Wednesday, July 10, 2019. Second Full Day In Glasgow. The Modern Art Museum And The Cathedral

After a good nights sleep last night and a full English breakfast this morning, I hit the road at about 9:30 AM to continue my exploration of Glasgow. My first stop was the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art.

I am not a big fan of “modern” art. I don’t really know what “modern” art is, but I know I don’t like it. They say ignorance is bliss and I have been pretty blissful about “modern” art all my life. Well, I thought I would give Glasgow “modern” art a try. What do I have to lose.

Right away I ran across one of those iconic Andy Warhol soup can paintings. Did you know that he did one of these paintings for every soup that Campbell’s produced, 32 in all. Andy had the same lunch for most of his adult life, a bowl of Campbell’s soup. Campbell’s was going to sue him for displaying and selling these paintings without licensing the image. But they quickly realized that they were getting millions of dollars of free publicity out of these wildly popular paintings and instead of suing Andy, they sent him a couple of cases of soup.

The GoMA wasn’t half bad and I actually liked some of the “modern” art. I need to keep a more open mind on art and experience it before I say I don’t like it. Modern art is kinda like sushi 🍣. Don’t say you don’t like it if you haven’t even tried it.

After I completed my tour of the GoMA, I decided to take a break in George Square.

The guy on top of the pedestal on the right hand side of the picture is Sir Walter Scott. He was a Scottish born poet, playwright, historian, and the inventor and of the genre of books we now call the historical novel.

As I was sitting on a bench in George Square I couldn’t help but notice that this was a popular place for people to sit and feed the flocks of resident pigeons. I also noticed that while the pigeons were fighting over the breadcrumbs thrown to them by the kids and old people hanging around the Square, a flock of seagulls were dive bombing and attacking the pigeons. Alfred Hitchcock could film a sequel to his movie classic, The Birds, in George Square.

I spotted this letter to the editor in a local newspaper outlining the problem and a potential solution.

Hey Lizzie, how stupid are you? First off, pigeons are nothing more than rats with wings. Haven’t you noticed the white blotches all over the monuments and benches in George Square? The pigeons, and the people who feed the pigeons, are responsible for this mess. You are outraged that the seagulls are attacking, killing and eating the pigeons in the Square. Stop feeding the pigeons and they will stop hanging around the Square and maybe they will find a safer spot to eat their meals. With your breadcrumbs you are luring the pigeons into the Square and creating a veritable pigeon buffet for the seagulls.

Do you really think that putting a few hawks in the Square would eliminate the seagull menace? Lizzie, do you know anything about hawks? Do you really think the hawks would eat the seagulls and would not attack the pigeons. Why would the hawks take on a large combative sea gull when they can feast on pigeons who are satiated, plump and slow to react from all the breadcrumbs you have been feeding them? The hawks would just team up with the seagulls and it would be a pigeon bloodbath in the Square! Hey Lizzie, what were you thinking?

In America we would exercise our Second Amendment right to bear arms, grab our shotguns and a box of shells, and head down to the Square and shoot the seagulls. Seagull problem solved. But without the seagulls to control the pigeon population you would wind up with a Square overrun with pigeons and completely befouled by their noxious droppings. Then you could round up the pigeons and ship them over to Spain where they would wind up as chicken on the dinner plates of unsuspecting pilgrims on the Camino. Pigeon problem solved. I just might write my own letter to the editor.

I got tired of watching the seagulls attacking the pigeons in George Square and decided to walk over to Greggs for lunch.

Kelly highly recommended this chain of Scottish bakeries. In particular she said the chicken bake was to die for.

The chicken bake did indeed look good and the price was right. Unfortunately, when I ordered one, the young man behind the counter told me I would need to warm it up before I eat it. I asked him to pop it in the microwave for a few minutes to warm it up. He replied, rather sheepishly, that he was not “authorized” to operate the microwave. Nobody in the store was “authorized” to operate the microwave. Getting “authorized” to operate a microwave must be a pretty big deal in Scotland. I didn’t want to make a scene over a cold chicken bake so I decided to order a couple of chocolate chip cookies for lunch instead. 🍪 🍪

After lunch I hiked over to the Glasgow Cathedral.

They also call this the Cathedral of St. Mungo. St. Mungo? I attended St. Joseph’s Catholic School for 8 years and I was an altar boy for 5 years and somewhere along the line we had to memorize the names of all the saints, and I have never heard of St. Mungo. Did the Scotts make up this saint?

The Cathedral was started in 1200 as a Catholic cathedral and the Protestants took over in 1560.

As I entered the Cathedral Abe and St. Christopher spotted this candle stand and ordered me to light a candle and we all said a prayer for Anna, Mary and her family, Jay and his family and Wiley and his family.

This is the view from the entrance of the Cathedral.

This is a view of the Cathedral from behind the High Altar. Notice the two huge pipe organs.

Behind the High Altar there is a small chapel dedicated to St. James. I stopped and we said a prayer for our upcoming Camino.

This gives you an idea of what the Scotts thought about the Irish battle for independence.

In the basement of the Cathedral there was a prayer station where you could write on a card the names of the people you want the church deacons to include in their daily prayers.

I got a couple of cards and wrote down the names of everyone on my daily prayer list and put the cards in the deacon’s box. What a peaceful place to pray and reflect.

After we finished touring the Cathedral we went for a walk around the Glasgow Necropolis, next to the Cathedral.

The Necropolis was on a hill with a great view over the city.

This is my favorite headstone.

Being the self styled Laureate of the Nursery is a big deal and Wee Willie Winkie is a classic children’s book. I loved to read bedtime stories to Sara and Dana.

As I walked back to my hotel I decided to have an early dinner.

This is a mouth watering chicken curry I got at a fast food rice bowl joint. Yum!

I hope everyone had a great Wednesday.

Goodnight from Glasgow.