Oh Aberdeen

Hello again blog-readers! Had a big weekend in Aberdeen, Scotland these past few days! Of all the things is was and was not, it definitely was beautiful! Not as adventuresome as some of my other experiences; however, Emily and I did manage to not see something again, so I hope you find our mishaps entertaining! But have no fear, we had a really great time in the city which has been nicknamed by some: The Silver City. It was more grey to if you ask me!

We left Winchester on a bus at 5:55am to get to London. Then we waited around to catch a train to Edinburgh and then eventually a train to Aberdeen! We finally got to Aberdeen at about 5pm. Lucky for us, our hotel was located inside the giant Union Square center, which also housed the train station, bus station, shopping center, and tons of restaurants. We considered ourselves very lucky! After shopping around a bit and having dinner, we decided to hit the hay. I'm sure you understand that if you have ever traveled for 12 hours!

The next morning we woke up, and I was determined to see a castle. We had breakfast in the hotel and asked the lady at the front desk about castles nearby. She printed off a few things for us, but pointed us in the direction of Balmoral Castle. She said it was said to be a beautiful attraction- the Queen even goes to stay there for a summer holiday sometimes! We were sold. We got ready and went to the bus station and asked for tickets for a bus that would take us to see Balmoral Castle. The woman told us which bus to go to and that we could buy our tickets from the driver.

When we asked the driver which stop we needed for Balmoral Castle, he told us and we paid. We rode the bus for two hours with a group of Polish siblings that were about our age. We were all really excited! The drive was beautiful. We got to see so much of the Scottish countryside. Then we got dropped off a bus stop in the middle of no where. The only thing around for miles was a church and a shack that was labeled as a visitors center, which was closed. As was the castle we just drove 2 hours and paid the equivalent of almost $30 to go see. We barely caught the same bus back, with the driver who had just dropped us off half an hour before.

While I'm sure we should have researched this castle for ourselves and realized the would not be open on a Saturday in March (which is stupid) I also lay blame on all of the people who let us buy tickets for a castle that they should have known would not be open. To all of you- you owe me money and ruined my day. We wasted 5 hours of our day, which was most of it, on seeing nothing but views from a bus window, which is exactly what you see in the picture included in this blog!

When we got back to Aberdeen it was around 4pm and we were tired and hungry, having not had any lunch. So we walked around the city, shopped a bit more, and made a plan for seeing the beach in the morning. We went back to the Union Square center and saw people getting pedicures from fish! Thats right.. you stick your feet in a tank full of little sucker fish that suck and nibble the dead skin off your feet and toes. Do you even have to ask if Emily and I tried it! Of course we did! It tickled! It felt like little vibrations all over your feet. It was so cool. Our feet were so soft afterwards. I highly recommend you try this treatment if you ever get the chance!

 Then after dinner we relaxed a little bit before we decided on going out to see how Scottish people get down with the get-down. We had a lot of fun! We just kind of bar hopped from place to place until we found one we could dance at! I take full credit for getting my partner in crime, Emily, tipsy for the first time in her life. Call me a bad influence if you'd like- I call it a small victory for myself. We saw a few kilts, and a lot of very drunk people. We were batting guys off left and right mostly because they were just falling all over us, literally, which was really annoying. We didn't appreciate having our newly pedicured toes stepped on!

The next morning we got up bright and early to walk to the beach. It was a pretty walk and the beach was even more beautiful. I made Emily get in the ocean with me. Ok, so maybe we only put our feet in and it was the coldest water on the planet... but we still did it! I am sure we looked absolutely insane to the other people that were walking their dogs and children on the beach, but we didn't care. Who knows if I will ever get to stick my feet in the North Sea ever again!

After the ocean it was time for our 12 hour journey back to Winchester. See, I told you we had a rather uneventful time! We got back to Winchester at 11:30pm, and were more than exhausted! Thanks for tuning in- sorry it wasn't much fun. Tonight I am singing and reading a poem at an open mic night hosted by the Christian Union that I attend here. Who knows, maybe my next post will include a video of it! You can also look forward to my next big adventure: Back to the States!!

<3 M