Holly (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} several_bees) wrote,@ 2006-12-06 14:16:00 |
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Glasgow versus Edinburgh
There's been some controversy on livejournal recently about whether Glasgow or Edinburgh is better. People who got rained on in Glasgow in 1997 say it's Edinburgh; people who read a review of Trainspotting say it's Glasgow. As someone who just spent a week in Glasgow, but who also went to Edinburgh for a day on Friday, I feel I'm in a unique position to decide the matter properly.
Weather: In Edinburgh the weather is cold but fine. In Glasgow there is, all right, a lot of rain and wind. This is only a problem if you plan something outside that you wouldn't want to do wet and in a tree.
Museums: In Edinburgh the museums close as you reach them. In Glasgow, on the other hand, they've just undergone huge refurbishments culminating in themed rooms like "masks and disembodied heads" and "every painting we own with a kilt in it". In the room filled with stuffed animals and a Spitfire, there was a Scottish man explaining a moose to his bewildered child ("no, not a moose, a moose"), which made me very happy, but he might have gone by the time you get there.
Advertising: In Edinburgh most of the advertising is for tartan and bagpipes and shortbread kilts; there is a shop named "Thistle Do Nicely". In Glasgow, bus shelter advertisements warn that cocaine causes heart attacks, and pensioner radio station Saga regularly interrupts The Seekers and Bing Crosby with a public service announcement about how you shouldn't carry knives.
Carousels: Edinburgh's carousel has those seats on chains that swing out, while Glasgow's has horses with feather-dusters in their heads. Not plumes that look like feather-dusters: actual literal feather-dusters.
German Christmas markets: Both cities have one of these, where you can go to small wooden huts and buy food that combines German and Scottish sensibilities, like sauerchips or chipwurst.
Edinburgh's special feature: A road that led in the wrong direction, though to be fair it did end up in a strange alternate universe of ominous science-fiction houses and a huge spiky museum building (the sign said it was "Our Dynamic Earth", but it was a bit smaller than that). Edit:hoshuteki reveals that the science-fiction dystopia houses are actually Scottish Parliament, brilliantly.
Glasgow's special feature: A visit to a glasshouse at the Botanic Gardens, which (the front page of the local paper later revealed) was at that very moment being reopened after a seven-million pound refurbishment. I was there two years ago, and the main difference seems to be that it has a string quartet and some reporters in it now.
To summarise in photographic form:
Glasgow lights:
Edinburgh lights:
Glasgow graffiti:
Edinburgh graffiti:
Glasgow carousels:
Edinburgh carousels:
In conclusion, they're both great, but Glasgow's better. It's still not as good as London, because London has (1) gingerbread; and (2) a talk on art crime at the V&A at seven o'clock tonight - we've got a spare ticket, so comment if you want to come. It lasts an hour and the museum is open afterwards. Details here.
There's been some controversy on livejournal recently about whether Glasgow or Edinburgh is better. People who got rained on in Glasgow in 1997 say it's Edinburgh; people who read a review of Trainspotting say it's Glasgow. As someone who just spent a week in Glasgow, but who also went to Edinburgh for a day on Friday, I feel I'm in a unique position to decide the matter properly.
Weather: In Edinburgh the weather is cold but fine. In Glasgow there is, all right, a lot of rain and wind. This is only a problem if you plan something outside that you wouldn't want to do wet and in a tree.
Museums: In Edinburgh the museums close as you reach them. In Glasgow, on the other hand, they've just undergone huge refurbishments culminating in themed rooms like "masks and disembodied heads" and "every painting we own with a kilt in it". In the room filled with stuffed animals and a Spitfire, there was a Scottish man explaining a moose to his bewildered child ("no, not a moose, a moose"), which made me very happy, but he might have gone by the time you get there.
Advertising: In Edinburgh most of the advertising is for tartan and bagpipes and shortbread kilts; there is a shop named "Thistle Do Nicely". In Glasgow, bus shelter advertisements warn that cocaine causes heart attacks, and pensioner radio station Saga regularly interrupts The Seekers and Bing Crosby with a public service announcement about how you shouldn't carry knives.
Carousels: Edinburgh's carousel has those seats on chains that swing out, while Glasgow's has horses with feather-dusters in their heads. Not plumes that look like feather-dusters: actual literal feather-dusters.
German Christmas markets: Both cities have one of these, where you can go to small wooden huts and buy food that combines German and Scottish sensibilities, like sauerchips or chipwurst.
Edinburgh's special feature: A road that led in the wrong direction, though to be fair it did end up in a strange alternate universe of ominous science-fiction houses and a huge spiky museum building (the sign said it was "Our Dynamic Earth", but it was a bit smaller than that). Edit:
hoshuteki reveals that the science-fiction dystopia houses are actually Scottish Parliament, brilliantly. Glasgow's special feature: A visit to a glasshouse at the Botanic Gardens, which (the front page of the local paper later revealed) was at that very moment being reopened after a seven-million pound refurbishment. I was there two years ago, and the main difference seems to be that it has a string quartet and some reporters in it now.
To summarise in photographic form:
Glasgow lights:
Edinburgh lights:
Glasgow graffiti:
Edinburgh graffiti:
Glasgow carousels:
Edinburgh carousels:
In conclusion, they're both great, but Glasgow's better. It's still not as good as London, because London has (1) gingerbread; and (2) a talk on art crime at the V&A at seven o'clock tonight - we've got a spare ticket, so comment if you want to come. It lasts an hour and the museum is open afterwards. Details here.
