Sunday, April 9, 2017

First thoughts on Glasgow, from the evening of my arrival

This city is WAY more beautiful than I thought it would be.....WAY!!!  And seriously rich, in the past and now.  There are tons and tons of amazing buildings.  As my offspring puts it, based on shipping spices, slaves and tobacco.  Well. We can feel good about the spices anyway. 

There continues to be some really amazing architecture being put up too.  It is also bigger than I thought it would be.  Clearly my assumptions about the city weren't accurate.

Flying in though....the Scots are different than the Catalans in one respect anyway, they've cut down every god damned tree for hundreds of kilometers.  Every last one flying in was like a freaking moonscape.  Weird.

The brits do know how to do milk products.  Eating cheddar (how I miss it!) and having double cream in my tea!!!  (Heh, I'm on vacation!!!)

Thoughts on a day in Geneva

Oh, OK, the city is fine, the public transit bus drivers are complete a**holes.  OMG.  'Nuff said.

CERN, super cool, but without a tour, only sorta kinda worth the effort. I'd still love to go on a tour, so someday I'll have to book the tour and then the flights.

Geneva itself, not a lot there, honestly.  Banks, watches and super high end shopping.  Most people were doing shopping with only a few tourists wandering around the old part of town.  I think it must have been one of the very first warm sunny days they've had, cause man, the folks who live there were out in DROVES!

Food, insanely expensive.  8 Swiss francs for a sandwich!!!!  I'll grant, it was a good sandwich, but still.

I was so tired, so so so tired..... I ended up having a nap in a park, along with about 20 other people.  Just lay out on the grass.  That was marvelous.

I can understand quite a lot of French, but remain largely mute.  It was coming back quickly, so I would probably be able to function in a relatively short amount of time, but goodness, the brain is a funny place.


I didn't get to see the following two pictures, you don't get to see that even on a tour, but they had some very impressive images up on the wall.....



These are actual CERN particles!!!


A CERN smile.


Had a nap under this magnolia....


The archaeological museum I wasn't willing to pay to go into.


Neptune, out for a walk.

Finally, there's all that Swiss efficiency, but honestly, a certain lack of information for tourists.  It was all a little confusing, and not just cause I was tired.