From a travelogue viewpoint our overnight train from London to Aberdeen was uneventful in a good way. We were tired and it had been hot, the bunk beds were actually quite comfortable and a reasonable amount of sleep was had, we were up early for the first available time in the dining car for our included breakfast. My best description of the meal is eminently civilized, sitting by a window watching fields of sheep and cows on one side and the ocean on the other was just delightful... and civilized. Arriving at the train station we used a cab (Because we learned from London) to get to our car rental facility out at the airport. I am still quite put out that there was not a car hire facility in the train station or even in close proximity, but I can't change that. 

Our first stop, one of my wife's (Then Girlfriend/Fiance) favorite castles based on my photos from my time is school was Fyvie Castle, it is located outside a very cute and very small village, with a very small and very cute church, or Kirk as they are often called. As we got to the area before the castle opened we decided to explore the peaceful little churchyard. There is something about a small country churchyard in Scotland that is just.... sigh... amazingly peaceful. I felt that monochrome suited the texture and mood of the place. This could be an aftereffect of my time spent there that I remember as being grey MOST of the time. Skies, buildings, ground all grey, I was glad I got to see the area with more sunlight than I remember, the granite sparkles more than I remembered.

Photographers note: I would normally try the below photo with a prime lens, wide open for thinner depth of field and blurred backgrounds yadda yadda yadda. This was taken with my 28-105mm kit lens wide open at f4. The out of focus areas are pleasing enough and the sharpness is good, this is part of why I was OK with not taking every lens I own. This inexpensive lens performs quite well!  

  There are few things I remember more than textures and smaller details. This photo is an exact sum of how my mind would have remembered the scene. The stronger side light enhancing the rougher granite surface and leaving part of the door in shadow, the texture of the lines in the mortar between the blocks of granite. All things that I like and all things that I think make this a strong image. 

 Don't need to say much here, I couldn't NOT attempt to take a photo of this.  

The main event: Fyvie Castle, my understanding is the layout of this front facade is built on the outline and foundation of an old roman fort. (Could be wrong/misremembering) Which would explain the strong towers on each corner, this castle is old enough to have been a fort before it was a stately home and it shows. Which leads me to think about romans being this far north, several hundred miles north of Hadrian's Wall, it must have been quite the uneasy group that held this post far north of any civilization. Could be a fun research question for a rainy day. How far north did the Romans really get, at one point they simply chose to retreat south and wall off the country due to the inability to hold land. 

 I am led to understand that the steel bands around the masonry on the left side of the photo were recently placed to stabilize shifting rock to prevent collapse of the tower. It looks funny, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

 Another photographers thought, massive buildings are hard to photograph, you either need to get a long distance away or use a very wide angle lens, either way perspective plays into what you do. Do you want to have a photo that looks like you remember it looking with the internal corrections that your mind makes or do you want to have something that looks rather less like reality, but is different? That is part of the photographers vision and choices for a scene, it influences where you stand (Which is 90% of photography) the lens you choose and all your other camera settings. The question I put in my mind when I see a scene I think has potential is this: Where should I stand? Or crouch? Or even lie down? Do you notice the progression through perspective in this series of photos?  

 One of the things Fyvie is noted for is the quality of the plasterwork on the ceilings. I found it hard to really capture, but I do appreciate it.

Despite the centuries long transformation from Tower House for defense to palatial living space for the aristocrats and rich, hints of the older purposes remain. This is known as a yett, They were used to strengthen the main door or gate into the Tower House. 

Moving on from Fyvie to Haddo House the traditional seat of the Earl of Aberdeen, this is described as Georgian Palladian in style and has one of my favorite entrances in the country. The double curved entrance stairway brings to mind Victorian and Regency era carriages bringing guests for a party, crunching up the graveled drive. As a sucker for the genre of "Proper Romances" set in regency times this is what I tend to conjure in my mind. 

Beyond cool entrances other things I really enjoy about these places are the gardens. I love the smell of flowers, the colors, the patterns of the garden. It pleases me deeply to just wander. I took a lot more photos than I will post on here, don't want to bore you all to death, but man... I really enjoy these places. I was, however, running out of energy. My lovely wife was zonkered in the car while I wandered here. It was one of the frustrating things of realizing that I am not 26 anymore. It didn't ruin the trip at all, but needing to serve the demands of a body in it's mid 50's that is still recovering from jet lag and just the energy drain of travel was irksome. It did reinforce the wisdom of my choice to undertake this now rather than after retirement. My father had many plans to travel after he retired, but several major heart issues and bypass surgery limited him and my mom somewhat and I was/am firm in trying to see what I can while I am healthy enough to do it. Tomorrow is never guaranteed, live TODAY! 

 After Haddo House we went back to Aberdeen, which was to be our base for the next week. It may have been a slight tactical error to have stayed there that whole time and not moved closer to Perth or Glasgow for a few days, but it was less energy in some ways to be in the same hotel, same room and have familiarity with the area. Besides the hotel was in the building that once housed the library and classrooms where I took my finals in Physiotherapy School and right across the street from my flat. I had a history there and while it may have cost us time driving on our day trips, it was enjoyable to be in familiar territory. Though I must admit Aberdeen was not as I remembered entirely and a little more run down in places. Our Next stop was a Saturday day trip to Glamis Castle for the morning with a afternoon wander through St. Andrews, then Sunday at Scone Castle. Glamis was a favorite for my wife, and for me as well. The drive into the castle is just... Chefs Kiss, perfect, long tree lined drive with the castle at the end, just looming larger and larger. Immaculate grounds and just a beautiful setting. You can clearly see the middle portion is different than the wings, being more of the L-plan Tower House that was endemic to Scotland (Wikipedia can tell you more than you want to know about the design of these types of buildings.) the overall effect is one of grace and a testament to the power and wealth of those who lived here.   

From the photographers perspective I found it interesting how a change in perspective and amount of clouds in the sky after our tour can change the feel of the space. It never did rain on us, but the drama was fun!  

I love me some sunflowers, but these were curiously interesting in their shortness. What I am used to in America are much taller.   

I will include Scone Palace mostly as the history is noteworthy, the building was... OK, just left me meh... I put the camera down a little here and just tried to feel the essence of the place without the viewfinder in the way. As a place of history with the crowning of kings happening on that spot I found myself a little lost in what the pageant must have looked like in Medieval Times.      

The Peacocks on the grounds are moderately well known, and I did spend sometime chasing them around with my 70-210  

I found the forest walk to be delightful, love me some big trees! The afternoon sun filtering through the trees made for interesting patterns of light on the trunks.   

Sunday afternoon after Scone was a nice drive up the "Royal Deeside" past Braemar and Balmoral Castles without really stopping. Followed by naptime then nightime at the Loanhead of Daviot Stone Circle. I was hoping for clear skies and the chance for star trails or even a hint of Milky Way. I got cloud cover so I had to work a little harder. Ultra Wide Angle & Tripod support while walking around with my flashlight gave me slightly interesting results, but not what I had dreamed of. I guess I am spoiled in Utah with mostly clear days and many areas with little to no light pollution. Still I had fun at a place I wanted to re-visit. 

That finishes out our first week in the UK getting us up to Scotland and seeing a few things there. I may need to find a way to condense things a little or I am going to be blogging about this forever. Then again, 20 years from now, if I live that long, I may need to read this to remember anything about this trip. Worth it!

As always thanks for reading!