A weekend in Aberdeen

Location: Aberdeen
Date: 24/05/13-26/05/13

It felt like a long time in coming around but finally, almost a year after my close friend, Lindsay moved to Aberdeen, I was finally off to visit her! I had never been to Aberdeen before so I was looking forward to being shown around the 'granite city'.

I was lucky enough to have picked one of the best weekends of the year so far to visit Aberdeen: it was sunny all weekend! This meant that not long after arriving and having a good catch up with Lindsay, she took me to Duthie Park, the largest park in Aberdeen, where we could relax and enjoy the sunshine. The park is undergoing restoration work at the moment so although it already looks pretty good, I'm sure it'll look even better when it has been fully restored to it's former Victorian glory.

After walking around the park, Lindsay suggested we take a look at the Winter Gardens, located in the center of the park. Although a sunny spring day might seem like a strange time to visit the Winter Gardens, I am glad we decided to go. It was lovely just to walk around and admire the plant life, especially the cactus's: I had no idea they could grow so big! There is also a little courtyard in the middle of the gardens, where you can just relax and forget that you are in a city for a while.

Later on, Lindsay and I got all dressed up and headed over to Robert Gordon University with some friends of hers for their annual charity fashion show. The event is organised by students at the University and this year's theme was 'World of Colour'. I have to say, I really enjoyed the fashion show: it was something completely different for me as I had never attended a fashion show before. The free glass of wine and goody bag each of us were given  helped to make it a good event: as if staring at amazing clothes wasn't exciting enough! As usual though, I didn't win anything in the raffle.

After the show, Lindsay took me to the city center to experience Aberdeen's night life. We went to Siberia Vodka Bar, Slain's Castle and Triple Kirks before heading to the Exodus nightclub. I especially liked Slain's Castle, which had a spooky, gothic theme to it and whose cocktail menu was based on the seven deadly sins. We opted to share a jug of their 'envy' cocktail which was very refreshing. Exodus was also great, I enjoyed being able to dance to music from the 50's and 60's rather than just the usual stuff. All in all, by the time I limped back to Lindsay's flat at 4am in my stilettos, I had enjoyed a great first day in Aberdeen.

The next day, after waking up feeling slightly worse for wear, Lindsay took me to Aroma cafe for a 'hangover cure'. The second we were in the door, she ordered us both a 'belly buster'. Slightly worried by the name of this thing, I was looking forward to trying it. Five or so minutes later and I am presented with the belly buster: a floury bap crammed with a beef burger, three sliced sausages, a fried egg, bacon, cheese and a dollop of ketchup. It probably contained my 2,000 calories for the day on its own but it tasted amazing! When I got to the last few mouthfuls, it felt like I was a contestant on 'Man vs Food', trying to stare the belly buster down and will myself on. I actually felt proud when I finished it. If I am ever back in Aberdeen, I will definitely have to try and attempt this again!

After eating the belly buster, a big walk was required to at least attempt to work it off so we wandered round Aberdeen Art Gallery before heading over to the sea front to enjoy a wee ice cream.

That night was devoted to a girlie night in, having dinner, watching Titanic and chatting. The next morning, I was treated to a massive Scottish breakfast by Lindsay before it was time for me to catch the train back to Glasgow (too soon in my opinion!).

I had a great weekend up in Aberdeen with Lindsay and although you could say that there isn't as much to do as in Glasgow or Edinburgh, it is still a lovely city and well worth a visit!