Travel Blog – Day 4

Apologies for the hiatus, internet coverage has been a bit of a hassle and then my conservation conference began, dividing my attention. Let me finish off the last few days before the start of the conference:

The Glasgow Subway is the 3rd oldest in the world. It was completed in 1896. The book (and later the movie) “A Clockwork Orange” supposedly gave the subway system the nickname, due to the circular route of the system and that the cars and stations have plenty of orange.

For 1 ½ pounds, one can ride the system to the various sections of the City. I decided I needed to check it out. The unique aspect of the system is the height of the cars. I had to duck to get in, but after I sat down the dimensions were not an issue. Within a few minutes I was back on the west end. I wandered over to Glasgow University to check out the Campus.

I had to take a few close-up photos of the unique operable windows. I love metal windows.

I walked by the McMillan reading room, designed by T. Harold Hughes and David Stark Reid Waugh, was built in the 1930s.

Again more great metal windows.

Walking by the row homes adjacent to the campus, I was captivated by all the fantastic blossoming trees. It has been such a perfect time to be here.

My next stop was the Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

The Kibble Palace was relocated to the grounds in 1872 from the home of John Kibble. John Kibble seems like a fantastically interesting character.

The son of a metal and wire merchant, Kibble was born into a great deal of wealth. However he was an inventor and entrepreneur. His first claim to fame was the retailing of zebra shawls for women. Queen Victoria wore a zebra shawl, making them all the rage.

Later Kibble invented one of the biggest cameras in the world; with a 13 inch diameter lens, it was so large it had to be transported on a horse-drawn cart. From the camera, negative plates measuring 44 x 36 inches could be created. After the Palace was relocated to the gardens, Kibble commissioned an adjacent building where he projected his large scale slides for the public.

Another of his unique sounding inventions was the aquatic velocipede, a bicycle fitted with flotation and paddle wheels. He apparently cycled across Loch Long. What an interesting fellow.

As a last stop of the day I popped in at Kelvin Hall to check out the National Library of Scotlands’ Moving Image Archive. It serves as a location for research, but there is a fun informational area with some history and examples of some of their collections.

This was the view down to the Kelvingrove Museum from Glasgow University.