Long Day!

  Dufftown, United Kingdom
Monday, March 17, 2008

I thought I would be spending the day site seeing in Aberdeen, but they called me from downstairs and said, "Come on!".  So I joined the team for their tours. 

We all loaded on a tour bus and headed out at 8 AM.  After about an hour's drive in the Scottish countryside, we arrived at the Glenfiddich and Balvenie Distilleries -- near Dufftown -- in the heart of Speyside.  We chose the Balvenie distillery tour and learned all about the making of scotch from start to finish:  malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation, and the cooperage .  It was all very interesting!    After the tour we "nosed and sampled" 6 of their scotches, from moonshine (73% alcohol) to a smooth 21 year old.  Barry even 'bottled' some of his own scotch to bring home.  Some of us {Barry} would consider this a religious experience, on par with visiting Mecca every 7 years!  

We had a delicious lunch at the Glenfiddich distillery, then loaded the bus again for the Falconry.  Once we got there, I opted to stay in the warm bus for most of it.  The weather was too brisk for me!  Still no luggage, so I was still wearing the clothes I traveled in --- the North Sea wind went right through my thin pants.  Oh well. 

We were back at the hotel by 5PM, so Barry and I got in a cab and went to pick up a few items to get us by until our luggage comes.  We forgot it was St Paddy's Day, and all the cabs in town must have been somewhat occupied because we couldn't find one.  We finally called our hotel to see if they could pull a few strings to send one our way ... which they did.  So we were late for dinner with our group --- still dirty and wearing the same clothes we traveled in. 

I'm back in the room writing this quickly before heading off to bed.  A busy day for Barry tomorrow, and I haven't decided if I'm going to Edinburgh tomorrow by train, or if I'll stay in Aberdeen.  We'll see ...

I have a ton of pictures, but I'm too pooped to put any out.  Soon, hopefully!  Internet time is very pricey here, but I'll do my best to get them out for you. 

A quick note about Scotland and the Scottish people.  I absolutely love it here!  It's beautiful.  And even though I have a hard time understanding the Scottish brogue, the people are super friendly.  I wish I could see the hills when the heather was in bloom, it must be fantastic because there's so much of it here.  Really reminds me of Wales in a lot of ways.  The food is great .... nothing I don't like yet, but still shying away from haggis and black pudding!  I've seen lots of bunnies (outside our bedroom window), tons of sheep of course, and today we saw ~ 40 red deer (they look like small elk). Oh, and the distillery had a 20-year old resident cat to help keep the mice population down.  Boy,  it was ancient, flea-bitten, mangey ... and probably drunk.  The happiest cat we've ever seen!

We're having fun!

I was just about ready to sign off and guess what?  ONE of our suitcases came.  No telling where Barry's is.  Guess I'm just lucky!!!  :)