Scotland Vacation--day 8

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Day eight--Edinburgh, Stirling

Started the morning off right....coffee and cereal. =)

Got to Edinburgh Castle which was situated at the top of this massive hill....it was breath taking.

We hiked straight to the top of the castle and got an amazing view of the city....

Check out my photos of the city from Edinburgh Castle:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-eight.html

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.

Swords, axes, spears and armor lined the walls.

Guns made up a wheel of fortune of death.

BIG swords...big....

Check out my photos of the weapons room:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-eight.html

The massive amount of tourists (and massive amount of walking) starting getting to us (Husband mostly) so decided to go 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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out my photos with William Wallace:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-eight.html

After our war cry William Wallace began whispering sweet nothings into my ear....

He was such a flirt.

Ok...back to the search for lunch....

We had a TON of options..(ie: Haggis cafe)

but decided to go with the Elephant House Cafe instead (the birthplace of Harry Potter)....

Apparently J.K.Rowling wrote most of the first Harry Potter book in this cafe.

Check out my photos of the Elephant house cafe:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-eight.html

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.

I wanted to see 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.....

Check out my photos looking at the battlefield:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-eight.html

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....

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....

Check out my photos of Stirling castle:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-eight.html

I had a few favorites at Stirling castle...one of them being the 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.

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