Saturday, July 04, 2015

Day 13 - Stirling Castle


We woke to another beautiful, sunny, warm day. Shorts weather. Everyone met in the breakfast room, the girls happy to "be alive". I must admit that the place didn't seem as creepy in the daylight. The view of the loch from the front of the hotel was simply gorgeous. Breakfast was the typical spread; yogurt, cereal, pastries, toast, fruit, coffee, tea, and a hot item if so inclined. I declined and just had a bowl of the Scottish staple muesli. Our couple from Oregon was there conversing with Mary Anne, and I was made to tell, what has become, "the Tom and Cow Story". The gentleman, a geographer who has traveled the world, laughed so hard his face turned red, and we even got a chuckle from the wife.

The other couple dining in the room was the Asian gentleman I had met the night before as I traveled from one staircase across the estate to the other staircase in my hotel bathrobe, and his English wife, the one I had almost run into. They popped into our conversation and we conversed awhile through breakfast with them. They now live in Thailand and spent their summers touring Scotland to get away from the heat.


I was getting better at finding my way around the manse, but in the daylight I felt brave enough to wander around some as I made my way back toward my room. I had no trouble finding my staircase because as I came out of a sitting room I was exploring I heard the sounds of ivories being tickled. I followed the sound of piano playing and found Tom and Grandma in a lovely sitting room.



The sitting area was outside the staircase leading to my side of the manse and next to the front desk where Fiona was conversing with Phillip. Phillips was not in uniform and seemed quite embarrassed for us to see him in his street clothes. They were going over the liquor inventory. Fiona stopped what she was doing and chatted with us. She gave us the history of the place and we talked quite awhile with her. I offered to leave Grandma there for a few days to entertain the guests and she agreed to put her up.

We packed up our stuff and I showed Tom how to exit through the door near our room. There were a couple of house maids in the supply closet and suddenly this place was all different in the daylight. I was sorry we hadn't gotten here yesterday where we could have seen the place in the daylight and done some more exploring. The place is actually quite charming and beautiful and certainly a place to get away from everything. They offer pigeon shooting, fishing trips, and falconry. I mean....what? I felt that I could have worked with Fiona and come up with some really exciting mystery murder nights at the hotel, but we were off to Edinburgh and didn't have time as the drive was quite long.

Grandma asked Fiona about detouring to a city she thought might be interesting, but Fiona, much to Phillip's horror, made a face and told us not to bother. She offered up another suggestion which I noted. We thanked them and told them if they were ever in Florida to look us up.

Our drive to Edinburgh was over two hundred miles so I set about looking up something exciting to do in the tour book. Maude took us back down the one lane road only she made a detour somewhere along the way because this time we saw houses and people outside tending to flowers. As usual the scenery on the drive was fabulous.




We stopped for gas at a station where we bought some snacks and drinks, but for the most part we just kept moving. The four of us slept a bit at different times throughout the drive. It was the first and last time I did so on our trip. I hated to miss anything even out the window.

We finally decided to visit the Stirling Castle in Stirling because we could see if from the road. Grandma had never heard of it and she thought it might be interesting so Tom took the slight detour into the city and up the hill to the castle.



The parking lot had a lot of tour buses, but because the castle was so big it didn't seem like tons of people. We bought our tickets and then went into the garden first before we hooked up for a tour of the place.



 


The castle itself is a huge part of Scottish history and is one of the largest castles in the country. The Queen Anne Garden was started in the 1400s and many of the royal family enjoyed it as it was close to their chambers. By the 1600s it was known as the Bowling Green and might have been used for tennis or football. The world's oldest football, made of leather and an inflated pig's bladder, was found here in the palace behind some wood paneling dating to the 1500s.

We left the gardens and went up into the castle for a tour with a Scottish guide. He was very long winded and difficult to understand in a large group setting. After awhile Darcy and I left the group and wandered off to explore the castle on our own.


Stirling Castle is on Castle Hill overlooking the city and surrounded on three sides by cliffs. Because of its strategic position above the River Forth the castle was always considered a major hold. It was constantly fought over and very much so in the 1300's during the Wars of Independence. Over the course of 50 years the castle changed hands eight times between the Scots and the English. The present buildings were all built between 1490 and 1600 when James IV, V, and VII ruled. There is a complete history of the castle in several rooms that circle around from the beginning to the current status. It was quite interesting and historical.



The castle has undergone major reconstruction and great care has been taken to recreate things as they once were. James IV was said to have been enamored with King Arthur and was the one who created four towers around the entrance to the castle, two on each side.

The Great Hall was used as a place for entertainment and for meeting with the monarch. Queen Mary of Scots baptized her son King James VI in the Great Hall. Later in the 1800s the military used the hall as a soldier's barrack. The reconstruction of the hall took 35 years and was recreated to the time back in the royal's day.



The King's Old Building is over 500 years old and was built for King James IV before he was married. Later after he married the building was added on to for his queen. As we traveled through the rooms actors dressed to the hilt portrayed servants of that time and answered questions in their roles.

In the 1500s the palace was built for King James V after his second marriage to the French Mary of Guise. He wanted something elaborate to show his exorbitant wealth. It is one of the grandest Renaissance buildings in the UK today. It housed the royal lodgings that consisted of three areas for both the queen and the king; the Outer Hall, the Inner Hall, and the Bedchamber. All of these room were used to eat and greet various visitors depending on their importance. The royals actually slept in smaller rooms.




I got through most everything in the castle. It was done very well with lots of historical information in each area. There was a museum with found artifacts and a chapel that was the last building to be built during the reign of King James VI. The views from the castle were amazing. One could see why the castle was so important and would have been a huge stronghold.






The last place I visited was the military portion of the restoration. It showed how life was like when the military took over the castle in the late 1800s. I was peeking into a barracks room and said aloud how it looked like a dorm room for American college kids. I leaned in to take a picture of it intending to show that to Madison and got scared by this guy:



We ended the tour with a quick run through the tapestry museum. Historic Scotland had a set of seven tapestries to be hand made to closely recreate the Renaissance tapestries that are housed in the New York Cloisters Museum. They tell the story of the hunt for a unicorn, a mythical creature that was considered powerful.



We bid the castle good-bye and drove on to Edinburgh where we found our hotel with just a little trouble. It was tucked into an area of adjourning buildings with minimal signage and we only found it by parking the car and hoofing it up and down the street. We had three rooms again with Tom's and my room one floor above the other two. The view from our room was once again a beauty.



We walked through the city where we had dinner and then back again to our hotel. The highlight for me of the whole thing was finding a fan in the closet of my hotel room. A luxury item in a country with no air conditioning!


Later we got to witness the sun setting over the city.





 A good day indeed!

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