Glasgow: the legendary John Smith & Son Bookshop …
Discover the story of John Smith & Son, Glasgow’s legendary bookshop, and its lasting place in the city’s literary and cultural history.
Continue reading →Tag Archives: Glasgow
Glasgow Necropolis: A Monument to ‘Child Migrants’…
Here fond affection rears its sculpted stone… (from John Henry Alexander’s epitaph – Glasgow Necropolis) “CEMETERIES ARE FOR THE LIVING. Sure, the dead are the permanent residents and the living merely visitors but the Necropolis and every other burying ground in the world were imagined, designed and built for the benefit of other living people. Time, as … Continue reading →
Kenneth White’s Life & Works Across the Territories – Ayrshire
I would like to begin this post with a few words about Lettres de Gourgounel (1979), one of the first books written by Kenneth White (his first book of prose) and also the first book I‘ve read by this author. The title of the original English edition is Letters from Gourgounel (1966) but it has been out of print for … Continue reading →
Teatime at Miss Cranston’s Willow Tearooms in Glasgow
Hi everybody ! Try to imagine we’re all sitting on a Mackintosh chair round a Mackintosh table, in the very special atmosphere of the Willow Tearooms in Glasgow, chatting about everything Scotland, our favourite subject ! To begin with, have you read our friends’ second Letter from Scotland? This time, Iain and Margaret have told us a very moving story. … Continue reading →
St. Valentine comes to Glasgow..
We are very pleased today to introduce on Scotiana our dear Scottish friends, Iain and Margaret 😉 In this Letter from Scotland, Iain will guide us to the St-Valentine relics that remain in Glasgow, a very timely and interesting subject to read on the eve of worldwide celebration of St-Valentine’s day. We could not have found a better guide so, … Continue reading →
Princes Square, one of Glasgow’s Leading Speciality Shopping Centres
Back in 1840, Glasgow architect John Baird was commissioned by Sir James Campbell, to design the large block of business premises in Buchanan Street, known as Prince’s Buildings. The buildings formed a four-storey merchant square in yellow sandstone, named in honour of the birth of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) A year or so later, the building was … Continue reading →
The Willow Tearoom, 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
If it is pouring with rain, as is often the case in Scotland, and if you are not lost in the midst of nowhere in a most desolate and remote place of the Scottish countryside with only a thermos of black coffee to cheer you up, it would be unthinkable not to be able to find a castle, a museum, … Continue reading →
A Colorful Video Tour of Buchanan Street, Glasgow’s Main Shopping Avenue
. Hey Mairiuna, before we hop unto Princes Square’s inviting blue escalator leading up to it’s animated galleries, let’s stroll a bit longer on Buchanan street, the most popular and well known shopping street of Glasgow. I was so impressed by the urban design that I would happily spend more time in this premier pedestrian thoroughfare housing more than 125 … Continue reading →
Buchanan Street : Up and Down one of Glasgow’s most Popular and Coloured Streets
From our different trips to Glasgow, we came back with a great number of photos and unforgettable memories. We never stayed long enough, alas, to be able to visit all the treasures hidden in the rich and fascinating Scottish metropolis but it did not take long for us to feel the sense of place there and to love it. Glasgow … Continue reading →
Glasgow’s St Enoch Centre, Europe’s Largest Glass Building!
. Oh yes! Mairiuna, it was quite a fun ride we took aboard Glasgow’s Clockwork Orange subway train. Remember this photograph I took of you both just before we escalated down to the ticket booth? At the ticket booth, we had a good laugh when the ticket officer, after we told him that you and Jean-Claude came from France and … Continue reading →
The Clockwork Orange : Embarking at St Enoch Station for a Merry-Go-Round Tour under Glasgow…
We like our Underground. From down below it tells you a lot about what is happening up above. South of the Clyde it is largely deserted. Traffic between St Enoch’s and Hillhead is busier with students and shoppers. Some people only like travelling clockwise or anti-clockwise. It is a subway with a heart. (Glasgow from the Eye in the Sky … Continue reading →
Christopher Brookmyre’s Pandaemonium Book Launch at The Mitchell Library Theatre
There is so much to say and so much going on at The Mitchell Library in Glasgow that I will, Mairiuna, stay in the building for another blog post. Especially so, that there will be a Book Launch this month in the Mitchell Library Theatre, for Pandaemonium, the latest book written by Christopher Brookmyre, well known Scottish crime fiction novelist. … Continue reading →
A Glasgow Landmark: The Mitchell Library
As you mentioned in your last post Mairiuna, Glasgow was chosen as the European City of Culture and I would like to emphasis a bit more on this “European” cover by telling you that since the extension was given to the building in the 70′-80’s, The Mitchell Library, one of Glasgow’s landmarks, now houses Europe’s largest public reference library with … Continue reading →
Let Glasgow flourish!
This is the tree that never grew. This is the bird that never flew. This is the bell that never rang. This is the fish that never swam. (Traditional rhyme associated with the symbols of Glasgow’s coat of arms) Glasgow ! YOUPI, Janice ! YES, let’s go to Glasgow ! You know, I was looking forward to writing about this … Continue reading →
Glasgow: A Sense Of Place in Scottish Crime Fiction
What a great tour into Sue Walker’s literary work you just guided us through Mairiuna! It is so interesting that I will continue on the same path for a while and explore how the unique atmosphere of a particular place provides inspiration to an author. And come to think of it, to capture such “sense of place” is a great way … Continue reading →