Another week, and the weather here in Scotland has started to be less rainy and colder; only 3 degrees (high 30s Fahrenheit) last night.
And a question was put to me this week at work, where are the decent places to get a sandwich? A good one! If you wish to go to Marks, or Tesco – fine, but what about the old school sandwich shops, where they made them up whilst you waited.
I suggested Bagel Mania, on Byres road, that while is not technically a sandwich shop, does do custom made bagels, with a variety of differing flavours. The queue is always there, out on the pavement, and my own Breakfast Bagel (eggs and brown sauce) was made incredibly quick, and tasted as it should.
Bagel Mania, Byres Road, West End, Glasgow
Recommended.
In addition, will do more from my recent trip the Warwick and Leamington Spa, and start to show some more street art / murals, from around Glasgow.
I was once again south of the border last week, in the ever delightful Warwickshire, for which I will be showing some snaps this week on the blog.
In addition, will be looking at various things from here in Glasgow, from the ever present wave of new cafes, to certain neighbourhoods and several photos from here, but first, some pictures from one of my favourite shopping arcades here, The Argyll Arcade, in the town centre.
It’s an old fashioned Georgian? arcade, resplendent in a multitude of jewellery shops, one pub and and upstairs area; that in my opinion is criminally underused (there is a jewellery workshop there), and would be an lovely place to have a coffee, tea, or whatever.
You reach it from several ways, preferably from Buchanan Street:
Fave building on Buchanan Street
And then can enter it, head straight east, and then south, to exit on Argyll Street.
As the title says, I still have some memories from the recent travel to Deutschland and will publish them, along with more from my trip a few weeks ago to Ludlow, in the beautiful county of Shropshire.
In addition, there are a good deal many new places here in Glasgow, that I’ve visited and will do several reviews even!
But first, just look at this old map of the travel system in Glasgow:
An old map of Glasgow’s Transport System (year unknown)
And compare to the modern plan; it’s changed. Equally, the blue circle above is the Glasgow Subway, and can be compared to the modern subway, shown below:
Glasgow Subway, the “Clockwork Orange”
To my knowledge, the Glasgow rail network is the largest all-electric one in the UK or outside of London, I can’t really remember the exact fact, and the Glasgow Subway (one line clockwise, the other counter clockwise), is one of the oldest in the world.
When I first arrived here to attend yooni, there was something called a “sub crawl”, where one would get off each station, and have a pint (or whatever)! I do recall trying it, but was completely unsuccessful . . . I wonder why.
Last week we travelled to Shropshire once again, for a fabulous food festival, a report on this and English “Whiskey” later in the week. But first, haven’t done this for a while, but look at my bargains from Poundland:
More “things” that I have to have!
The snails are everywhere in my garden right now in Glasgow, the Rustlers are devine and are my lunch for tomorrow (we don’t have a kitchen in our office), and the “King in a Million” cologne is NOT that bad, but for one quid, I’ll take it!
Seriously, we’ll bring you some photos from England, more stuff from my Germany trip a few weeks ago, and I’ll review the new Endeavour series – my favourite thing on the box as of now.
The week is among us, and I’ll continue looking back at my trip to Germany and Bavaria specifically. As above, I did a cycle tour in northern Bavaria, Franconia, and lo and behold, came across the birthplace of Levi Strauss, in Buttenheim.
I didn’t know that not only was he born in Germany, but did not leave there until he was in his very late teens. The above photo is his house and is now a museum (though it was closed on the day we cycled there).
Various from Buttenheim
This was only part of our cycle tour, which we’ll be showing more from this week, in addition to commenting on our various COVID tests that we had to do (highly bureaucratic) and looking at more things in Glasgow and beyond.
As for this new week, I’ll continue to note some things in Deutschland and blog about my travels here – whether it is about the food, alcohol, vistas that I’ve encountered, or various smaller “Sehenswurdigkeiten” that I have noted down, such as:
Cigarette machines in the streets! I’ve noted or blogged about this in the past, but it simply strikes me as something that would never happen in the UK – though I could be wrong. And I am not talking about the old style machines, that at one time, were in most pubs / clubs – these are basically EVERYWHERE in German streets.
A typical German cigarette vending machine
What is interesting about these, is after a second more careful look, you can see that it is only possible to purchase these, via a credit or debit card (In the case of Germany, this could also include an “EC Card” – Another complete German oddity!).
I’ve been told that this is to stop the purchase of these buy children; no doubt a good thing.
The week ahead, will once again be filled with Germany, as I am at present in Bavaria, but first. . .
After Frankfurt from last week, I decided to go to one of the many different wine producing areas in Germany (they have a lot!) and arrived in the area referred to as Der Pfalz; which also happens to be the hottest area in Germany.
I was based for several days in a delightful village called Nussdorf (just north of Landau), that as is common practice here, seems to have that every other house produces there own wine, to a very acceptable level!
The food is delicious; I as usual had my favourite, Flammkuchen, thrown down with a beautifully fresh and fruity Muscatel (Muskateller), that I had on more than one occasion.
I’ve been here before and of course will be back, but what always strikes me here is the utter lack of any pretension. Believe me, if this place was in France or Italy the entire world would know about the region. But if you were to read this ridiculously pretentious article, I’m glad that they don’t know about it as much.
From grapes in the street, to vineyards, to new restaurants – Nussdorf
It’s hot, inexpensive (a class bottle can set you back 7 Euros), the walking and bike riding (as it is actually quite flat) is superb, and the proximity to other regions in Germany are easily traversed, whether by car or train.
This week, and the following, will really only consist of my present trip in the continent, to and inside of Deutschland.
Yes, we will look at TV and also various “German’ish” things that I find and encounter on my voyages the next few weeks. for the blog,
Lady Lucan
but first, my UK TV of the last week was a fascinating interview with Lord Lucan’s late wife (she died shortly after this hour long interview was filmed in 2017), and this follows on from my TV of the Week from last week, about the Lord himself. This was fascinating, not only for the “what really happened” that night in 1974, but in the look at the psyche and mind set of the minor, though wealthy, Lords and Ladys from a bygone age. Their wealth did start to go downhill after the tax increases post-World War 2, but with many of them by the time the 1970s had started, they were simply also rans in the scheme of things. In addition, the look of this haunted and very unsympathetic woman was at times shocking, as she admitted after being questioned about her relationships in general with friends and family, that she was “always cold with people”, including her children, who apparently shunned her until her death.
German Trip:
I started this, my most recent trip to Germany, by going to Frankfurt and doing a night in one of their many Apfelwein Pubs. In reality, this was more than a pub, but a packed restaurant in a tree lined hof, that was divine. More on this later, but first, the state of airports in general and specifically, Glasgow Airport.
As always when I go to an airport, I have to stop at the duty free / perfume concessions in order to “have a spray”! Hell, it’s free and why not? This time I chose the Hugo Boss, and thought it suited me perfectly
HUGO Perfume
During the short Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, I had the posh tea whilst the coffee was actually freshly ground, and came complete with a special drinking top to be added to your plastic cup. Never saw this before.
After landing, noted both a Lunar Rover copy and a crap table conveyer belt. I look forward to the rest of the trip.
This week will continue looking at various things, from my taste in TV, my recent trips to the Far East (Hong Kong) and some shots of Glasgow and various things of interest here.
But first, my TV from last week. This concerns a series from 2013 that is being re-run on ITV about the disappearance of Lord Lucan in 1974, called Lucan.
For those unfamiliar with Lucan, even to this present day in the UK, if a person has not been seen for some time, whether a colleague, friend or family member; you can still heard said, that the person in question is “like Lord Lucan”, or something similar along those lines.
Author interviewing witness to Lucan
I had originally watched this, but only glancing at times, as it follows an author years later, interviewing various Lucan acquaintances, in order to find the truth as to just what happened to him after he murdered the family maid.
For one thing, it certainly transported me to a different world, both in time and in class. Whilst at the same time, the dialogue between Lucan and his casino owning friend, as Lucan had a BIG problem with gambling, are simply too preachy and OTT.
Family and Maid
Lady Lucan
Lucan in his Flat
Lucan and Mentor
Lucan entering flat to kill his Wife
This was only part 1, where Lucan mistakenly murders his maid, rather than his Lady wife and is something that the British do quite well, particularly when it’s combined; crime and historical drama.
This week, will look back at some previous trips I’ve made in the last few years as I am simply “tripped out” at present; Thailand, USA, Hong Kong, and various visits around Blighty will be presented. Will also look at more places in Glasgow and delve into a bit more of the arts, food, etc.
But first, I don’t know how many times I’ve reviewed Cafe’ Francoise here in Glasgow, but recall one time when the breakfast was simply dreadful (the poach eggs were literally like rocks!)
Have to report that it is now improved and is worth the hat tip.
Various shots of my delightful Brekkie!
My favourite, and something that I almost always order, is there Huevos Rancheros, complete with avocado and chips.
This time, I sat outside on the pavement fronting Byres Road and all functioned quite well.
Curious Bystander 