Second Scotland Post

I won't tell you about the conference I was attending in Scotland (yawn for you readers), but instead the small break my co-worker and I found to slip away to visit the Glasgow School of Art, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. (He's sort of like Scotland's Frank Lloyd Wright.) I realized I was taking my knowledge of the school for granted while touring it with my pharmacy-trained co-worker, who wasn't exactly sure why I'd taken her there but readily came to learn. (It was the very top of my list for a visit while in Glasgow.)

We had a very personal tour from one of the school's students, being the only two people with tickets to the 11 o'clock visit. I was very impressed by the details Charles Rennie Mackintosh put into the school's design, with stained glass windows in the doors and nooks in the doorframes to hold vases of flowers. The building shows its wear as a working art school, with paint smudges on the walls and banged up wooden doors. It would look even more beautiful, if fully cleaned up. (I'm told they are working on a restoration scheduled to be completed in 2010 - coincidentally the next time my conference comes back to Glasgow.)

The routine of not being able to sleep every night continued when I was trying to drift off to sleep one night, but my nose smelled smoke. After checking the hallway for signs of smoke, I looked out the window and saw this. I was glad to read in the next day's paper that it was an abandoned school building, so no one was reported hurt.

Here are few more photos from Scotland.
This is the art school again:
This is the thistle (purple, thorny flower), which I was glad to see in person in the hotel lobby, since it's all over Scottish souvenirs and trinkets.


I returned home Friday night, glad to be in my own bed instead of the twin bed of my hotel room. And I understand what people in stores and restaurants are telling me once again. The Scottish accent is a tricky one!

Although, maybe the rain of Glasgow is preferable to the Chicago snow outside of my window tonight.