Day 15: Via, Veritas, Vita

09/08/2021

It was a wee bit louder last night staying in the Merchant City. “The reopening of nightclubs in Scotland was celebrated with cheers and cries of joy in Glasgow as the clock struck midnight”. It sounded like the youths were having a good time out, many 19-year-olds had never been to a nightclub. Luckily Soph didn’t return too late, around 04:00.

‘Via, Veritas, Vita’ is the motto of The University of Glasgow meaning ‘the way, the truth, the life’. It is also where we began our day. As we set off Eloise decided Lachlan looked too comfortable and kicked him out of the baby carrier. Poor Dadda was getting some strange looks carrying the monster baby Eloise down the streets. When we arrived the Harry Potter vibes were strong, although the campus never featured in the films. The buildings looked stunning. Eloise was not so good at keeping off the grass.

The University of Glasgow (Scottish Gaelic: Oilthigh Ghlaschu) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in 1451, it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland’s four ancient universities.

It was then a short walk up to the Botanic Gardens. There were lots to see at Kibble Palace, a large glasshouse. It took a while to get through the first room as Eloise was very interested in the large koi fish pond. 

There was even an Australian plant section.

It was in 1817 that Thomas Hopkirk, a distinguished Glasgow botanist, founded the Botanic Gardens with the support of a number of local dignitaries and the University of Glasgow. The Gardens were originally laid out on an 8 acre site at Sandyford at the western end of Sauchiehall Street (at that time, on the edge of the city). The Royal Botanical Institution of Glasgow owned and ran the Gardens and agreed to provide the University of Glasgow with teaching aids, including a supply of plants for medical and botanical classes.

After frightening a poor little squirrel away we passed through the Conservatory. Eloise did not like the desert room because there were no fish.

After another big day of walking, it started to drizzle and we headed back to the car. Eloise had other ideas when she saw the playground. A couple of slides down the wet slippery dip then a rest on an even wetter crocheted bench and we were off. Luckily she seems to love the rain.

By the time we got to our apartment, they were both snoring. After failing to transfer a sleepy Eloise into the pram we walked around a few blocks to try and put her back to sleep. Eloise was not having any of that. It was quite hot in the sun again, lucky we had just got Lachie a new hat.

We got back just in time for another episode of Waffle the Wonder Dog, got to keep an eye on Delilah’s shenanigans.