The Last Day of June and The Last day in Scotland.

We walked down to the train station and boarded a train for Stirling, Scotland.  Our destination was Stirling Castle and possibly the William Wallace Memorial.  Stirling was surprisingly non touristy if that is a word.  We had quite a walk to get to Stirling Castle and I was glad going to the Castle was the "up" part of the walk.  We managed to get up to the Castle by signs that led us there because it was not visible until we were upon it.  It is set back at the top of a huge crag protruding up into the air.
On the lawn outside the entrance is a large statue of King Robert the Bruce who defended Stirling Castle in the Battle of Bannachburn.  William Wallace's famous battle was at Stirling Bridge a distance away with the Firth of Forth flowing under it.  We could see his monument on the top of a mountain peak but it was too far for us to get to on that day.
Robert the Bruce Statue

The William Wallace Monument from a distance.  Remember the movie Brave Heart with Mel Gibson playing William Wallace?

This photo of the monument was taken from inside Stirling Castle.

This Castle was built by King James V in the 1500's.  He was the son of David I I believe.  He was 2 weeks old when his father died and he was crowned king.  He didn't gain control of his kingdom until he was 16 years old.  He built this castle and decorated with many statues, carvings, and gargoyles to emphasis his ability to rule and that he was a powerful ruler.  The outside of the main living quarters has statues of him and other powerful people of the time both real and mythical for example Hercules.

He had medallions carved out of wood of these people also including himself and his wives.  These medallions were mounted within large squares on the ceiling of his large receiving room.  They were colorfully painted.  They had an exhibit of the original carvings.  Each medallion was about 3 feet in diameter. 

This castle has had a lot of restoration work done to it and the bed chambers of the king and queen were quite spectacular.

The king's bedroom:

The queen's bedroom:

The walls and ceiling were very ornate.

One of the buildings had a museum honoring the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders.  They became famous as the "Thin Red Line" after the Battle of Balaclava in Gallipoli during the Crimean War.  They are still an active regimen.

Here I am standing on a grassy area between the outer wall of the castle and the inner wall looking out toward the Highland mountains in the distance.  You can see some roofs of the powder room to my left.

There was also a tapastry room where a woman was actually weaving a new tapestry replica of an original tapastry of the 1500's.  No photos aloud in there.

 

Before we new it it was 4:00 so we made our down hill trek back to the train station.  The distance was only 50 minutes or so.  We got back in time to visit shops one last time and have some dinner to end another fabulous day.