July 22, 2011

Edinburgh Castle, Stirling, Wiilliam Wallace Monument and Bannockburn Historical Site

Ok, so we did do other stuff yesterday but I figured I would save it for another post.
THIS.   Is that post.


After ordering my tartan, we went to see Edinburgh Castle.  



The castle was really cool, although different than I thought it was going to be, maybe because it's still a working military installation and not solely a historical site.  It's got some great views of Edinburgh:











After that, we went just down the street to St. Giles' Cathedral.  This was really beautiful inside and out.  I think the organist was in there practicing for Sunday!





We also went to another DisneyWorld for me - a tartan weaving mill.  Loooove ittttt.....


Ask me which clan they are.  Go ahead.  Ask me!




We went to a little pub for dinner called Tass because every night at 9pm, like 10 fiddlers, some guitars, a banjo, and a whistle show up and play music!  It was great!  We tried to take a picture but the light was bad so it's fuzzy.  


Now on to today!  Whew!


Today I got my Braveheart fix for the rest of my life :-)  First we took  a train to Stirling, the one-time capital of Scotland, and the site of William Wallace's first big win over a much bigger English army.  (It's the first battle scene in the movie, if you're keeping score with me :-)  We went up to Stirling Castle and there are great views of Stirling, the battlefield, the William Wallace Monument, and the impending highlands.
I'm singing Brigadoon in my head.  You can't hear it.

Stirling.  The battlefield is kind of where the empty green space is.  The stone thing sticking up out of the tree covered hill  is the William Wallace Monument.
 Next we went to the William Wallace Monument.  It's up on a hill (in the pic above) and there is yet another 250 windy step climb to the top.  I have climbed 950 steps since York, by the way.



Sir William himself

Steps.  Again.

This sword is 5 1/2 feet long, making Wallace about 6' 5"

The view from the top of the Monument
After the Wallace Monument, we went to the Bannockburn Heritage Center.  (Bannockburn is the very last scene in the movie where Robert the Bruce leads a tiny army of starving Scots against another huge English force and ended up driving Edward II from Scotland for good.  Very dramatical.


This weighs, no kidding, at least 50 pounds

Statue of Robert the Bruce
Right!  Now I have to go catch a plane!  Quick!
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. Hannah2/13/13, 2:42 AM

    Great post! My husband and I are going to Scotland in August and want to do this exact tour. Can you tell me more about it, like did you have a tour guide and how did you get to/from each site? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andrew Redmon2/13/13, 10:14 AM

    Sorry it's not more detailed - we were in a rush!
    We had very little time in Scotland (unfortunately). No tour guide, we just did it all.
    We walked to Edinburgh Castle, St. Giles Cathedral, and the Taran Mill from our hotel on Prince's St. (EasyHotel - cramped but CHEAP and good location) All those things are very close together. We took a train to Stirling and then a taxi from the train station to Stirling Castle. We then took a taxi to and from the William Wallace Monument. I'm having trouble remembering how we got to the Bannockburn Heritage Center. I think maybe by bus??
    If you want more info, please email me at andrewredmon@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)