Day 10 - Stirling Castle

Our last morning in St Andrews. We had a nice Scottish breakfast at our hotel and loaded the car for our last road trip to Edinburgh via Stirling for a tour of the castle. First thing on the agenda was a trip to the pharmacy for a knee brace. My knee has become more and more tender over the last three days and I have no idea of what has caused it. We need to get it in shape before our walking adventure in England so will be limiting stress on it for the next few days.

It was about an hour's drive to Stirling and we got a prime parking spot right in front of the castle. This is a well restored historic site of historical significance. Perched atop a high peak  it commanded a significant defensive position. it was occupied by a series of King James's and Mary Queen of Scotts.

The most impressive things that we saw were the tapestries and the wood ceiling carvings along with the size of the fortifications. Here are a bunch of photos of the castle.

The main gate...

The kitchens...

The fortifications and view of the countryside...

The elaborate carved wood ceiling medallions...

King's room....

Tapestries that have been reproduced using traditional methods....

Wood medallion of King James....

Central courtyard....

Chapel....

King James and Queen Christine...

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View from the castle...

From here we drove to Edinburgh. Definitely a busy city. We found our apartment which is right in the downtown area. Apparently I do not know how to interpret the local parking designation codes. While taking our luggage up to our apartment I was awarded a $120 parking ticket. There is an appeal process that I will be trying out tomorrow!

We have a nice apartment in New Town for the next two nights....

The short drive to return our rental car to the train station was a nightmare. Blocked roads, narrow laneways and the rental check in damage assessing Nazi. Luckily, the VW was so dirty from our 1050 miles that he never noticed the scrapes on the front spoiler from that curb I got hung up on. Quickly signing off the rental we walked back to our apartment, stopping for a quick pint at the corner pub.

Again, a fairly fast internet connection so we had time to touch base with Jenn & Laura on FaceTime.

There are many restaurants nearby and we made our way out to supper then retired to watch TV and rest my knee.