Cathedrals and Cuppas

You know you are serious about a good cup of tea when you are willing to travel to another city to get one.  A friend and I have toured Edinburgh sipping our way through many delightful brews, with the occasional disappointment (note to all mankind: do not ever try Russian Caravan tea.  Epic fail!).  Now, we have by no means exhausted Edinburgh's supply of tea rooms, but the proximity of Glasgow's Willow Tea Rooms is just too tempting, so we decided to make a day of it.

The day was typical of this summer, grey, wet, and generally miserable outside but the train ride was dry and the sheep didn't seem to mind the weather as much as we did!  We decided to take in a bit of culture first to work up our appetites so it was off to Glasgow's Medieval Cathedral for us!

The Cathedral looking rather festive with the sodden Olympic bunting in the square out front.

Our lovely volunteer guide took us on a fascinating tour of this historic building, pointing out all its charms.

The Douglas Strachan window.

Moses detail of the Strachan window.

The Millennium window by John Clark - love the blues!  It has the Bible passage about sowing written on it and shows methods of seed distribution by wind dispersion and by planting.

Detail of the Millennium window.

View of the nave and organ.

This is where Her Majesty (and Prince Philip) sits when she visits.  The floor is raised because she is petite! Warmed my heart.  :)

A lot of the windows were paid for and dedicated to certain Medieval guilds (the Cathedral was built in the 12th and 13th centuries).

This window commemorates Maltmen and Wrights

Let's play "spot the anachronisms" in this window!  A modern window done to harmonize with the rest of the Cathedral, but the artist did take a bit of license!

After our tour of the interiors of the Cathedral, we decided to brave the weather and hike up to the necropolis.  This is a graveyard full of Glasgow's former greats that looms up and over the Cathedral.

All prepared to face the rain.  We found these rather spectacular gates at the beginning of our ascent.

Glasgow Cathedral as seen from the necropolis.

A sampling of graves in the necropolis.

After all of that meandering, we had worked up a sufficient appetite to take our tea.  So off we went to the Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall (sock-ee hall) Street.  I don't know if it is because we made a reservation, but we had the great good fortune to be seated in the uppermost level of the tearooms, know as the 'Room Deluxe'.  It was a beautiful space and we got a table right near the window and felt very much like the 'Ladies at Lunch' who frequented the space in days gone by.

Our scrummy afternoon tea!

If you are looking for a historic venue that conjures up images of elegance and refinement then I think you will enjoy taking your tea here as much as I did.  And they don't just do tea. Next visit - Arbroath smokies!