Old Scottish Friends

After the couple weeks working in London, I went up to Aberdeen to visit Pat, Stef and Chloe, of course! (old friends, though newly Scottish!). The time in Aberdeen was very nice and relaxing with some quality time with friends. Pat & I got many a scotch tasting (tours, local pubs and the living room). We also did a hike in on a nearby "mountain" - okay, it wasn't a mountain, more of a large hill, and it was covered in snow, and the distillery at the base (Glenlivet, which was supposed to be our reward), was closed, but still a nice hike and some much needed exercise. Stef and I also got a day adventuring to nearby castles (we avoided the snow!). And then there were the many fun days of hanging with Chloe and, I must admit, some days doing some remote work to pay the bills.

Here's a few photos from an expedition Pat & I took to the town of Elgin and the Glen Moray distillery (3 pounds for a tour and 7 scotch tastings!!).



And then Stef & I left Chloe with Pat for a day and did an outing to see a couple castles and have a really nice dinner just south of Aberdeen in Stonehaven. The photo of Stef next to a very special piece of Scottish history is quite impressive isn't it? (click on the photo and you can see a larger version of the photo and see what is underneath the box) I nearly had enough "covered" or "being repaired" photos of Scottish monuments to make an entire photo series of hidden art!! Or the other possibility is that this is a Scottish obelisk that will be the found during the beginning of A Space Odyssey: 2014?



How about Scottish mountaineering?




And some general trouble causing with my favourite girl in Aberdeen...



After two great weeks in Aberdeen (which flew by!) and with the work in London in the works but the paperwork dragging along, I made a quick decision to make a trip. After printing a map of Europe, going to the local pub, taping the aforementioned map to the dart board and having a few scotches, I threw a dart. Okay, in reality it more involved finding a cheap last minute flight to somewhere I wanted to go. As it turns out, Poland (and more specifically Krakow) was the final choice. And so I said farewell to Pat & Stef (left March 8 to be precise), but left the majority of my luggage with them ensuring another visit sometime very soon!