Clutching Aberdeen’s Charter

Granite City, Aberdeen certainly is - there are impressive buildings on every corner. Opposite the Premier Inn (which is not an impressive building!) is Marischal College, said to be the second largest granite building in the world. My blip is the other side of the same building, now the Council Offices, with the statue of Robert the Bruce on horseback.

A lovely day in Aberdeen. The sun shone, the streets were quiet, there was lots to interest us both.

One of the several reasons for coming here was to see the exhibition of the Galloway Viking Hoard, which we missed when it was in Kirkcudbright, and which has now moved to the newly-refurbished Aberdeen Art Gallery. This carefully laid out exhibition in a lovely spacious gallery was well worth getting to. Although there are some beautiful examples of silverware etc. from the Hoard on display, the emphasis is on what the items can tell us about the people who buried the Hoard. Research is ongoing and fascinating, there are short films explaining the kind of things that are being found out, based on the treasures one can see.

Whilst I was wandering this excellent Art Gallery, Gordon went to the Maritime Museum a short distance away - he was very impressed. I sat out for a while on the top floor terrace with great views over the city and a Barbara Hepworth sculpture (see extra) Then we met up again for lunch at the Gallery, which was very good - a lovely lunch menu - with a glass of Rosé. Perfect!

In the afternoon we caught a bus to the old town of Aberdeen - St Machar. The Cathedral Church of St Machar, with its long history, is splendid and the walk back to the bus through the huge and lovely Seaton Park was a respite from streets.

Excellent day.