, England, Canada, etc. Apparently these games are a really big deal for everyone here, so Glasgow was filled with people. I was sitting in a nice little square, listening to the seemingly ever-present bagpipes in the background, and I thought that there was about the same number of people in that one square as the population of Mount Pleasant, minus the college students. And Glasgow is huge. Not as huge as London though, with it's approximately 8 million people. But it is still a pretty big place.

Today was a very lovely day. It was extremely warm, by Scotland's standards, so it was around 77 degrees I believe. And sunny. Very, very sunny. It was a great day to just walk around a city. I might go back to Glasgow, but the only things to do there are shop and go to art museums. I already did the shopping, and I don't have a great desire to go to art museums. I would much rather go to Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland, where there is always lots to see and lots to do. But we will see about Edinburgh this weekend. Until next time...