Day eight--Edinburgh, Stirling
Started the morning off right....coffee and cereal. =)
Since Shane, Si and Gabriel were coming with us to Edinburgh (I was totally excited about this) we decided to make a game plan (in the event Gabriel didn't feel good...he was teething while we were there). The game plan was to pack up the car and head out to Edinburgh during Gabriel's nap time so he'd sleep in the car and be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by the time we reached Edinburgh castle.
Plan worked like a charm.
Gabriel slept almost the entire drive and when he wasn't sleeping he was just looking out the window....so freakin cute...ok...moving on....
We reached Edinburgh Castle...it was situated at the top of a hill and it was....massive.
Jody and I had purchased explorer passes when we visited Urquhart Castle at Lochness so we didn't have to pay to get into this castle. (sweet!)
We hiked straight to the top of the castle and got an amazing view of the city....
The structure, the stone, it was all magnificent. I had a hard time looking at any one thing because there was SO MUCH to look at.....
The highlight of the castle (for me) was definitely the weapons room. (Eric...brace yourself lad...)
Swords, axes, spears and armor lined the walls. Guns made up a wheel of fortune of death. It was insane.
The massive amount of tourists (and massive amount of walking) starting getting to us (Jody mostly) and Gabriel was starting to get tired so we left Edinburgh castle (knowing we only saw a fraction of what that castle truly had to offer) and went in search of lunch.
Just down the royal mile we ran into none other than William Wallace.....well...the guy who is famous for playing William Wallace in Edinburgh. (Don't know his real name but have seen him featured on PBS Globetrekker and various other travel shows).
It must have been the testosterone I still felt after walking around in that weapons room...because I immediately walked up to him and challenged him to a fight. (No...I didn't. In fact I waited patiently as someone else took their picture with him and then asked if I could go next.)
FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok...back to the search for lunch....
We had a TON of options...
but decided to go with the Elephant House Cafe instead (the birthplace of Harry Potter)....
Apparently J.K.Rowling penned most of the first Harry Potter book in this cafe.
I can see why she was inspired here....the view of the castle from the cafe is astounding...
And the cappuccinos weren't bad either....
We lingered at the cafe as long as we could before having to rush back to the car (we had to make sure we didn't have any parking tickets) and then made our way to Stirling.
Stirling castle was also included in our explorers pass, but what I wanted out of Stirling was the William Wallace monument.
I wanted to see where the battle of Stirling took place. I wanted to look out on the horizon and visualize the battle.
When we got to Stirling, I could see the monument in the distance....(it's hard to miss actually)...but as we got closer, I appreciated the structure so much more...
Like most of the castles and monuments in Scotland....it was massive. I have no idea how tall it was...but I know the structure itself was built at the summit of a hill that was a bitch to climb! LOL!
Once we reached the top...it was totally worth it......we were now looking down at what once was a bloodied battlefield.....
When we reached the top we happened upon one of Wallace's soldiers retelling the story of the battle of Stirling.
I could have listened to him talk all day...
And now...I give you the only two pictures we have of Scotland with both of us in it..courtesy of Si. =)
After the Wallace monument we headed over to Stirling castle.
It was later in the day when we got there...so lucky for us...we had the entire castle almost to ourselves!
We also had a fantastic view of the Wallace monument from the castle....
One of the things I LOVED was that flowers and weeds continued to grow through these stone crevices throughout the castle walls.....
Another thing I loved.....Stirling kitchen...
It was great to be able to interact with the locals....
And you couldn't quite beat the view....
After a few hours we were kicked out of the castle....(I've never closed a castle down before....awesome)...
and eventually made the journey back to St. Andrews.
T'was a grand day!!!!!!!
