GLASGOW, A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION –
Lowell Sun, May 13, 2001

They talk funny, eat clootie dumplings*, drink Irn Bru*. They are Glaswegians, not Martians, and live in a city that’s trying to transform itself into an important modern Scottish cultural center, yet stay mindful of its kaleidoscopic past.

While Edinburgh has the castles and the crown jewels, Glasgow has twenty art museums, the River Clyde and its superhero architect, the late Charles Rennie Mackintosh – no relation to the raincoat. Although few have heard of him this side of the Atlantic, he is Scotland’s icon, the man whose influence on the city is profound and ubiquitous. Visit the Lighthouse, an exhibition center created from an original Mackintosh building, the Glasgow Art School filled with examples of his work, any local gift shop full of his designs on dishtowels or mugs, or climb the flight of steps to the Willow Tearoom. This is a good place to catch the Art Nouveau glass windows, some original, others restored, that are Mackintosh’s signature designs. Whether he was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright or vice versa is never clear, but although the two never met, and though they lived at about the same time an ocean apart, their designs are curiously similar.The very best examples of Mackintosh’s work are seen at the Hunterian Art Gallery. In addition to a collection of European art, including works by Rembrandt and Whistler, the architect’s home has been recreated – including its exterior. This walk-through is a study in contrasts: dark wood panelling and typically Victorian downstairs, bright as clean linen on the second floor. In an age when homes were heated by sooty fireplace coal, pale interiors were almost unheard of, yet sunlight streams into rooms here, where walls, ceilings and floors are painted white and odd bits of art or pieces of furniture provide the only contrast. Mackintosh’s chairs, with their typically slender high backs, have the sense of encapsulating diners as they sit around a dinner table. This was the architect’s concept, the chairs have been widely copied, and they are seen everywhere in the city.

The name Glasgow derives from the Gaelic, Glas-ghu, meaning “dear green place” and though it has over seventy parks and gardens, these days there’s more to Glasgow than its landscape or architecture. A city once known only for shipbuilding has moved into the 21st Century in a new direction. The Science Center for example, sits on the shores of the Clyde and is due to open later this year. It features the Glasgow Tower, Scotland’s tallest freestanding structure, a four-floor science mall, and the city’s first Imax Theater. Other visitor-friendly riverside attractions, like the world’s largest remaining ocean-going paddle steamer and an amphibious Glasgow tour, have also been refreshed, in the spirit of a “new and improved” city.”Retail therapy” is hot downtown, chockablock with designer names and chains, considered the best shopping center in the UK outside London. Any stodgy images of this Victorian city will also be dispelled by a visit to The Arches, one of the city’s 776 pubs and 30 nightclubs. It is a new, subterranean bar / café / performance space with arched brick-walls and industrial-hangout ambience. Built under a railroad track, it’s one of a kind, young and funky. A quieter place is the Corninthian. Built as a bank a hundred and fifty years ago, now fitted with red-fringed lamps and cozy banquettes geared for romance, it’s reminiscent of another, older Glasgow. A large clock without hands hangs high on the wall, perhaps as a symbol of a past life that was more leisurely. It’s a good place to unwind with a pint of the local beer, Tennent, a bit of Glayva, the local liqueur, or just a glass of “Casa” wine. Long gone in local restaurants is the probability of a bland slab of salmon and its partner, a boiled potato. Gamba, a fish place and one of the city’s finest, is a case in point. It’s not only the space which is as modern as tomorrow. Some menu choices: whole roast sea bass with sweet Thai sauce, Cajun spiced red snapper with honey, cream and wild rice. Either of these entrees fall approximately into the $25 dollar category. For a more modest meal, one might try the Tron, a café featuring salads and offbeat sandwiches like roast vegetables with salsa verde on foccacia, any of which will go for less than five dollars. Or, head for the Babbity Browser. This pub was originally a late 18th Century monastery and became a café / hotel / bar with “typical Scotland pub” written all over it. It’s the place to try Haggis — a spicy Scottish dish filled with minced and chopped things we don’t even want to know about — or to just sit by the fire and chat with the eye-patched, chatty host. While the face of Glasgow is changing, while the city becomes glitzier and more in step with today’s world, its charm lies also in its roots. So, even though you’re on your way to the Gallery of Modern Art or buying a Versace or just having a latté and soaking up the scene, you may spot the medieval Cathedral, a parade of pipers or a classic red double decker bus to remind you that in all the important ways, the heart of Glasgow is still beating nicely, the way it always did.

*Clootie dumpling: A dessert made principally of oatmeal, flour, raisins, buttermilk and spices

*Irn Bru: An orange-flavored non-alcoholic beverage with a caffeine kick

For more information: www.seeglasgow.com, www.visitscotland.com

For Hotels: www.hotelsglasgow.com

Or, British Tourist Authority: 1-877-899-8391

If Kentucky’s claim to fame is its thoroughbreds, its heart is in the hands of its artisans. The state has an arts council to preserve the heritage of the eastern part of the state, comprising forty-nine counties. These are rich in galleries, shops and museums that pay homage to what is known as folk art, which is as hard to define as the sound of Kentucky music. The creative products of the Appalachian Mountains run the gamut from the potholders and painted gourds sold in gift shops to the cutting edge sculpture found in its museums.

There is much to see but one must be willing to spend a bit of time behind the wheel. A car is a necessity. Lexington’s Blue Grass airport is a two hour drive away, but the roads are fine, traffic is generally light and regional maps are widely available. A traveler will be rewarded for long highway stretches bordered by gas stations and billboards by occasional meandering canopy roads, lovely mountain and river views, and pretty white churches, mostly Baptist.

A first stop might be a visit to the Folk Art Museum in Morehead, which has the most comprehensive collection in the area. Much of the art is from the general region and the artists are usually self taught. Many live in isolation and their work is often childlike. (It also varies in quality.) In the permanent collection the Linvel Barker wood animal sculptures are noteworthy as are the carvings of Garland Adkins. So is a large Jesus carrying a cross by James Allan Bloomfield. This is painted wood, as are many works here; catch Minnie Adkins’ folksy wood figures that represent local life or the colorful and glossy walking sticks that seem to be everywhere. They are whimsical, as is one with twin croquet-ball protrusions inspired by Dolly Parton, or elaborate, decorated with rattlers’ markings or other intricate designs. The stairs leading to the second floor of the exhibition space features black and white photos of local artists and a visitor commented they did look the part: “Off the ranch or out of the mine.” The well-stocked shop adjacent to the museum sells items that range from two to dollars to two thousand.

In Hindman, a one-red-light town, is the very modern Artisan Center with its bright workshop, a former grocery store and now a museum/shop. Everything here is locally crafted except for an occasional traveling exhibit. Check out the Thora Sutton Parker pastel works representing the coal miners’ lives, the carved dulcimers, bird houses, wooden toys. Fabric pocketbooks are beautifully made and reasonably priced here.

Also in Hindman is the Marie Stewart Craft Shop, which is chockablock with local creations, guaranteed to be entirely hand-crafted. Available here is everything from a three dollar bar of oatmeal soap to a spectacular wooden dollhouse priced at $371. Outstanding examples of ceramic art are Michael Ware’s lanterns. They hold candles or electric light bulbs, their sides are pierced and cut to peek-a-boo the light and to throw interesting shadows, and their price ranges from about forty to seventy dollars.

On to Whitesburg. The Cozy Corner Craft Shop offers more “true mountain handicrafts” as well as a good collection of books about Appalachian culture and history. This is one of many places in which to see the quilts which are wildly popular and ubiquitous in this area. A hand-stitched and hand-painted glamorous one was priced at $1600 in the shop but prices are generally lower–a queen-size wedding band type was marked $600– and quilts come in various sizes and colors. Adjacent to the craft shop is the Courthouse Cafe. It is the hangout of a local artisan, David Lucas, whose little painted clay figures adorn the tabletops, and whose down-home conversation complements the fare. A ham and Swiss sandwich is $4.50 here and a “peach of a pie”, $1.75.

While Eastern Kentucky might be considered gourmet-challenged, its “country cooking” is generally inexpensive and the payoff comes at dessert. Most places serve up spectacular pies, usually home-made. (At Wilma’s, in Paintsville, order the coconut cream. It’s $1.25, high and fabulous.) And pack your own liquid fire to be sure you’ll have a drink because some counties are dry. It’s a local joke: Bourbon County is dry, Christian County is wet. The state parks are all dry.

And they’re the best bet for lodging. The Jenny Wiley resort is a bargain at sixty dollars a room (less off season) and it offers much more than a standard issue motel. Named for a heroic pioneer woman who endured the slaying of her children by the Cherokees, the lodge is situated on Dewey Lake, is surrounded by wooded trails, and offers resort activities like hiking, birding and pontoon boat rides. Children’s activities are also available.

For visitors who need more than a fix of folk art, other attractions in the area include a visit to Loretta Lynn’s birthplace, in Butcher’s “Holler” which is interesting not only because it’s the home of “The Coal Miner’s Daughter,” but because it is typical of the poverty of its time and place. It’s also fun to read messages left by fans that cover every inch of the wallpaper: “We are a coal miner’s family also,” ” From a coal miner’s granddaughter: You touched my life in a way no other human being ever has,” and “I’ll be back when I’m a country star.”

Also worth a visit is the original “Moonlight school” in Morehead. It was founded in 1911 by Cora Wilson Stewart, who taught the three R’s to farmers and their wives but only on nights bright enough “so the mules wouldn’t go into the creek”; the first night a hundred fifty people were expected to show up, but instead 1200 came and the idea caught on. This school movement is considered the genesis of adult education.

An earlier time is on view at the Mountain Home Place, a “living history museum” in Paintsville. It is a reconstructed settlers’ 1800’s farmstead with costumed interpreters and includes an excellent video overview, featuring Richard Thomas, one of the TV Waltons. Check out the farmhouse kitchen, with its flavoring and medicinal herbs hanging from the ceiling, the hardware store, the small country church, all looking pretty much as they did then.

In Magoffin a collection of log buildings also of the same era have been relocated from various places in surrounding counties and although the interiors have been a bit gussied up and lack authenticity, the cluster of dwellings is still probably worth a visit.
To wrap up the East Kentucky trip, take the winding road to Breaks Interstate Park on the border of Virginia. Check out the view across the Russell Fork River and across the Cumberland Mountains. Called “the Grand Canyon of the South,” it’s not folk art, but it’s nature’s best landscape work, and surely inspired more than one local piece of art.

WHALES AND WINNERS IN CHARLEVOIX

A ninety minute drive east on Route 138 from the city of Quebec and voila, here is unspoiled Charlevoix. If food is said to be a religion in Quebec, nature must be a religion here, where the St.Lawrence River rushes or meanders behind fir, cedar, spruce and pine, and makes a backdrop for the mirror lakes, small farms and vacation cottages that dot the landscape. This is a Canadian getaway with more to offer than trout and salmon fishing; here are some of the oldest golf courses in North America, vast parks and Laurentian Mountain peaks, a monastery, art galleries and museums, miles of sand beaches, and from May to October, whales.

Charlevoix, named for a Jesuit historian, is both the name of a village and a 2300 square mile region comprised of many small towns. It is specifically at the confluence of the Saguenay and St.Lawrence Rivers where many whale species–minke, blue, beluga and more–can best be seen. Here, at the wharves of Baie St. Catherine or Tadoussac one may board one of the diesel-engined boats designed for whale watching expeditions. The boats are of varying sizes, some holding 500 or more souls (and that many pairs of binoculars) or smaller ones, like the zodiac or catamaran, which require all passengers to wear life vests; take your pick. Be warned that from the deck of any vessel this may not turn out to be a photographer’s dream trip. The mammals surface here and there without warning, shutters click, but chances of catching more than a fin or the curve of a shiny mammalian back on film are not good. The experience of listening to the guide elaborate on the habitat, lifestyle and history of local marine and bird life (in French and English) and eating in a café aboard while waiting to spot whales–or seals–take up the slack and enrich the experience.

For those who want more sports action, the options are endless: there’s horseback riding, accessible for an hour, a full day or more, sea kayaking, biking, hiking. In Baie-Saint-Paul hang gliding is available and kites can be rented. The mountain climbing center at Saint-Siméon provides qualified instructor/guides, whitewater rafting in Saint-Aimé-des Lacs has overnight camping as an option and Saint-Irénée offers stunning views from the back of motorcycles–theirs or yours. Most of these hamlets are within convenient driving distance of one another.

When the landscape turns white, usually early in November, one may hit the slopes to schuss downhill, ski cross country or sit with a hot chocolate in a horse-drawn carriage. Snow-shoeing is popular, skating available and hardy souls may choose to shiver happily through a week or weekend of winter camping.

When Samuel de Champlain initiated the settlements and trading posts along the St.Lawrence River in the early 17th Century, he might have imagined its potential as a living or vacation utopia. Unlikely though, that he could foresee today’s Charlevoix Microbrewery with its locally made brews and down-home lunches and dinners, the Ecological Centre at Port au Saumon, or the pretty yellow Poterie de Port-au-Persil, where students work at producing local pottery and artisans sell their 21st Century jewelry and glass creations. Very unlikely too is the possibility that he could have foreseen the Casino de Charlevoix, its bit of Vegas glamour a jiving multilevel gambling beehive in the Malbaie area. An interactive video challenges visitors to determine whether they are fit to gamble, and either way, the choices are vast: Blackjack, mini-baccarat, poker and more than 700 slot machines make the time really fly.

The casino is part of the very grand Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu. The kingpin of Charlevoix, the resort is situated on a sovereign site above the terraces that overlook the river, and features regional cuisine at three restaurants, a spa, golf course, and you-name-it recreational facilities. Visitors of royal blood will feel right at home here in its crystal chandelier elegance, as will those with more prosaic occupations necessitating proximity to modem connections and fiber-optic tele-conferencing. Many other lodging options–along the coast or inland–are available at more modest prices in guest houses or small hotels.

Whether indulging in a truffle feast at the restaurant “Le Charlevoix,” simply painting at your easel or throwing quarters into slots, this Canadian Eden, where the air is fresh and the American dollar strong, may well be hitting the vacation jackpot.