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Saturday 15 December 2012

A little bit of Glasgow

It all started when I looked up Alan’s address in Glasgow on streetmap.co.uk.  He had asked me to accompany him at a dinner one Saturday night about a couple of weekends ago which was why I was looking to see where his flat was.  The Botanic Gardens are not far away from the flat and the area around the entrance appeared on the same map as his place.  “Did you know there’s a disused tunnel under the Botanics?” I wrote in my email to him – and it turned out he did know and what’s more he could show me evidence of it.  I was staying over in Alan’s flat after the Saturday dinner, so on the Sunday we took a stroll over Great Western Road into the Botanic Gardens.  kibble palace I have often driven along the GW Road and noticed the large circular flying saucer roof of the glass house called the Kibble Palace, but this was the first time I had actually been into the gardens.

botanic gardens station A little way along the main path to the glass “Palace” another path goes off to the left, and not far along that path there is another, again on the left, which takes you to the bridge from where you can look down on the former underground railway, and what was once the Botanic Gardens Station.  I suspect there was once a glass roof above the station resting on the concrete ……lintels(?) but down in the bottom of the dip were the old station platforms on either side of the double track bed.  This stretch of line opened in 1896, continued under the Gardens to end at Stobcross on the west of the city, but was closed in 1964.

Well, Alan only recently had an operation on an Achilles tendon, and just two days before had had the stookie  removed  (Stookie is the Scots word for a plaster cast, that derives from the Italian word ‘stucco’ ),  so walking a distance was out of the question.  hot house However, we did a short circular walk, taking in the glass hot house –with some stunning plants on view.  I don’t know their names I’m afraid.orange flowers     

purple flowers

but aren’t they spectacular?glasgow botanics 011

hot house flower 

 

insect catchers

Then there were the insect catchers and these (below) that I titled Yak yak, yak yak, because they looked to me as if they were having a gossip!yak yak yakyak 

We emerged from the glass house and continued to the Kibble Palace, commissioned in the 1860s by John Kibble for his garden on the shores of Loch Long.  the kibble palace

It came to the Botanic Gardens in 1873 as a venue for concerts and exhibitions, but later housed the temperate collection of plants. interior kibble palace It is a beautiful building with its candy-twist pillars and decorative ironwork – all restored about 6 years ago . glasgow botanics kibble palace 

I  just love the curving lines of the place.  There are more interesting plants in here too…glasgow botanics 022

glasgow botanics trumpet flowers

 

glasgow botanics  bottle brush

 

Eve …..and marble statues such as  Eve,king robert of Sicily

and the arrogant king Robert of Sicily from Longfellow’s very long poem of the king’s character-changing dream in which he found himself stripped of his kingly apparel, and his only friend an ape.

Alan We spent quite a bit of time wandering through the various sections of the Palace, before returning to Alan’s.

This is Alan, by the way.

 

Talk again soon.

6 comments:

Peggy Ann said...

Lovely Evee! I love the Yak,yak,yak. Perfect description. Nice to meet you Alan!

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

Thanks Peggy. I like the yak yak photo too. These insect-eating plants are amazing!

Katrina said...

This is our old stamping ground, I love the Glasgow botanics despite it being teeny compared with Edinburgh. It's great that you can walk along by the river almost like being in the country, but the city traffic is above you, unseen.

Evelyn/Ev/Evee said...

I will have to see more of the Glasgow Botanics. I didn't realise there was a river runnng through. I see it's the Kelvin.

Alan McWilliam said...

Thanks for making it to Glasgow Evee. Your blog is great, and you do a fine job with that wee camera!

Alan McWilliam said...

Thanks for making it to Glasgow Evee. Your blog is great, and you do a fine job with that wee camera!