Back to back castles!

 06-03-2022

We're packed up and out the door by nine-ish!  That's a bigger accomplishment that it sounds like it should be!  But it's pretty tricky with few horizontal surfaces and less floor space!  But we loved the location and the kids we met and the price was right, too!

The scaffolding is being erected for the Military Tattoo.
It takes 12 weeks to put up and 8 weeks to take down.

Marilyn calls an Uber X for us since we've got so much baggage.  We've all rearranged things so that we can just carry what we need into our next spot, which is great but creates lots of bits and pieces.  Our driver delivers us right to Hertz's door and we start the paperwork.  As we're talking the agent suggests that we might prefer a Toyota C-HR which is a hybrid and an automatic (remember the shift is on the left) and also had a GPS.  We figure that what we save on gas (100 pounds a fill-up) will go a long way toward the difference.  And a GPS is a wonderful thing!  (And when we see it, it's blue!)

We trundle all our gear out to the car park and play tetris to get as much as possible into the trunk. We're pretty successful, although I have my backpack on top of my feet.  Oh well.  Ginger and Connie are in the back seat and I'm navigating.  I really love the little British lady!

We're off to Stirling Castle and find our way to the town;  but we're looking for breakfast (it's really lunch time) before we go sightseeing. We spot a place and goo through some traffic gymnastics to get back to it, only to find that it's closed.  There's a Travelodge which would be just as bad as having felafels for our first meal, but we're starving.  Never mind, the sweet young think at the desk says we can leave our car and walk into the center of town in five or ten minutes!  We find Valentino's.  It's a charming cafe run by a Turkish family and in addition too Scottish breakfasts, both small and large, she offers Turkish breakfast, one of my favorites.  But I figure that I should have a full Scottish at least once.  And it includes haggis!  It was delicious with tatties and neeps, and in a spring roll!  Not so much in a patty by itsellf.  But I've done it now! Wish I'd had the Turkish, though!  But the latte was marvelous and Connie had a Turkish apple tart that looked amazing!

Well satisfied we walk back to the car and Marilyn asks the little Travelodge girl if there's a bathroom and she opens a door for us that should only be used by registered guests!  Now we're really ready for the castle.  The GPS lady isn't really helpful, butt we find it anyway!  The sign says the car park is full, but there's nowhere to turn around so we follow the cars in front of us and it turns out that they are locating places in the car park for each of the cars in front, and for us, too!

We flash our magic Heritage Passes and walk straight in.  This castle is more the iconic image of a castle than Edinburgh is.  There is a tour starting just as we arrive and for the next forty-five minutes Jon gives us the condensed version of Scottish history with a focus on the castle.  He's fascinating and funny and he leaves us with several places to explore on our own. 

King Robert the Bruce

During the course of our travels we meet several other guides or other kinds of personnel and they all are funny and droll and full of information.  One tells us that Jon worked as a guide at Edinburgh Castle for 25 years and even he says that Stirling is better!

We especially want to see the queen's apartments because the newly finished unicorn tapestries are there. The originals are in the MYC Met but the Scottish government got permission to recreate them since the records indicate that there were unicorn tapestries here originally. We find them and are awed, as I knew we'd be.  There are ladies in period dress in three of the rooms and they are each more charming and funny than the last! One says that she's the queen of cleaning and that we've missed the queen but she'll tell her we stopped by.  The second is a lady in waiting and she tells us all about the symbolism in the tapestries. The third is a minor royal and she plays the recorder for us!

The Sterling Heads are on the ceiling!

We also visit the Tapestry Workshop where the weaving of four of seven the tapestries took place, and the Queen's Garden which is stunning! And we visit the Douglas Gardens and wall walk.  Beautiful and so peaceful! 

I'm the last to leave the Queen's Garden and everyone has vanished! It's almost closing time so I head to the car; but no one is there.  I go back inside and the guards tell me that everyone is being escorted out, so I just wait and here they come.  The guards had told them where I was.

After a brief discussion we decide that it's time to find the Munro Guest House and get checked in. We're only about five minutes away and it's late enough that we don't have to pay to park. Richard greets us and we take our things up to our room.  One room has a big bed and the other has bunks;  but the bottom one is extra wide and the ladder is at an angle instead of straight up.  I luck out and get to share the bed with Connie, Marilyn is on the bottom bunk and Ginger is once again on top.

We set out to forage for dinner and walk into town. Again, it's about five minutes!  Stirling isn't very big! We find The Grand Buffet which offers Indian and Chinese and a bit of American food and it's easy to find things that everyone likes!

We're sitting a couple of tables away from a young man who desperately needs someone to talk to.  He is from Poland forty years old, has an ungrateful daughter and other relatives who are difficult. Marilyn engaged him at first but she quickly exited the conversation leaving me to try to figure out what he's saying and why he is now crying! It was, um, er, interesting!

The owner offers us naan and has both garlic and sweet!  Turns out the sweet in filled with some delicate, sweet paste and I'd have it again in a heart beat!

Richard had suggested that we visit The Curley Coo, a bar at the bottom of the hill that has over 300 different whiskeys!  Mandy owns the place and she sets us up with a flight of three to sample.  Connie already knows what she likes and just orders that.  We have such fun that we order another flight!  And we sing happy birthday to one of the patrons!

It's time to go home. Everyone sets up their electronics and showers.  That's kind of a trip.  You turn on the electricity to the shower so it get warm.  But it doesn't stay warm.  It reverts to icy after about thirty seconds.  Marilyn has better luck with it and we all swear not to touch the temperature control!

View from our new window

The bed is so comfy and I won't break an ankle if I have to go to the bathroom! I'm a happy camper!