As soon as we arrived in Aberdeen you got the feeling it was quite a different town. Much more new and granite then everywhere else. It made me think more of the cities back home in Canada then any place I had been before or where I have been since. The whole focus on oil didn't help that factor. It was quite a trial to get to our hotel because we had rented a small apartment, but the location we had been given was wrong, so we ended up wandering around for almost an hour before finding it. That pretty much took up the whole day. The next day was for exploring.
The following day I had again convinced Barry and Mom to let me drag them to another castle. I'm actually surprised they said yes. Maybe it was my good choice of Craigmillar Castle that gave them faith in me. I'll never be sure, but this one was much farther away. First we had to take a train 15 minutes to this seaside town outside of Aberdeen called Stonehaven. It was very picturesque and what I pictured a seaside town to be. Smaller houses, boats, a beach, in an inlet, the sea, and more! Once we took the train to Stonehaven we still weren't close. We then had to walk an hour not just on flat paved surfaces, but up hills, next to cliffs and on dirt walking paths. It was so much fun! I felt like an explorer! I think after a while Barry and Mom started regretting agreeing, but they never said anything to me, so I can pretend they enjoyed it as much as I did! When I saw the castle, Dunnottar Castle, it was breath taking! Dunnottar Castle is on this little piece of land that jets out into the sea and gives the impression that it is rising from it! At least that's how I felt! There were buildings to explore in this castle, but it was more straight forward then Craigmillar. I really liked this castle and I would have to say it is one of my favourites. Maybe at some later date I'll have to rank all the castles I've seen. It's a thought. We'll see if it happens! Anyway, I really liked this castle because it is so different from the others I have seen, it being right next to the water and on a island which is above the water. I enjoyed exploring this one a lot! It was also such a nice day for the walk and it definitely was my favourite day of the trip! If you want to learn about this castle here is a link: Dunnottar Castle
After the castle we headed back to Aberdeen where we went and saw the Aberdeen Maritime Museum which was actually interesting! It went through the development of Aberdeen from not a very important coastal town to its role in fishing and then oil. Parts of it looked newly done and it was quite engaging and interesting. There wasn't too much information thrown at you. Some of the oil things went over my head, but it mostly had to do with the rigs being in the water and being a prairie girl water and anything to do with it is an unknown concept to me. It was a good museum. After that we went to the Tolbooth Museum which is one of Aberdeen's oldest buildings and used to be the jail. It was interesting to go up the small winding stairs in the building to the small dark damp cells which were above ground. They had some interesting stories in there about men escaping because they hid in trunks or got the guards drunk. It had a different atmosphere from the other museums we had gone to and you got a feel for what it would have been like to be jailed their.
The next day we went back to Glasgow and visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum again because Barry and Mom didn't really remember it because they were so tired and jet lagged. The following day I had to get on a train and head back to Oxford because there was potential for a meeting the following day and I wanted to make sure that I was back just incase. Barry and Mom explored Glasgow for the rest of the day. That night, along with the night before, for supper we went to the Grumpy Goat and it was still good! I won't describe the train journey back to Oxford because it was such a pain. So many trains were canceled or delayed. All that matters is that I made it back in the end!
I had such a good time with my family in Scotland. This being our last trip together as a family it only felt right that this is the biggest trip we have ever been on together and I have to say it was worth every moment. Yes, we sometimes got frustrated with each other, but I wouldn't trade that time with them for anything in the world and it'll be something that I treasure and remember for as long as I have my memory!
No comments:
Post a Comment