Stirling Castle
Our last sightseeing day in Scotland was a very busy day. First we drove to Stirling to see Stirling Castle. There is a lot of history associated with this place. One major event was the capture of Stirling Bridge then the capture of the actual castle by William Wallace (Braveheart). It wasn't the only castle capture. Robert the Bruce did it, too! The Stuarts occupied the castle during the 16th century so the castle also has ties to the Jacobite rebellion and the fight for the English throne.
My favourite parts of the Castle were the gardens, the kitchens, the Palace, and of course the views down from the castle walls. I really liked how the museum used a time line to explain the history of the castle. I've included some of the more important parts of that time line with my photos.
Once we'd left Sterling, we went to visit the Kelpies. I've known of these statues since 2013 when they first opened so I was thrilled to see them in person. At the Helix, Ian treated us all to a Scottish style ice cream cone while we were able to walk along a canal which houses many house boats near the foot of the Kelpies. This canal actually leads to the River Carron but from where we were, we couldn't see the river. I have no idea if the TINY canal which splits the Kelpies leads anywhere, but if it does, I imagine it also goes to the River Carron. The only shame for this part of the trip was that we didn't even drive by the Falkirk Wheel on our way back to Glasgow. I would have loved that.
We were dropped off at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring this very eclectic gallery. My favourite areas were the Egyptian display and the Impressionist art gallery. Of particular interest to me were two paintings hanging side by side which used virtually the same colour palette but ended up being two VERY different paintings. The paintings were by Cezanne and Monet. Don't ask me to pick a favourite... I liked each equally well.
We had a meeting time to leave the gallery. So at 4, I met Roberta, Adrienne, Bill and Barb in the lobby and we all walked back to the hotel together. One fun thing: there was an old Honda displayed in a barbershop window. I went in to inquire about it. The owner still rides it and parks it in his front window??
That night, we had our tour's farewell dinner. Marcin drove us to George Square (with a Tim's along the way!!!) so that we could have dinner at Brown's Glasgow. They served us a fancy beef pie and a fancy cream puff dessert. The group said their goodbyes in the hotel lobby and since many of the people quickly dispersed, we never did get a group photo of our tour group. Since Roberta and I had an early flight (7), we set our alarms for 4 to be ready for our 4:30 a.m. pick up time.
