Aberdeen, United Kingdom

The third-largest city in Scotland, ABERDEEN (Web: www.aberdeen-grampian.com ), commonly known as the "Granite City", lies 120 miles northeast of Edinburgh on the banks of the rivers Dee and Don, smack in the middle of the northeast coast. Based around a working harbour, it's a place that people either love or hate. Certainly, while some extol the many tones and colours of Aberdeen's granite buildings, others see only uniform grey and find the city grim and cold. The weather doesn't help: Aberdeen lies on a latitude north of Moscow and the cutting wind and driving rain (even if it does transform the buildings into sparkling silver) can be tiresome.