Facts of the Day:
Date: 08/August/2002
From: Aberdeen
Via: Old Aberdeen
To: Aberdeen
Miles: 0 (car) 10+, (I think, walked)
Midges: 20 (Estimate)
Weather: Cloudy but dry
Mood: Good

After a good breakfast at the Allan Guest House I was ready to explore Aberdeen further. I started with the Aberdeen Art Gallery, looking at various pictures and sculptures. They range from landscape pictures of Victorian times over Impressionist paintings to contemporary art. I quite liked some of the portraits in the room on the picture left. By the time I left the Art Gallery it was lunchtime, so I took a short break reading the paper and eating my "Muesli Bars". Only a short distance from the Art Gallery is Provost Skene's House. A quite amazing contrast: This house is the oldest surviving private house in Aberdeen and it is surrounded by these ugly office blocks on three sides (and the fourth is not much better). It only narrowly escaped demolition in the 1930s and again the 1950s, the late Queen Mother played an important part in the campaign to save it. It is now a museum giving an overview how (wealthy) people lived from the 16th to the 19th century. I walked to Old Aberdeen next, which is home to Aberdeen University. The picture shows King's College Chapel from 1495 with its Renaissance spire. Through the passage on the right is the entrance to a visitor centre with an exhibition about the history of the university.

Following the street to the north I reached Machar's Cathedral. It has several beautiful stained glass windows and a very interesting heraldic ceiling. The building has been modified various times over the centuries, the first building on the site was built almost 1500 years ago with the current building mainly going back to the 15th century. Through Seaton Park I made my way to the coast, where I walked back to the town centre along the beach promenade after a quick look at Donmouth Nature Reserve.

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