Scotland or Bust!: Fish and Paisley

Yesterday morning we decided to finally check out a fish market our friends Simon and Marina had told us about months ago. MacCallums of Troon Fishmongers is tucked away in an industrial block with little indication that a market lies behind the gap in the brick wall. But inside there's an amazing array of fresh fish and seafood -- whole, filleted, live, smoked -- every variety you can imagine, plus fresh sushi! A tiny selection of local vegies and some staples make this a one-stop shop for your dinner fixings. For lunch we had crab maki and tuna sashimi chunks over rice (a little too much mayonnaise in both, but that's probably what made it Scottish sushi). And, for dinner we bought grey sole fillets, Jersey Royal potatoes and asparagus -- a true spring meal with local and seasonal vegies.

hard to see, but these shrimp have roe attached to the shells

After our sushi lunch we headed off to Paisley a town that's only a ten minute train ride out from Glasgow. Although quite diminshed from its manufacturing heyday, Paisley has some unique sights. First off, the medieval cathedral -- Paisley Abbey where the Scottish royals are buried and one was even born there. Robert II's mother fell off her horse nearby and was carried to the abbey to give birth. Inside the abbey was a lineage of the Scottish and English royal families, which mainly showed how much they inter-married, making me wonder why the current royals are sane and healthy at all!

detail on the end of a pew bench

Barochan Cross, a 1000 year old Celtic cross

Then, off to a restored weaver's cottage. Paisley was the center of the weaving industry and became famous for shawls in a paisley pattern, so that tear-drop style pattern became known as paisley even though the style originated in the ancient middle east. At the Paisley museum, a display of the old shawls (from mid-1800s) shows a subtlety both in pattern and color.

coal fire burning in the tea shop

took these photos of the shawls before noticing the "No Photography" sign

But the real reason we decided to make a field trip to Paisley was a Quentin Blake exhibit. The illustrator for Roald Dahl's books, Quentin Blake has had a long and illustrious career and is beloved in the UK. This exhibit focused on work he's done for hospitals, where his art is meant to soothe or comfort patients with its humorous displays of ordinary life or fantastical creatures.