Aberdeen, 8-10 May 2010

Sarah and Simon offered us a bed in Aberdeen (where they were living) so we decided to make that our next trip, to take place in May. The weekend after we went to Bruges was Easter weekend, but we decided to stay home over Easter so we could watch the Putney Boat Race. We were able to watch the beginning, then walk back to the flat to catch the rest of it on Sky. There was quite a number of posh people getting drunk around, and lots and lots of light blue and dark blue balloons around - a very festive atmosphere! The rest of April was uneventful, but we did go to the ANZAC day Dawn Service at Hyde Park which was moving. Then it was my birthday - the big 3-0, on the 29th of April. The night before we had tickets to Ricky Gervais at Wembley Arena, and he put on a great show. We were in hysterics. Then for my birthday night we went out to a Morrocan restuarant then to a comedy club in Soho, so we had a nice night, despite the devastating age! The flatmates also pooled together to get the biggest turning 30 card in the world...
The week before our trip to Aberdeen Georgia had organised to go to Macbeth at the Globe Theatre (for her birthday). The show was spectacular, the acting fantastic, and they had set it up so the "groundlings" - the people standing in front of the stage, were covered with black cloth so only their heads stuck out, and this was used as a prop - for ghosts to emerge from, for a boat to sail on, and the groundlings got plenty of water thrown on them which was good entertainment... The only problem was that we had great seats but our view was blocked by a big ring erected over the stage, presumably for some effect that was no longer working. So we went to the box office afterwards and they let us have complimentary tickets for any other show. We picked Bedlam, to be shown in September.

We went to Aberdeen on the 8th of May courtesy of Easyjet, and got there in one piece. Sarah picked us up from the airport. We went to their massive Sainsburys to get supplies for dinner, and went to a movie that night. On Sunday Sarah and Simon took us on a drive round the Highlands of Scotland. There are some beautiful places, but it was a little chilly. Scotland is about 2 months behind the rest of the UK, and it actually snowed on the Monday where Sarah worked, an hour out of Aberdeen. I had always wanted to try out heather, so had to have a photo lying in it!

We came upon the obligatory ruined castle.

Then we had a tour of Glenfidditch Distillery, which I was pleasantly surprised at. It was more interesting than I thought it would be. Our tour guide was a Scottish woman, probably about 50, who spoke like Sean Connery and obviously liked a tipple herself. At the end of it we got to taste the wares.

We explored a bit more of the Highlands, including this amazing old bridge. You aren't allowed to go on it anymore, which of course was like a green light to Rob... Luckily it held up OK.

We came across some of the natives.
We had a lovely surprise after the invigorating day, as Simon cooked us haggis, neeps and taties. It was really good, and Simon was pleased that we'd taken on the Scottish challenge and conquered it.

The next day Sarah and Simon were working, so Rob and Em explored old Aberdeen. It is very pretty, with cobbled streets and the university there. The spring blossom was beautiful.

Back to Aberdeen proper we were back to grayscale. They say that the granite they use all over the city sparkles in the sun. But you need to have sun for that to happen...

We took a bus out to Stonehaven so we could see the castle Dunottar. It is pretty impressive.

We went home Monday night, unfortunately not overwhelmingly impressed with Aberdeen and the weather, but impressed with the Highlands and our friends' hospitality.