Winter in Aberdeen

We recently had a lovely weekend in Aberdeen for our anniversary - I wrote about the first part of our weekend in The Twelve Days of Christmas and Cats in Aberdeen. During our journey we stopped in Fochabers for coffee and cake and discovered that they have a window display competition for Christmas. This was our favourite, drink cans that have been turned into a church choir, complete with sheet music.

I loved this little reindeer French bulldog that was in the cafe window - very cute.

The day before we drove across to Aberdeen it decided to snow very heavily but thankfully we were on a main road the whole way so had no problems.

When we got to the hotel we discovered that a friend had managed to get us upgraded to a premium room which was such a nice surprise - I'd already arranged for chocolates and prosecco in the room to celebrate with so it was a great way to start the weekend.

There was a lovely lounge bar downstairs and as it was freezing outside we just stayed at the hotel in the evening and enjoyed some time together in a nice environment.

Here's some pictures of snowy Aberdeen for you to enjoy - the snow makes everything look a little magical.

Ken found a mate to pose next to - I should have got him a matching costume to show off all his muscles.

I loved how this statue looked with the snow - very regal.

The gold mailbox is for Katherine Grainger who won gold in the rowing at the London 2012 Olympics. Every British gold medal winner at the London games had a post box in their hometown painted gold for them.

This huge piece of street art on the side of a building is by the artist Add Fuel, who is a Portuguese Street Artist. 

Look at these boots of loveliness that I spotted in a shop window - I had to go in and hold them for a moment and imagine winning the lottery so that I could go back and buy them.

Beautiful war memorial with the winter sun on it.

We had a good wander round Union Square shopping centre, admiring the lovely Christmas decorations and the shops that we don't have in Inverness. Loved this waterfall of lights in the front of the centre.

One of the shops had all sorts of things made out of chocolate - they were amazing. Love the shoes and lipsticks in this photo.

Chocolate tools and nuts and bolts.

Chocolate 'cheese' and utensils. I was tempted to buy a piece of the 'cheese' as I'm sure it must mess with your head having something that looks so like cheese, but is solid chocolate.

This is looking down into part of the shopping centre from a balcony.

We stopped to have a coffee (of course) and I had this very cute little meringue snowman. He was very yummy.

On our journey home to Nairn we stopped part way for a break and took these photos that show the snow looking like icing on these picnic tables.

The cafe had a lovely wood burner for us to sit near - nice and toasty warm.

More snow shots.

Hope you enjoyed this visit to snowy Aberdeen. That was two weeks ago and now there is only snow left on the high mountains - the weather is being very bizarre.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and I hope the weather is good wherever you are in the world.

Pamela & Ken
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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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