Aberdeen

Aberdeen from the air

Views from the apartment windows - to the left is from the living room / kitchen windows, which face south east (with a rainbow!), below is looking out the east-facing bedroom window towards the North Sea.
window - east

The building the flat is in is called Elmhill House. It was built in 1862 as a private patient branch of the Royal Cornhill Hospital (for those 'deprived of their use of reason'). During World War II the east wing of the building was damaged by a bomb (in the picture you can see the difference in stonework on the right side of the building). Just a few years ago the building was refurbished and now holds 31 apartments.

Sessions at The Blue Lamp on Monday nights were the best part of being in
Aberdeen. Lots of great musicians that are also really nice people. And I think
we set a record for the number of flute players ever at a session in Aberdeen;-)
If I have some good soundclips I'll put those up at some point...
Sandy and Alastair

Castlegate (at the eastern end of Union Street), with
the Mercat Cross in the middle

The (New) Townhouse on Union Street, built 1868-74 and incorporating a sandstone tollbooth at the east end (right side of the photograph).

Aberdeen Harbour - as is probably apparent from this photo, the main industry in the city today is oil due to its proximity to the North Sea fields. One of its nicknames is 'oil capital of the Empire' and the majority of people are employed in oil-related industry.

Kirk of St. Nicholas - this beautiful old church sits right downtown on Union Street, called the green heart of the city because of the yard surrounding it. The picture on the right is the north transept of the church, which contains the oldest masonry in Aberdeen, dating mainly from the 12th century. In 1990 the transept was refurbished by the oil industry to mark the first 25 years of North Sea operations and it was renamed St. John's Chapel.
St. Nicholas

Provost Skene's House - a beautiful old house surrounded by one of the ugliest
imaginable office buildings

part of the ceiling of the late-medieval painted room in the house

Old Aberdeen:

King's College, founded in 1495 and now the University of Aberdeen, in the beautiful old part of the city. (This picture is as it looked 3 years ago, the crown tower is currently under construction.)

Marischal College, which merged with King's in 1861 to form the University of Aberdeen. Most of this building (boasted as the 2nd largest granite building in the world), is now in a state of some disrepair, but the 19th century gothic architecture is quite nice.

St. Machar's Cathedral - founded c.580 by a disciple of St. Columba according to legend, it became a cathedral in 1131 and the present building dates largely from the period 1350-1520.
St. Machar's interior

The Old Townhouse, on High Street near King's College. Completed in 1788 it originally contained a Grammar School, and English School, and a hall used by different societies in the city. It replaced an earlier Townhouse completed in 1703 which had replaced even earlier buildings from the 1660s.

Brig o' Balgownie over the River Don: local legend has it that this bridge was begun by Bishop Henry Cheyne in the late 13th or early 14th century and completed by Robert the Bruce, but this may or may not be based in fact. Its appearance today is due to rebuilding work in the early 17th century. Until the completion of the nearby Bridge of Don in 1831 this was the main crossing of the river north of Aberdeen. Today it is only open to foot traffic.

warning device

:-)