Visited Glasgow, was not stabbed

After my time in Edinburgh and the highlands, I took a train to Glasgow.  On last year's trip I had been told by somebody that most tourists' highlight when they visit Glasgow is not being stabbed.  When I mentioned plans to stay in Glasgow for a few days to some folks at the velodrome in Manchester, they warned me about being beaten up.

My Great Britain travel guide book, however, did not make any such predictions, so I went ahead with my plan to visit.  It turned out to be a fine place.  The city center, like many other cities in the UK, had a tough, gritty feel, but I never felt that I was in any danger of being stabbed or beaten up.

After exiting the train station, I had about a half mile walk to the hostel where I was staying.  The route I mapped out took me by an art gallery with a display of Glasgow humor on the statue in front of the building (pictured below).

I can appreciate performance/street art like this.

The hostel where I stayed was conveniently located, and affordable with respect to cost, and I'll leave it at that.  Not trusting the elevator, I got a little bit of exercise walking up to my room on the 6th floor.

In the city center, there was a large plaza/square in front of the city hall featuring statues of famous Glaswegians or otherwise noteworthy Scots.  As an engineer and a cyclist, it was great to see a statue of James Watt.

In engineering and science, the Watt is the derived SI unit for power.  I make measurements and calculations of power all the time, and the results are always in terms of watts or other units that relate back to watts.  Watt was a mechanical engineer who made important contributions to steam engine technology, helping to kick off the industrial revolution.

James Watt, looking at me like I owe him something.

As a cyclist, I am thankful for the watt as a unit of power measurement.  Throwing down a 450-watt pursuit sounds a whole lot more impressive than averaging 0.603-horsepower. 

The city of Glasgow experienced significant economic decline during the 2nd half of the 20th century.  In the 19th century, it was an important center of manufacturing and trade, and was very wealthy.  The square in the city center with the statues (including Mr. Watt) was constructed to show off the city's wealth.

The Glasgow city hall is a very Scottish-looking building.

The Glasgow city hall and war memorial (pictured above) sit on the east side of George Square (where the statue of James Watt is located).  When I took the above picture, there was an Occupy Glasgow protest, complete with tents and chilly protesters, sitting right behind me.

Near George Square, there was a part of town called Merchant City, essentially the city center shopping district.  For the most part, it was full of stores I was almost entirely uninterested in.  There was one store that caught my eye.  It had an American theme, and a huge display in the front window with a wall of Mug Root Beer and some sort of sugary breakfast cereal.  It made me cringe to contemplate the idea that those are the products Glaswegians think of when they think of America.  Blah!