We've spent a lot of our time before school starts doing touristy things, which essentially boils down to going to every museum we possibly can as there are lots around here and many are free. Over the last couple of days we've gone to four museums! Walking everywhere is getting easier. In the beginning my feet hurt so badly by the end of the day that I could barely walk on them. However, I find myself not worrying about how achy my feet are now. I feel like there are three stages to breaking your feet in to heavy everyday walking. These are the stages from my feet's perspective:
Stage 1 - Confusion: Okay, this is new...we're...walking a lot today. This is probably just a one day thing, right? Right? I don't know, man...I don't know.
Stage 2 - Panic: Okay, this is like, the third day of A LOT of walking!! Time to panic! Time to bring out the big guns to get this girl to slow the hell down! Bring on the PAIN! She'll stop if we make it painful, right?!
Stage 3 - Acceptance: It has been a week of this nonsense, i have come to terms with my new life and have chosen to stop fighting it. C'est la vie.
Anyways, on to the museums!
The Hunterian Museums
The Hunterian Museum is inside the main building on campus and is said to be the oldest museum in Scotland. It was one of my favorite museums (aside from Kelvingrove Museum) and displayed many archaeological, anatomical, and historical exhibits. We, again, were super lucky to show up when we did, as we were able to catch a presentation by one of the museum's geology curator's (I wish I would have caught his name). The presentation was about, what he claimed, was the world's oldest rock and all his supporting evidence. It really was fascinating, and a lot of it went over my head. Cheers to all the geologists out there, it sounds complicated. Anyways, we got to hold and touch said rock, which was filled with garnets!
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is located in Glasgow's city centre. I don't know about other people's opinions, but i found it super disappointing. My favorite exhibit was the one that was cancelled! It was just a giant open room with 'cancelled' posters on all the windows. Part of me wonders if it was an art exhibit in hiding, but who knows. My other favorite thing was a window for one of the lifts (elevators), which is pretty sad. Maybe i'm just dense when it comes to modern art? Most of the galleries were sparsely filled and most of the art seemed like anyone could do it. I don't know. I was glad it was free and we didn't spend much time there.
The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is Scotland's Centre for Design and Architecture. I don't know the first thing about architecture, but I still find it interesting and fun to look at. It was a six story building with a 'lighthouse' type lookout near the top. We had to climb a spiral staircase for several floors to reach the top, but it was well worth the beautiful views.
Glasgow Science Center
Finally, the Glasgow Science Centre has been one of my favorites. It wasn't free, but it was worth the £12 pounds we spent there to gain access to the 'Science Mall', several stories of interactive exhibits, and a 35 minute journey through space at the Planetarium show. We spent roughly an hour on each of the 3 floors as each level was filled with fun exhibits to play with. I'd definitely recommend this museum to those traveling through the area. It also houses an IMAX theatre that we might visit on another day.