So we've come to the final part of my Scotland trip. Stirling... you know, um Stirling. It's where the William Wallace memorial is, there was a big battle there... Anyway here it is.
I took the bus from Glasgow and got to Stirling about 10 at night so not much happened that night. I meandered to the hostel (called Willy Wallace, but when I asked for directions a local said, "OH that Willy Wanka place") and slept a bit. The first full day I spent there I spent the bulk of my time heading to the Wallace memorial. It was about an hour or so walk away from the hostel I stayed at. Although it was a really nice day so I got to check out Stirling a bit. Just so you know, Stirling is kind of boring.
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| First view of the Wallace Memorial. |
While walking I came across this small statue. It was put up in honour of the Barnwell Brothers (the Scottish equivalents of the Wright Brothers). They started a bit later then the Wright brothers and actually met with them a couple of times. So yeah, fun fact.
While walking up the the Wallace monument I was treated to some beautiful views of Stirling (warning there are a lot of landscape pictures coming in not to long).
I finally got to the Memorial and started climbing the stairs, during which time I felt as though I was in constant danger of dying. The stairs were steep, narrow, windy, and had nothing to hold onto. Also it was the same stairs for up and down so that made things more fun.
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| This is the safer wider portion of the stairs |
There were several points while walking up the tower where you could stop and it had little museum rooms. One of which was the show room of the Wallace sword, oooooOOooooo. The best part about this room is in one corner they had a mannequin with a face projected onto it from a digital projector. This was William Wallace and if you pressed a button then a short movie would start up next to him and the mannequin would talk to the movie. It was a pretty weird set up.
I made it to the top (about 10 minutes of just climbing stairs). It was pretty high up but once again, the views were amazing.
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| Looking down from the top |
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| The monument |
After the Wallace Monument I decided to walk to the other side of the town (another hour walk) and check out Stirling Castle. Supposedly the birthplace of King James, so thats something. Even ran into a Blacksmith on my way.
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| "one armor please" |
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| once again, views. |
The tapestry below is a recreation of one found in the area (only parts were found, some of the full tapestry is missing) and is made at Stirling castle in their tapestry hut (not the real name of it, but what ever) . I checked the hut out and the tapestry maker (tapistrar?) was hard at work, although the guard warned me to make no noise while and glared at me when I walked across the hard wood floor in my hard soled shoes (oops).
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| Hey what's that in the distance? |
After that I decided to head back tot he hostel and rest for a bit before heading to dinner. On my walk to the hostel I was given one more note worthy site. That being a middle aged business man violently vomiting on the side walk... Classy.
For dinner I went to a small restaurant called Nicky Tams. I did not ask why it was called this (where do you think I am Edinburgh?). After my haggis dinner I bust over to the bar and decided to make friends will the locals. One being a guy named Will from California who was about to start at the local University. The rest were scottish hooligans with scottish names. And as you do when a bunch of men meet and drink at a bar, we broke out into a wild game of Jenga, with increasingly short rounds. That night also included everyone taking turns hitting on the irish waitress and then the Jenga tower knocking beer on my last clean shirt (awesome). I returned to the hostel with the lingering smell of stale beer.
The next day I got up pretty early, wanting to check out a couple of more sites after a nice big breakfast. Only one problem. No where in Stirling opened before noon, not any restaurant or coffee shop. What the hell right. So I hungrily wondered the streets taking pictures. Oh check it out it's the church of the Holy Rude
One kind of interesting place was the Tolbooth. This was the former old Jail and court (until it was shut down in the 1800's due to the terrible conditions that prisoners were subjected to). Now it is an music venue, hosts small art exhibits and conference rooms. On the inside it was a very interesting mix of old and modern building. Although the exhibit that was on sucked. I went in and it was two screens showing two different views of a group of people standing in a circle taking turns (one at a time) making out with each other. I have now idea what was going on, but I was expecting a bit more... good art. I asked a few locals and they say it works great as a music venue though.
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| Tolbooth entrance |
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| The Tolbooth |
I continued on with my meandering counting the seconds until a restaurant would open and ended up in a very picturesque cemetery.
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| One of my favourite pictures from the trip |
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| Really wish that do not enter sign wasn't there |
After more wondering I came to the New Jail. It is a museum now and they do ghost tours, but it was closed for the season when I was there. You could still wonder the grounds though.
In behind of the new jail was a rather steep cliff and a path leading into the new town area. The walking path was very pleasant, but it led me to the worst museum ever (worse then Glasgow). It looked more like an assortment of knick-knacks and paintings you would find in your grandmothers house. Fortunately it was free.
I caught a bus back to Edinburgh and flew home the next morning early. The whole trip was fantastic and the scenery was amazing. I hope to go to the Highlands someday if I get the chance. Or at least return during the Summer.
