The Twelve Days of Christmas and Cats in Aberdeen

Today my beloved and I have been married 18 years so to celebrate we went to Aberdeen for the weekend. Despite a lot of snow we made it to the granite city without any problems to enjoy a couple of lovely days in the cold.

The view out of our hotel window with the sea just past that white building.

There were lots of Christmas themed things going on and that was one of the reasons we'd chosen to visit Aberdeen. After a very lovely breakfast at the hotel which included vegetarian sausages (I was very impressed) we drove to the Union Square shopping centre to leave the car in the multistory carpark. When we walked down into the shopping centre I became very excited when I spotted several shops that we don't have in Inverness, including Paperchase (my stationery heaven) and Krispy Kreme.

During December there is a Twelve Days of Christmas totem pole trail around the city and we managed to find seven of them. They're really lovely and show great carving skill.

My favourites of the ones we found were the partridge in the pear tree and five gold rings. I think the partridge is looking quite grumpy, but I guess I would be too if I had to sit there covered in snow.

The Christmas village was set up in front of Marischal college which added to the atmosphere. My beloved was shocked to discover that I've never been on a Helter Skelter in my life and I wasn't starting with this one - I think with my history of falls it may not have been a very elegant landing.

Here's a few pictures from the village including the local craftsmen's fair which was inside, and the ice skating rink which no-one was on when we went past.

The teacups were very pretty including the pictures that were around the top of the ride.

Beautiful Christmas tree.

By now we were in need of some sustenance and a little bit of peace in the busy city, but where to go. Well, in a city that has a cat cafe there is nowhere else good enough (see previous visit here) and when we arrived we were the only ones there so got the cats to ourselves for quite a while.

Love the decorations in the cafe including this meditating cat statue and the fabulous Christmas tree that the cats could play with.

As soon as Ken's scone arrived Zeus was straight up on his knee trying to convince him that he should get to share it (he didn't get any).

This is Romeo who came to visit with us for a while as well.

Boo who was in crazy mode, racing around and attacking rugs and scratch poles.

Pancake who has got the cutest little squished up face that you've ever seen. Her fur is incredibly soft, in fact I think it's the softest cat fur I've ever stroked.

The climbing trees had fairy lights around them which looked really pretty and didn't put Romeo off when he went climbing.

Theodore and Drago curling up together looking incredibly cute - I took a picture of these two together in the same bed last time we visited.

After she woke up, Pancake went climbing amongst the tree branches that line part of the cafe.

Me enjoying a pumpkin spiced latte from a black cat mug with the lovely Boo finally asleep next to me.

This is Ninja who is the newest resident of the cafe. She had been at an animal rescue centre for nearly a year with no one wanting her - I'm so glad she's finally got a nice home to live in. Aren't her eyes beautiful. The box behind Ninja is how the cats go in and out of the cafe to a room that is just for them.

Whilst we were there one of the staff brought out some treats for the cats and as you can see, it very quickly grabbed everyones attention with Pancake and Boo being very impatient and trying to climb her leg. We give the same treats to our Princess Cookie cat and she's a bit crazy for them too.

Romeo went and joined Theodore and Drago in their bed and have you ever seen anything so cute - the three of them cuddled up together. Theodore has even got his arm around Romeo. The staff were taking photos of the three of them too.

Ken took this photo in the toilet - someone is obviously a Harry Potter fan.

Hope you've enjoyed this visit to the cat cafe and the Christmas village. Until next time, be good, stay safe, and say hello to the next cat you see.

Pamela & Ken
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