We spent the night in Aberdeen, and in the morning had a hotel breakfast. Meh. The previous day we'd found a Methodist church, so we went there for an eleven o'clock service. They were very friendly and welcoming. There was a guest speaker, Elaine, from the Scottish Bible Society. They're a group dedicated to spreading the Word of God through missions (local and global).
Elaine was very good and spoke about how if we really love Jesus we'd talk about him to others, just like we talk to others about our other loved ones. She also spoke about her mission trips and the uplifting and encouraging things she'd seen.
After the service, we had tea at the church, and had our ears talked off by a Dane who loves Obama, hates Bush, and was going on a trip to Vietnam to help clean up the agent orange, which still lingers from the war. I don't know what I really think of communism versus capitalism. I *do* think that the American way of life isn't sustainable, but communism has been proven to be a disaster as well - humans aren't altruistic enough for it to work.
We hopped on the train to Stonehaven, where the ruins of Dunnottar Castle sit by the sea. Lunch in town consisted of fish and chips, and for dessert I bought a "homemade tablet." I have no idea what this tablet was, but it tasted like a block of sugar. Homemade sugar cube/tablet perhaps? I doubt I'll ever know.
The hike from the town to the castle was lengthy - I think maybe 2 miles. Up and down and up again through the sea-side cliffs. We met an older couple who gave us their admission tickets, but I didn't think they'd work. When we'd finally arrived at the castle, the ticket seller was suspicious, and thought we'd paid for bum tickets. We ended up buying two new tickets (as I expected). The castle ruins were fantastic. Many buildings were still partially standing, and if you don't mind the fences and railings, there's some good climbing around too. The castle sits on a cliff high above the ocean. The Scottish crown jewels were hidden there when the English invaded Scotland.
The walk back to town seemed even longer since we were both tired. Back in Aberdeen we ate at La Tasca Spanish Tapas bar (again). We rested. |
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Today is Sunday. We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. I finally had porridge and it was fantastic with a little salt and honey.
We went to Crown Terrace Methodist Church and listened to Elaine Duncan from the Scottish Bible Society. She used Paddington Bear in her children's message because he traveled from Peru, a place the Scottish Bible Society helps distribute bibles, and then she gave all the kids and some of the adults marmalade sandwiches. I wanted one, but we were too far back. . .
After, we got into a conversation with a Danish guy who travels to Vietnam and teaches sustainable agriculture to the folks there while helping to get rid of Agent Orange. An honorable mission, except a little tainted by the way he kept referring to John and me as 'you Americans' who caused the problem in the first place.
We hopped on a train to Stonehaven and had fish and chips at a little hotel restaurant. I decided to try a vaguely named packet of 'salad cream' which was quite gross and should never actually be put on a salad.
Then we hiked to Dunnottar Castle which was a couple miles away and up a hill. We saw some rabbits and great views of cliffs and the water. A man had given us his tickets on the way up, but when we tried to use them, the ticket guy said it was fishy and made us pay 5 pounds for entry. By the time we got there, I was kinda tired so I staked out a spot to sit while John explored around the ruins. There wasn't an audio tour so I didn't feel too bad just sitting there.
Then we walked all the way back down and got the train back to Aberdeen. And because it was so good the night before, we ate at La Tasca again but had even more appetizers because it was 'all the tapas you can eat for a tenner' deal night. For ten pounds each, we had olive bread with oil and sherry vinegar for dipping, mushrooms sauteed with garlic in olive oil, spinach salad with avocado and cucumber, vegetable paella, two orders of meatballs with sauce, paprika chicken wings and another order of the wilted spinach and pine nuts. I love tons of choices!! And dessert was great too. John had orange sherbet served in a frozen orange rind and I had orange walnut cake. Yum! |
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