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Published: February 13th 2008
Howdy everybody! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. This weekend was really fun. Me and two of my friends went to the small city of Stirling. Stirling is about an hour bus ride out of Edinburgh and is famous for two things, the Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument. Me and my two friends left Edinburgh by bus early on Saturday morning. We ate some sandwiches on the bus and got into Stirling an hour later. The day was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and the weather in the mid 40's. The bus dropped us off at the bus station and we asked about how to get to the Wallace Monument (the monument is about 5 miles away from the city center and we had to take a bus.) After a quick bus ride we were at the tower. After walking past the William Wallace statue (which looked a lot like Mel Gibson) we hiked up the hill and arrived at the base of the tower. We started our ascent to the top. There is a small spiral staircase that we went up, at varying intervals the stairs would open up to a major exhibit room, each
focusing on a different part of Wallace's life, the top floor was completely devoted to Wallace and his role as defender of Scotland. Eventually, we made it to the top. The views were amazing, we could see for miles. It was rather windy at the top of the monument but nobody cared. Far below us was the town of Stirling with the Stirling Castle looming on the mountain above the city. After a while we decided to start our trek back down and after a brief stop in the gift shop, we went to the field next to the monument where a actor in character was giving a firsthand account of the battle of Stirling Bridge. He was really fun and engaging. After his show, he posed for pictures with us, it was hilarious.
Once we left the monument we had to find a bus back to the city center. This was easier said than done. We waited one bus stop for 20 minutes and finally realized that the bus wasn't running on Saturday! So we had to walk to another one, but eventually we caught a bus back into Stirling.
Next on our list was Stirling Castle. We had
The William Wallace Monument
Built hundreds of years after Wallace lived.a quick stop to eat some Fish and Chips (it's a British thing) and then we headed up the hill to the castle. Possibly the biggest difference between Stirling and Edinburgh is that Stirling is way more hillier. We had to hike up to the top of the hill to get to the castle.
At the castle we took a guided tour and saw the major points of the castle, the royal residence, the great hall, the chapel, and the walls and outer defenses. After the tour we walked around the grounds and took some great pictures. It was getting dark so we decided to leave. On our way out, there was a bagpiper playing at the castle gates. Someone had rented out the chapel for a wedding and the bagpiper was greeting people at the entrance, we sat and listened to him play for a while.
We then headed back into Stirling and caught a train back to Edinburgh. The train got us into town in 45 minutes. We stopped and had some pizza for dinner and then went to the student union and played Monopoly at the bar. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.
Sunday
Statue of "William Wallace"
Looks a LOT like Mel Gibson... was very relaxed for me, I basically spent all day in the library doing essays and assignments, which are taking forever to finish, but I'm working through it.
This week my family is coming to visit for my 21st birthday on Saturday. My dad will be here on Tuesday (he's flying over from Nuremberg where he was at a toy convention) and my mom and aunt will be here on Thursday. Anyway, I still have some homework to do before bed. More to come next week! -Max
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Uncle Craig
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HB
Happy Birthday, Max. I'm enjoying your blog, look forward to each new entry. Have a great day!