Rain, rain and more rain

Yup, we got more rain today.  So far I haven't really seen too much sunshine in Scotland - it seems to be raining most every day.  But apparently they need the rain, so I won't begrudge them the rain and I'll deal with it.

One nice thing about Glasgow is that they have lots of free stuff to do.  Everything we did today (except for the bus ride into town and the food that we ate) was free.  I like free stuff, especially when it's interesting.

We started off by going to the Glasgow Cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century.  I still have trouble grasping how old that is.  The church had a fabulous stained glass window of the creation story from Genesis 1 and 2.  I sat there for half an hour or so just looking at that one window - quite a wonderful work of art that praises God for how he made the world.   The cathedral had many other stained glass windows, paintings on the walls and ceilings, and much more.  Additionally, there were several volunteers at the museum who gladly told us all sorts of fun stuff about the church, and willingly answered all the questions that we had.

After the cathedral, we headed across the street to Glasgow's necropolis.  The is a rather sizable memorial stone to John Knox (not a tombstone - he's buried somewhere else), one of the leaders of the reformation in Scotland.

We then walked over to St. George's square, which is the main pedestrian square in downtown Glasgow.  We wandered around for a bit and eventually made our way to the City Council building and then the Merchant's Hall.  These are both grand, opulent buildings, made to impress.  The City Council building has a three flight marble staircase, intricately carved wood trim and paneling, beautiful paintings, and much more.  It's where much of the city government runs today.