The University of Aberdeen occupies much of Old Aberdeen. There's some beautiful buildings, including King's College, and nice old cobblestone streets lined with small stone buildings. It was very nice and peaceful, with the occasional student bustling past. At the north end of the city was a large park which we walked through, heading east, and then walked back along King Street to the centre of town, by which time we'd walked over four miles (yes, they still use miles here). It was around this time that my right ear was really starting to ache, so we stopped at a Tescos along the way for some paracetamol (Tylenol isn't available here).
For supper our initial plan was to go to Jimmy Chung's, a chinese buffet restaurant chain which we like from Edinburgh, but the weekend dinner cost wasn't worth it -- I just don't eat enough. Instead we walked to the massive Marks and Spencers about five blocks away and got some delicious chicken caesar wraps, carrot sticks and a salad, plus snacks and pop for the evening, and spent about what we would have for one of us to eat at the buffet. But we also agreed to go out the next night, and the pizza we got was great!
Friday night I didn't sleep much -- my ear was just too painful. I waited until 5:45am to wake Derek up and ask him to get me some ibuprofen. That worked, or at least the first dose did. On Saturday we were off walking again. This time we headed east to the beach, and then walked along the coast and found ourselves in the picturesque coastal village of Footdee. The docks were packed with ships and ferries. We checked out the Science Museum, but it didn't seem like it was for us, but we did visit Provost Skene's House, and 17th century home of the mayor of Aberdeen that has been furnished as it would have been in the 17th and 18th centuries. The nursery was particularly neat, as were the rooms that you could compare from different centuries.
After a lunch of M&S sandwiches we headed south to the Maritime Museum. It was a beautiful new museum consisting of an old church, a home that was centuries old and a glass adjoining section -- very light and open, yet historical. Too be honest, I think I found the structure, design and history of the building more interesting than the museum itself. After a tour of some of the statues, including the massive William Wallace statue, we headed back to the room.
Derek's knee was bothering him, and between that and my ear we were pretty much ready to rest, but first came dinner, and then a drink at The Monkey House. Derek had spotted this pub when we first arrived in Aberdeen, and being quite the fan of monkeys, we agreed that we had to go. The only disappointing part was that we were both stuffed from dinner, and when Derek was given two pints (Carlsberg is always 2 for 1, it turns out), the task in front of him was a bit overwhelming. But we managed.
After another rough night (neither the paracetamol nor the ibuprofen were working anymore), we packed up and headed out. The train did leave until 1:50pm, so we came up with low key activities for the morning. These included sitting in the sunny gardens, sitting in the mall, and sitting in the train station waiting for the train. We had hoped to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the train ride home, but with the sun shining down we couldn't see the screen nearly well enough to appreciate the subtle nuances of the humourous scenes :)
For an epilogue, I'll mention that I was at the doctor's by 8:45am Monday morning, and by 9:05 I had a prescription for antibiotics for my ear infection and pain killers. By Monday night following some excellent advice from family members I had a system worked out for killing the pain, and Thursday evening my right ear finally opened up. I'm still on antibiotics, and I'll be going back to the doctor next week to get the all clear to fly home the week after.
I'll also mention that according to eye-witnesses my dear friend is now happily married, and from the photos I've seen not only was the ceremony beautiful, but she was absolutely stunning. And Derek and I will be back in Canada in time to attend their reception :)
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