The Scottish Snippets Newsletter in its original format began in April 1997 and continued in an unbroken series for 591 issues. Although no longer produced in that style, there is now this regular update on the new and updated pages on the Rampant Scotland site including "Scottie's Photo Diary From Scotland".
To receive a text version of this newsletter as a reminder to look at these Web pages when they are published, just send an e-mail to Scottie@RampantScotland.com with "Subscribe Newsletter" in the subject line.
Riverside Museum
Glasgow folk have a soft spot for their museums - and it's not just because they are a good place to go when it's raining... A few years ago the city council spent £30 million refurbishing the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and recently turned their attention to the Transport Museum which had been in the nearby Kelvin Hall since 1987. Instead of refurbishment, however, it was decided to create a new building on the banks of the river Clyde which was undergoing a massive redevelopment to create a residential area called "Glasgow Harbour".
The striking new state-of the art Riverside Museum, at the junction of the Clyde and the river Kelvin, was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects of Iraq. With a floor space of 7,500 sq metres (80,000 square feet) and a roof that represents waves, it houses the huge collection of cars, buses, cycles, motor bikes, tram cars, model ships and many other transport-related artefacts. A popular feature of the old museum was a representation of a Glasgow street in the early 20th century and that has not only been perpetuated but expanded. Controversially, to be able to show off more of the museum's cars, cycles and motor bikes some of the displays have been created on ledges high up on the walls!
Having paid two visits (so far) to the Riverside Museum, I had intended to write a "Places to Visit" Web page but due to the time required to process and assemble all the photographs I took, that is still a "work in progress". However, there are nearly 90 pictures in a thumbnail index leading to individual pages illustrating the museum and many of its exhibits. Once you are viewing the larger images you can move to the next or previous image using the navigation links from each page. And there is also a YouTube slide show of more or less the same pictures.
See: Web page index to Riverside Museum slide show and YouTube slide show and video clip of model ships.
Accommodation Links
The accommodation links on Rampant Scotland have grown and been updated for the last 16 years. During that time, of course, the page has got longer and longer. Even using the browser's search function (Ctrl + F) it was becoming increasingly difficult to find specific locations. So I've divided up the list into different pages for different geographical areas with a map illustrating where they are. Hopefully that will help users plan their trips - whether real or imaginary! The index page is still Accommodation Links.
Inn at Kippen
Back in December, I had the opportunity to have dinner at the Inn at Kippen in Stirlingshire. This is a country inn, combining a cosy, welcoming pub atmosphere, soft lighting, rustic charm, polished pine circular tables with candles and comfortable chairs and sofas. It turned out to excellent with not only tasty well-prepared food but large portion sizes to cater for large appetites of country folk! My only reservation was that Kippen wasn't closer to home to make it easier go to there more frequently. Then, it dawned on me that as a result of the recent improvements to the motorway between Glasgow and Stirling, it had only taken 65 minutes to get there... I just have to make sure the next time that I am able to do justice to those generous main courses and still have space for the chocolate roulade! See illustrated review at Great Places to Eat - Inn at Kippen
Next Newsletter
The next newsletter is scheduled for 4 February 2012.
Yours aye
Scottie
Previous editions of this Newsletter are available in an Archive. The Index to the other pages of the Rampant Scotland site is available here.
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