tea part two

On the east side of the city center, nature and development compete for primacy. Let's step back in time 100+ years.

The Willow tea rooms were a joint project of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Catherine Cranston.

Miss Cranston was a successful entrepreneur who commissioned Mackintosh to design a series of tea rooms inside and out.

Happily three of them are still operating in Glasgow after a good deal of restoration.

I visited two of them and the tea room museum, which tells the story of the tea trade and Miss Cranston's social enterprise. After Queen Victoria's death and the rise of the temperance movement, tea rooms were an alternative to bars.

I could spend more time on the design of the museum, which allows you to mix a virtual tea blend or these tea cup speakers...

Or the interactive quiz I took based on video projections of the dishes served in the tea room at the time...

But let's skip to Miss Cranston's activism. She hired orphans and young woman with no means and trained them.

She was an exacting client, and Mackintosh delivered on her demands. The museum is in the last of the tea rooms, which opened around 1904 and you can see the stylistic similarity to Frank Lloyd Wright. A lot of attention was paid to the chairs, and their velvet seats stuffed with horsehair. Sadly the seats in the tea room were something more modern, stylish but uncomfortable.

The original Art Nouveau doors

 A video showed the process of painting this gesso portrait

Finally, downstairs for tea.

Of course I got the afternoon tea, for 19 pounds 04 pence. I don't know why I keep doing this. 

I actually prefer to pick out my own sweets. But the tea and scones were excellent. Passionfruit mousse seemed a bit modern.

I don't know what this fork is for. Do you?

A quick trip upstairs to admire the top level and the glass details. They have dumb waiters, which makes the servers' job a little easier. And makes the trays of pretty food magically appear.

Every detail lovingly restored

As I continued on my way, I happened upon another Willow tea room, on the 3rd floor of the now discount Watt Brothers department store. Think Sears in near bankruptcy. It didn't seem promising, but I persevered.

The window display for Willow at Watt Brothers is much more modest. The prices are too. Who doesn't love merengues?

I wasn't hungry after the last stop. But the woman at the front was so welcoming, I decided to have a pot of the house blend. Prices were half as much as the other tea room.

The clientele wasn't all German tourists straight off a tour bus. It was a tea room in a department store doing what a tea room was meant to do: fill your stomach at a fair price and provide a place to catch up with your friends.

The tea was excellent. I finally got a bowl of Cullen Skink, which is basically leek and potato soup with smoked fish in it, served here with oatcakes. And a lot of cream. Still stuffed, I ordered a couple of simple pastries to pack for the plane.

Glasgow really does have good bones. Miss Cranston fell in love in her 40s and married. She lived a long life, and when she died, left the majority of her wealth to help the down and out of Glasgow. A truly pioneering woman.

Glad to find this fountain/environmental scold, although I wish I'd seen more of them around the country. It was a cold rainy day (versus steamy London).

Police have changed with the times too. At the city center, locals and UK visitors shopped, vaped, and took sillier pictures than on the fancy part of town with the gastropubs. It wasn't as picture perfect, but it did feel more real than lovely Kelvingrove Park and Great Western.

Gratuitous guys in kilts calendar for Lisa. No, I did not buy one despite the modest price. Use your imagination.

Time to pick up my things, return my rental car, and head south. Assuming I can figure out the subway loop.

 Back in the trendy part of town…

Rock me, Amadeus.

And so I have said goodbye to Glasgow and my adorable guesthouse by the River Kelvin. Off to London for a visit with my old friend Quee Lim and the postal museum! Much deliciousness will ensue.

Utopia now

Tipped off by a TV show I watched on the plane, I headed for the bathroom with the best view of Helsinki. 

(No, seriously. The bar is atop a hotel tower. You go up a secret spiral staircase.)

 It's beautiful up on the 14th floor, and the sky unexpectedly cleared in every direction.

In case you didn't believe me. (Would I lie to you?)

Prices to match but hell, it was my birthday. 

Later I strolled down to the Design Museum but hit a jet lag wall and decided to eat dinner early and save design for tomorrow. 

Juuri is a casual locavore restaurant specializing in saapas, Finnish tapas. (Pics to come.) I did miss a glorious sunset. 

 What can I say about Finland except that dessert with a prix fixe is licorice, two ways?

This morning I had delicious breakfast at a cafe Roger recommended followed by the Design Museo where I learned more about the history of Finnish design. A few favorites you might recognize. 

Marimekko! Aunt Barbara would be proud. Finnair actually has Marimekko napkins and blankets on the flight.

 Angry Birds!

 Scandinavian minimalism

 Lapland-influenced fabrics.

 And the NetSurfer recliner. Glad that one didn't take off.

 This is the famous maternity box that new Finnish parents get. Everything you need.

But saving the best for last, Wednesday is women's day at the historic Yrjonkatu pool. I splurged on a private cabana with a robe, up on the second level. 

Two saunas, a divine herbal steam room, and a clothing-optional Olympic pool. No photos but here's what it looks like. You should see my backstroke. 

I'm about to board the overnight ferry to Tallinn. Delicious details tomorrow. 

Helsinki, you were grand.