THE contrast was clear immediately. Back then, I was surrounded by excited teenagers shaking free (so they thought) of parents and parental boundaries. But now here I was back in Glasgow with a child of my own, eager to shake free of my determined grip and excitedly run riot as part of his first stay in an hotel.

It was like coming home, unleashing a flood of happy memories garnered over four years. But this time, instead of the hospitable, but unheated, flat in the cheaper part of town, with my trusty bike providing transport through its streets, we pulled up at the Ewington Hotel - "the hotel by the park".

While I'm always the first to turn my nose up at big chains of anything, fearing faceless uniformity or a lack of individuality, the fact that the Best Western Ewington is part of the world's biggest affiliation of hotels in no way reduced its charm. Tucked away - in the nicest sense of the phrase, its transport links are impeccable - in one of the noble Victorian terraces which make Glasgow such a grand place, the 43-bedroom hotel maintains the best balance of efficiency and warm homeliness.

The Ewington overlooks Queen's Park, one of Glasgow's other great, but often overlooked advantages. The city has 74 of these green jewels, established for perambulating empire-builders on their days off. The park was planted in memory of Mary Queen of Scots. I'd first explored it on a Sunday morning years ago, and turned out to be perfect for some early morning exploration for my two-year-old, giving mum a deserved lie-in.

There never was any excuse for feeling cooped-up in Glasgow, as I do in some cities. Back inside, the hospitality was faultless, with a wide-ranging restaurant menu, a stylish bar with a musical theme and all the usual luxuries one could get so used if born into a richer, lazier lifestyle.

Heading into the city, via one of the main bus, rail or underground routes nearby - or under your own steam - Glasgow has just about everything a visitor could ask for: enough shops to allow even the most energetic shopaholic to do it till they drop, and more museums than I could get round in four years, never mind a weekend break. Since I left, at least one major new shopping focal point has been completed in the city centre. Buchanan Galleries is stylish and pamperingly comfortable, while my favourite visitor attraction remains the Tenement Museum, with its faithful reconstruction of a Victorian tenement flat.

But you don't have to stay within the sprawl of the city, pleasant though most of it is, despite a lingering reputation based on the 1960s myth of razor gangs and the acquaintance gleaned from passing through on the ghastly M8, which slices close to Glasgow's majestic heart. The surrounding countryside is surprisingly close to hand, and world-famous attractions such as the Burrell Collection are on the doorstep.

For us, our stay was mainly spent catching up on old friends, being overwhelmed at how the city had become even more cosmopolitan in our absence, and surrounding the memories of those cold student years with even more nostalgia.

FACTFILE

Gareth and his family stayed at the Best Western Ewington Hotel, 132 Queen's Drive, Queen's Park, Glasgow G42 8QW. Telephone (0141) 423 1152. Prices start at £59 a night for a double room at the weekend. Part of family of Scottish hostelries, it has sister properties in the Rosslea Hall Country House Hotel in Rhu and the Strathblane Country House Hotel. For more details visit HYPERLINK http://www.scotland-hotels.co.uk

For visitors from the North-East and North Yorkshire, the train offers the most relaxing way up to Glasgow -National Rail Inquiries 08457 484950, although the road route across the A66 and up the M6 is also a scenic way to get there and takes about three-and-a-half hours from Scotch Corner. For more information on the city itself, start with tourist information on (0141) 204 4400. Try out HYPERLINK http://www.seeglasgow.com www.seeglasgow.com or www.glasgowguide.co.uk