Church of the Holy Rude

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Success yesterday for the band makes today a "free" day so it was off to Stirling. Joan, myself, Mike McNeil and Lori Kortshak led the tour of kids. From the university by bus to the Stirling Train station for information so Joan who leaves early can get from here to Glasgow airport. The rail people refer us to the Stirling Bus Station where Joan finds what she needs. And guess what ? We are right next to the Thistle Shopping centre and Lorie is looking for a cell phone. Of course there are phone stores in malls, . . . even in scotland. Then out the door to the streets of Stirling where the sounds of pipes are heard. Out on the streets of Stirling are a couple of "buskers" - - - two of the younger members of the band. We pass by them, cringing at the missed notes, and continue onwards and upwards towards the castle searching for a couple of pubs along the way. Reaching the top of the hill and the castle with no pubs found we ask a local tradesman working on a restoration project where we might find a pub. Down the hill till you see the Burger King, then turn left he says. We start down.
On the way down we pass the Church of the Holy Rude and Jessica suggests we take a look. What an impressive cathedral from the 1300's or so and how did they build it without todays technology. James the first was christened there, John Knox preached there, and it is the only surviving church in Scotland in which there was a coronation. Don't miss it if you have an opportunity to be in Stirling.
Continuing down the hill I can now see in the distance the Burger King sign - - - which we walked past on the way up the hill !! Oh well, at least across the street is the Golden Lion Hotel and pub where we stop for lunch. Another recommendation. The food was excellent.
Since this was the first "day off " since arriving it was also the first shopping day so the next stop was the local supermarket, Tesco. Our group met up with several other band parents shopping at Tesco and when we leave, our group needs to order cabs for 12 persons plus groceries. For the most part the cab drivers here are pretty social kind of persons and there is lots of fun interaction with the drivers on our way back to the university.
Not only the first "free" day but arriving home, groceries away, it is also the first "crantini" day and did they ever hit the spot. In our building we are on the 2nd floor and this seems to be turning into the party floor with the best people and open door policies for each apartment. We had the proverbial full house in our apartment for the first "crantini" night.
So, about 11:00PM the night ended with the kids having to be up for 9:45AM practice tomorrow.

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