Back to Winter

Wow! Summer solstice was only one week ago, and already it feels like winter has returned to Aberdeen! It's crazy. On Tuesday, we finally had a sunny day (it had been cloudy and rainy for a week), so Amie and I decided to enjoy the sunshine and explore some of Aberdeen. We headed out to walk along the harbour at Torry Battery, since the last time we were there it rained on us. Well, this time it wasn't raining, but the winds were gusting to at least 30 mph. If it hadn't been blowing away from the water it probably would have blown us right into the sea! We ended up wearing hats, gloves, and scarves - on the 26th of June! Who would have thought? The water was incredibly choppy, and the waves were huge, crashing against the rocks and the pier with amazing power.

When we finally had enough of the cold and the wind, we headed back into town for some warmth at Starbucks before visiting a couple of parks. I had never been to the Union Terrace Gardens, and their landscaping was beautiful. This park is located below street level between the two main streets in Aberdeen, so it was somewhat sheltered from the wind. And with the sun shining, it was quite nice. We had a snack and just relaxed there.

After some more exploring and dinner at home, we decided to walk out on the beach to enjoy the late summer sunshine. We had wanted to go there on summer solstice, the longest day of the year, but since it was really cloudy that evening the effect would have been lost. We got out to the beach around 9:30 pm, and the sun was just starting to go down. We enjoyed a lovely sunset and watched the waves crashing on the beach. They weren't quite as big as earlier in the day, but they were certainly more powerful than any waves I've seen at the Aberdeen beach.

All together, it was a lovely day of exploring, and I got to see a couple of parts of this city that I'd never experienced before. We didn't get home till about 10:30 pm, but it was still quite light out - when I went to bed at midnight it still wasn't pitch black! This is one thing I enjoy about summer in Aberdeen - really long days!