(fountain spraying)
- [Announcer] TravelingMel.com
- Hiya, from Aberdeen, Scotland.
Today we're gonna take you on a tour of this city
which, I don't know how much you know about it.
I didn't know a lot.
But it seems like it's pretty cool.
We are starting off here at Marischal College,
which is the second largest granite building in the world.
If you know what the first is, leave it in the comments
because I do not and it's not used as a college anymore.
It's a city council administrative building.
But it's huge and it's granite and it's beautiful.
It has a big statue of Robert the Bruce,
King of the Scots out front
and it's a great place to start our tour of Aberdeen.
(calm soothing music)
Our next stop is at the Tolbooth Museum
which is in a historic jail.
It has prison exhibits and a torture exhibit
and a lot of history I'm sure.
We're about to head in.
One of the cool things about Aberdeen
is that it has a fair bit of money
because of all the oil coming out of the North Sea.
And so a lot of the museums, including this one, are free.
(calm soothing music)
♪ Hope falling full of light ♪
- How are you?
♪ In every star and tear that you cry ♪
♪ Even when you're scared at night ♪
♪ I know you are brave ♪
♪ Oh oh ♪
♪ Take a step ♪
♪ Oh my child ♪
♪ Close your eyes and imagine all the stars ♪
- Our next stop is the Castle Gate Square
and The Mercat Cross, which is a market.
This is where they would have the market
and where town proclamations would be made.
Right now there's a festival going on,
Look Again Festival, and so there's this scaffolding
around the cross and some poetry and stuff like that
which you don't get quite as good a view of it
but on the other hand you get a great view
because we're up close to it.
In the original, this is a replication, a replica.
And the original is in the the Tolbooth Museum
so we just saw that up close as well.
♪ This little light of mine ♪
- I forgot to mention something kind of important.
Castle Gate is where the castle once stood
and it was used by both the English and the Scottish
and then it's believed it was destroyed
by King Robert the Bruce
in the early 14th century.
So that's a fairly significant point
of coming to this square.
(calm soothing music)
♪ Tell me why ♪
- We just popped into St. Andrews Cathedral here.
It was built in 1817 so it's pretty old
and it's a beautiful church.
It's granite and sandstone and you can go in there.
It has a really strong connection with the
United States and America
so there's all these little plaques of the states
up on the ceiling.
We found Montana's and an American flag
and I guess a long time connection.
So it's kind of interesting.
♪ So shine shine shine so bright ♪
♪ And fly so free to shine ♪
- Aberdeen has a rich history and connection
with the sea from shipbuilding to fishing
to oil drilling off in the North Sea here.
And Aberdeen Maritime Museum talks about all
of that through time.
And it's another free museum
so we're gonna go check it out.
♪ Your sweet soul dream for hours ♪
♪ Don't stop searching for the towers ♪
♪ Oh oh just be free ♪
♪ Oh my child ♪
♪ Close your eyes and imagine ♪
- Well we were going to show you the Aberdeen Art Gallery
which is known for its Scottish and international art
but especially for modern Scottish art.
But unfortunately it is closed for renovation right now.
So we will catch that on our next visit to Aberdeen.
But you should come see it if you're here.
♪ So shine shine shine so bright ♪
♪ So shine shine ♪
♪ Shine so bright ♪
♪ So shine shine ♪
- We always love finding a good park
and of course there are several green spots
here in Aberdeen.
And one of them is Union Terrace Gardens
which is a Victorian age sunken gardens
right in the city.
Excuse me.
If it was a warm sunny day
it would be great to have a picnic here
or read a book or hang out
and just kind of escape the city for a few minutes.
Cool statues, there's a William Wallace statue,
there's a Robert Burns statue
and it's just a nice kind of peaceful spot in the city.
♪ Even the ones that you cannot see ♪
- Thank you for coming with us
on this quick day trip to Aberdeen.
There's so much more to see.
There's different sections too.
There's this whole beachfront area
with an esplanade and I think the biggest beach
or it's one of the only major UK cities with a beach.
Long golden sand so that sounds amazing.
There's a university area and zoology museum
and botanic gardens and stuff
so there's so much to see but we're outta here for today.
I will list a bunch of stuff in the blog though
so you can check there for more information
on what to do in Aberdeen.
So thanks for coming with us,
and give us a thumbs up if you will.
And like, comment, share, all that kind of stuff.
We'd super appreciate it.
(calm soothing music)
♪ Shine shine ♪