Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night ...

... is keeping us from getting out and about and enjoying Scotland this winter. And winter it definitely is. We've got a howling blizzard going on outside right now and it feels good to be sitting inside our cozy living room, the set-up and decorated Christmas tree twinkling in the corner. Yes it is up already - don't judge us! - we'll be out in London next weekend and if we waited until the weekend after that it would feel like too late. Plus, we have to get started on Christmas cards, and how can you write those without a little bit of atmosphere to set the mood?

We've got at least 20 cm of snow on the ground now and it has been snowing or raining off and on for most of the last week. The forecasts call for a continuation of that trend next week as well. Just as we were starting to get a little homesick, Mother Nature was kind enough to give us a taste of Canada. Because the city (and country in general) is so unprepared for snow like this, a lot of stuff just shuts down and people hunker down and wait it out. But we've actually been a little busy the last week.

On Tuesday night we bundled up and went down to Crathes Castle for a demonstration and lecture from the Aberdeen Astronomical Society. It was really well done and one of the lecturers happened to be a client of mine from BP. They had some telescopes set up outside to look at the moon, Jupiter and some other astronomical oddities. Fiona took some time to get great shots of the castle at night. Her photography skills amaze me - even though she adds the caveat here that these photos were taken with her 'happy snaps' camera, not her 'professional' camera. I think she's looking at some evening classes to get even better. Even though it rained off and on during the evening it was still good fun, especially as several work colleagues showed up as well.

Saturday afternoon we met up with more work colleagues at Pittodrie stadium for Scotland v Samoa in international rugby. It was plenty cold, but we went prepared and even though it was our first exposure to rugby we had a really good time. The match was fairly even and competitive and I can see the appeal of the game for others. The pomp and circumstance around the game was impressive as well - from the singing of 'Flower of Scotland' to the Samoan haka. Most impressive - the size, speed and strength of some of the brutes playing this game. The Samoans were almost as wide and thick as they were tall. Post-game we all hustled over to the nearest pub for a few pints, more rugby on the big screen and good conversation. We finished the evening at the Greek restaurant. We emerged to an Aberdeen covered in a thick blanket of snow and had fun trudging through the big, fat flakes on the way home. Even more fun, though, is watching Casey bounding through the drifts, tail wagging, face buried in the snow, running around like an eedjit. Fabulous.

The Tartan Army

One of the guys at work arranged for a group of us to go see the Scottish national team play the Faroe Islands in an international friendly at Pittodrie. When the Tartan Army calls, you answer, so we got all bundled up and made our way to the stadium. The fact that we were all bunched together like sardines helped keep the cold night at bay, and the fact that "missiles" were expressly forbidden kept it family friendly. The pre-game highlight was the singing of the Scottish 'National Anthem'. 50 points for anyone that can identify the song ...

The Faroes hit a goalpost early on, but quickly faded after that and Scotland romped to an expected 3-0 victory. The real pity is that all goals were scored at the other end of the stadium.

We're now really looking forward to our first international rugby game on the 27th.

Budapest - Day 3

Being that we were in Budapest we decided to visit one of the famous spas. It was an absolutely gorgeous day as we got a cab over to the Gellert Spa. It is a gorgeous building with beautiful tile mosaics. We arrived, paid our fee and were a little confused about where we were supposed to go. We stopped by the information desk and the nice lady there showed us into the women's area of the spa. We were then put in the hands of the matron in the change room. We ordered around by this women who looked like she could crush us with her bare hands. "COME!" was her favorite and maybe only English word. We arranged to get a quick 20 min massage and headed to the hot thermal pools. They were really enjoyable, apart from getting an eyeful of old naked Hungarian women. I will also say that the massage was really weird but also great!

We left the spa feeling wonderfully relaxed and with a few stories that will make us giggle for years to come. (Our other fellow travelers had a few to add as well). Off to explore Pest some more.

Back to the Market, of course for a little more shopping. I have to admit that I did come home with 4 new scarves and other neat tidbits. Lunch was at a great little cafe where we ate in the sunshine on the patio. It was nearly 20 degrees outside which is very unusual for Budapest this time of year, so we soaked up some sun.

We decided to head back to Hero's Square, it is a very impressive monument to all the great heroes from Hungary.

Back to the Parliament buildings for another look at the beautiful architecture. Not to far from the parliament is a statue of President Imre Nagy, he was executed by the Soviets. Andrea, our tour guide had told us that his statue is placed on a bridge to symbolize the country crossing from communism to democracy and he is facing the Parliament building which is a symbol of democracy and liberty.

We then walked back down along the Danube and stopped at the memorial on the riverbank to the group of Hungarian Jews that were rounded up, brought down to the riverside, shot and thrown in to the river. It was a very sobering tribute, the replica iron shoes of men women and children sitting empty on the riverside.

We had been so impressed with the Gerbeaud coffee house that we stopped again for a treat and coffee. Back at the hotel, we met up with a few of our other ladies and all went to dinner together. After dinner we got our whole group together to present a thank you gift to our trip organizer. She did such an amazing job. Thanks so much, Sherri! We also exchanged stories from the spa and had a good laugh, many of us laughing until we cried..

Tour of Budapest

We got up bright and early to a foggy day in Budapest. Our tour guide, Andrea picked us up and we drove a bit through the castle district and headed to the citadel. The citadel itself, as with other buildings in Budapest was marked with bullet holes, left there as reminders of the past. At the top of the citadel is an old Soviet monument that the Hungarians have reclaimed for themselves. It was a really great view from the top of the hill. We hopped back on the bus and headed to the Parliament, a beautiful building and one of the largest in Europe apparently. Next stop was St. Stephen's Cathedral. A really interesting church dedicated to the most popular saint of Hungary. He was the first king of Hungary and brought Catholicism to a people who were primarily pagan. He had a remarkably long life, he was approximately 68 when he died, which for the time (1038) was rare. He outlived all of his children and so before he died he is said to have offered the crown and the people of Hungary to the Virgin Mary and asked her to be their queen. In the church is housed the mummified right hand of St. Stephen. We drove a bit more around the Pest side of the city and up the Hungarian version of the Champs-Elysees and at the end is Hero's square (that we decided to go back to the next day) and our last stop was the large covered market. We were then left by our tour guide and left to our own devices. We walked around the food stalls on the main floor, filled with fruits, vegetables and meats. It was really neat to explore. We stopped for lunch (schnitzel, really good) and proceeded around the second floor, where all the souvenir shops were. It was packed full of glassware, linens, beautiful pashminas, chess sets, and many other crafts. A few friends and I started our walk back to the hotel, down the pedestrian street, Vaci Street. Lined with more shops we took our time walking along this street finding more treasures. Our tour guide had told us about one of the oldest cafes in Budapest called Gerbeaud. So we stopped for a coffee and a treat. It was fantastic and a really beautiful building, inside it felt like a old fashioned hotel lobby with warm colours, gold leaf crown moulding, and chandeliers.

With a gorgeous sunset as the backdrop we strolled back along the Danube, past the Little Princess and over the Chain Bridge. We took the funicular up to the top of Castle Hill and got back to our hotel.

A little time later we were picked up again by the bus and brought down to the river where we boarded our dinner cruise. It was a great time! We enjoyed the views from the river with all the buildings lit up. The city is absolutely magnificent looking at night.