We arrived in Inverness, Scotland, yesterday afternoon and when we walked into our apartment, we found this:
We surprised the kids with a castle stay after leaving Stirling. We hopped on a bus and headed for Airth Castle. When we walked up the path, we saw this:
While there are rooms in the castle, we stayed on the castle grounds in this building nearby:
After finding out the next day from a young front desk clerk that there are rumors that the castle itself is haunted, it was good that we were staying in the other building, or we would have had some jumpy, sleepless people in our room — of all ages! 🙂 (49-year old would probably have been okay, but he would have been by himself! 🙂 )
We decided that even though we didn’t have a room in the castle, we felt like we were living like royalty for a few days with a swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, full breakfast each morning and lunch and dinner on site, just down the hall from our room! In addition, we weren’t responsible for cooking, cleaning, or doing any laundry! It was a very relaxing and fun few days!
Beautiful decorations for Christmas (and the biggest lamp I’ve ever seen!).
Happy swimmers!
A handstand (G) and a somersault (L).
Fancy family photo.
Delicious dinners.
Fun “Frosty” desserts!
A traditional Scottish breakfast often includes haggis, which L tried AND enjoyed but doesn’t really know what it is! Mike, knowing what it is, ate it and enjoyed it, too! 🙂
Floating peacefully…but who’s this? Surprise!!
Downtime in the room…G and L working on a stop-motion videos — Mike researching lodging/transportation — Jody blogging.
A nice late lunch/early dinner and of course dessert — meringue and candy floss for the kids and Christmas pudding for me. (Mike had an ice cream sundae, but we have no picture to share.)
After lunch, we decided to go and check out the castle. (It was only 4:00, but it gets dark early!)
Beautiful chandeliers, L checking for ghosts with his ghost detector (aka drink stirrer), and a cool staircase looking all the way down from the top!
And a quick family photo on our way out of the castle.
My birthday started off with a warm, delicious breakfast of pain au chocolat, coffee with cream, and bacon! As my birthday was on Sunday, we went to church at the Church of the Holy Rude (Holy Cross), which is the second oldest building in Stirling after the castle.
It was founded in 1129 as the parish church of Stirling. The church is reputed to be the only church in the United Kingdom other than Westminster Abbey to have held a coronation and still be a living church today. The coronation on July 29, 1567 of James VI (13-month old infant son of Mary, Queen of Scots) is an important part of the history of Scotland, of the United Kingdom and of the Reformation. Just days earlier, she was forced to sign the instrument of abdication in favor of her son, Prince James. After the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England , King James VI of Scotland also became King James I of England.
When we walked into the church, we were greeted right away by two women (who we found out later were sisters). After the service, we were warmly greeted by several other members of the congregation and found out all sorts of interesting things about the church.
An older fellow took G and L up to the altar to see the angel window and show them the super old flags hanging from the wall, one was used at Waterloo! The angel window is there to remind people that there’s an angel in everyone. When the light shines through it, it shines on the cross.
Another man, who was referred to as the historian, pointed out to us that up high on one of the stone columns there’s a carving of King James IV. He went on to explain that court jesters were used for providing amusement at court, but that they also served as the whooping person in place of the young prince and princesses. As a result, one day, the court jester who took the place of Prince James, came into the church, while the stone mason was working and looked upset. He explained that the prince had been misbehaving and he had taken the whooping once again. The two of them devised a plan to get back at the king and the prince for this practice. The stone mason used the column right across from the carving of the king and made one of the court jester and made him slightly higher than the king, so he’d be closer to heaven and with his tongue sticking out at the king!
We enjoyed visiting with so many different people and having some coffee and cake, too, (which wasn’t for my birthday, but for a member of the congregation, who was celebrating his 70th birthday)! They couldn’t have been more friendly or welcoming!
After church, we walked up the cobble stoned street a bit to Stirling Castle. We’d been told by the tourist office the previous day that we should plan to spend about 2.5 hours. I think we ended up being there for almost 4 hours! It’s a fabulous castle with so much history and with all the information so well presented on boards, with interactive exhibits, and by costumed staff dressed as servants and court officials (below we learned about the oldest “foot” ball, the history of the golf ball, the term “caddie,” and chamber pots).
We started out in the Casements and Palace Vaults, which were part of the outer defenses of the castle. In the Casements, there was a Castle Exhibit that explained in great detail the history of the castle from it’s beginnings to the present day.
In the Palace Vaults, each room was full of interesting and interactive exhibits, specifically aimed at kids. In the tailor’s room, G tried on one of the period costumes and we smelled scents used to ward off bad smells.
In the music room, we learned more about medieval instruments (like the clavicle). In the painter’s room, L and G both read about how rare pigments were shipped from all over the world to create paints and dyes and then played a related game. In the carver’s room, we saw how the carvers created the Stirling Heads and stone carvings around the castle.
Below are replicas of the Stirling Heads. These replica medallions are installed on the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall. The 16th century originals, which are 1-meter wide and made of oak are displayed in a special gallery in the castle. They were carved with images of kings, queens, nobles, Roman emperors and characters from the Bible and Classical mythology.
And in the jester’s room, L and G posed as jesters, we heard a jester tell some jokes. 🙂 In the picture below, there is wording above where L and G are that tells parents to peek in the window above them. When you do, you see a mirror reflection with their faces, but now the front of them shows them sitting on “thrones.” (You can see the reflection of Mike taking the picture.) Those crazy jesters and their silly sense of humor!
Stirling Castle, like Edinburgh, is situated atop a large volcanic rock above the river Forth. During the Wars of Independence, the castle changed hands eight times in 50 years. Both the battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn took place nearby. Below are miscellaneous pictures:
View from inside the castle, looking down at the Queen Anne Garden and the steeple of the Church of the Holy Rude in the distance.
In the Great Hall, G and L posed as royalty!
In the kitchen area, L and G tried their hand at the mannequin challenge, which doesn’t work as well in a photo, but in real life, they could hold a pose!
After touring the castle, we stopped in the gift shop, where Mike and the kids found a birthday gift for me (sterling silver Scottish earrings with my birthstone in the middle :)) and then in the last gift shop on the castle grounds — The Clan and Craft — we found Santa and one of his elves! 🙂
We headed from the castle to get a birthday lunch/dinner at the kilted Kangaroo (the best part was the appetizer — crispy brie wedges with cranberry sauce). For dessert, we stopped at The Crossed Peels. Grace had fudge cake with ice cream; Mike had a fudge brownie with ice cream; Leo had a knickerbocker glory (a layered ice cream sundae with berries and fresh whipped cream); and I had sticky toffee pudding with ice cream.
How much better could a birthday be (for a gal who has always loved drawing and reading and looking at princess-y things) than to spend it at a castle?! 🙂 A royally, sweet birthday!
After a hearty breakfast prepared by Mike and a bus route planned by me, we were off to the Battle of Bannockburn visitor center. Before we get to details about the battle and our afternoon at the center, let’s talk about the journey there…
I confidently led us to the bus stop about 10 minutes from our apartment. I knew of at least 3 buses that would get us to Bannockburn. One came by, I walked on and confirmed that the bus was stopping at Bannockburn, so we all had a seat. A little while later, and no visitor center in sight, the bus driver called out Bannockburn. We hurried to get off (as he didn’t specifically call out any other stops, we knew he was talking to us), but before we left, Mike asked if this bus was supposed to stop at the Battle of Bannockburn. He said, “Oh, no. It’s about 2 miles that way. The 54 will get you there for sure.” He then exchanged our individual tickets for an all-day family ticket. I think he may have suspected we would possibly need to hop on and off a couple of buses before finding our way…It was very nice of him, so we thanked him, crossed the street and headed back to our starting point to catch one of the other buses I’d identified as ones to get us to the Battle of Bannockburn.
You see, asking the driver if he went to Bannockburn was my first mistake. It’s the name of a city, and the first bus we took did indeed stop there, but the visitor center — The Battle of Bannockburn — is a place and is on the other side of the city of Bannockburn. :/
We waited…and waited…at our original bus stop. A bus finally made it’s way towards us, and I announced this and then stood there…Mike waved, but a little too late for the driver to actually stop, so we missed that one. Mike asked, “Did you wave?” as he was standing back a few feet from me, so couldn’t see if I had or not. I replied, “No, I thought you were the waver.” Oops. 🙂 Second mistake.
So, we continued to wait…and wait…and another bus came along eventually. This time we waved…and waved sooner rather than later! The bus stopped, we confirmed it was going to stop at the Battle of Bannockburn, and we got on and walked to the back of the bus, where we could all sit together. 🙂 We followed the same route for a bit and then veered off, so we were confident we were headed in the right direction this time.
A stop here, a stop there, and then the bus driver stopped and when no one got off, he announced the name of the bus stop (which was not called The Battle of Bannockburn). The people on the bus one by one started to look to the back of the bus, but it took us a good several seconds before we realized that he was talking to us and that the whole bus was waiting for us to get off at this stop! Hilarious! We quickly made our way to the front and off the bus and looked across the road to see the visitor center sign. Whew! We made it! In the time we spent on the wrong bus and waiting and riding the right bus, we realized we could have easily walked!
So, now on with the day! What a great interactive exhibit and history lesson on the Battle of Bannockburn. The battle was “a significant Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence, and a landmark in Scottish history.” In 1314, the Scottish army, commanded by Robert the Bruce,
and comprised of 7,000 to 8,000 men fought against the English army, commanded by King Edward II,
and comprised of 18,000 to 20,000 men (yes, more than double!!) to reclaim Stirling Castle after 2 days of fighting.
Upon entering the center, the staff let us know right away that is isn’t a museum; it’s an exhibit. It’s also designed for kids 7+. Using state-of-the-art 3D technology, we would be able to experience a medieval combat and learn more about about this significant event in Scottish history. The first thing we saw was a cool, short 3-D movie about the history of the battle. Afterwards, we walked into a dimly lit room surrounded by giant screens projecting medieval warriors ready for combat!
The visitor center staff person gave lots of information about how they prepared for battle and described the long bows, the crossbows, the cavalry, and then showed how the warriors practiced by having them “shoot” arrows at us.
He told the kids that if they “catch” an arrow in their teeth, there will be free lemonade, hot chocolate and cake at the end! 🙂 While I turned my head, (because virtual or not, it was a little disconcerting to have someone leveling a crossbow at my head!) L met them head on and caught 1 with his teeth and 2 with his hands!
After this part of the center, we moved to the Battle Room. In this room, the group of visitors was sorted into Scots or English by staff, so the ratios were close to real life. In our case, we had 4 Scots and 7 English. L was the Scottish King (Robert the Bruce) and Mike and 2 other guys were with him. G was the English Queen (in real life it was King Edward, but it was more fun to put a kid in that position). In addition, G was supported by me and 5 others. We sat around a table with a giant, topographical, interactive map that showed the castle, roads, rivers, etc. One of the staff members gave some historical information about the real battle and then let us stage our own battle by taking command of this virtual battlefield, which required quick decision making and strategic moves.
We ended our visit by walking outside to check out the real-life landscape, where the battle took place, the giant statue of Robert the Bruce, and a 100-foot flagpole with the Scottish flag flying high.
Notice the 3-D glasses, below. 🙂
So time to leave and catch the bus. 😉 While we knew which bus to take this time, it wasn’t due for another 22 minutes, so we decided to start walking back. It worked out well, as we found a fun playground.
The kids played for a bit and then we caught the bus for a 3-minute ride to Stirling’s town center. The Saturday market was just packing up, so we quickly walked through and then walked into Thistle Shopping Center, where there was a little “museum” L found the day before called Thieves Pot. We walked down a winding rod-iron staircase located in a small hallway right between two stores and found a replica of a 16th-century jail. In this tiny room below, we were able to read about how it once was used to guard an angle of Stirling’s Town Wall.
G and L spent the evening working on trying to create games similar to the one at the Battle of Brannockburn visitor center. 🙂
