The Granite City

Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Back to the plaid skirts, bagpipes, and little terrier dogs.  However, unlike the movies, we actually haven’t seen too much of that other than numerous plaid and wool shops that line the streets.  And even though it’s a pretty grey town, it’s not due to the weather.  Actually it is due to the fact that most of the buildings are made of granite which is heavily produced here. 

Therefore, building a castle here just made sense.  We ventured about an hour out of the city through the Scottish countryside, another sight to see on my bucket list and it was absolutely beautiful!  The Donnattor Castle was located on the cliff banks next to open country land and the North Sea.  It was home to the Earls Marischal and about 100 other people while lots of wild life flourished in the area. Not only was the kitchen haunted but another story that caught my attention that was posted on the walls of the castle vault was one that tied back to the U.S.  After the siege in 1651, the castle was actually damaged and used to house part time soldiers, but by 1658 things changed.   

There was a short rebellion involving those that refused to follow the Supreme Head of the church and believed in Presbyterian religion.  Most were from Edinburgh, Scotland where 122 men and 45 women were marched to this castle where they were held here in the infamous vault for nine weeks with no sanitation.  Of the 122, 25 men escaped, but two fell to their deaths and 15 were captured and tortured.  The remaining prisoners were put on a ship to the West Indies and eventually hit land in New England, putting America and the U.S.A. on the map!  And even though these poor people did not know a good life, it did take my attention that being American tied us to the Scottish and also to my family being that I have a portion of Scottish in my heritage. 

And we couldn’t have picked a better day to venture out to the castle.  Not only did we have it to ourselves when we arrived, but the sun came out and heated the air before we made a quick stop in Stonehaven and arriving back to the hotel. 

So, believe it or not, the weather hasn’t been all that bad here and its actually been warmer here than at home and we still haven’t seen snow yet, it was pretty convenient that there was a shopping mall attached to our hotel.  Some saw this as a blessing and others saw it as a nightmare.  I guess it all depended on how much you like shopping and how much Christmas shopping you had left.  And even though I didn’t make it to the Christmas market this week, I made it around the area.  The streets were decorated with lights hanging above the road and Christmas trees and banners were displayed all around.   

It was all getting us in the holiday spirit and ready for our first week of Secret Santa.  It also seemed as if everyone was breaking out their little decorations for not only their hotel rooms, but also for their makeup spots as well.  It’s amazing what we can think of when we have a little down time, however, we had to be space conscientious of our decorations because we were back in a small building with teeny tiny ice again. 

This time there was a twist…the ice was on a slanted stage and it was supposed to be from upstage to downstage, however when we were on the ice performing it seemed as if it was slanted from right to left.  It definitely through all of us for a loop.  But it didn’t stop of us from having a power skating and trick class!

I would have to say though, one of the cutest moments of the week was when a little boy in the front row blew me a kiss all by himself.  Ah, its moments like these…

And with the blink of an eye, we were on our way to Sheffield, our last stop before closing out the UK with London.