Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Unused to being woken early by a three year old, Dale and I were yawning as we set off for our day trip to Stirling. May - still excited by her grandma's Kiwi house guests - poked her head into our room to say good morning after being dropped off by her father on his way to work. Since we were up, we joined Siggi and May for breakfast in the kitchen, and then set off for Stirling while Siggi readied May for her pre-school gymnastics class.
As we neared Stirling we could make out Stirling Castle perched on the hilltop. Dale executed an impressive parallel parking manoeuvre into a tight carpark on a hill and then the parking metre spat out 2 pounds for us - we were off to a good start! Climbing up towards the castle we passed a medieval church, a historic prison, and an ancient graveyard. The castle has been well preserved and parts of it restored to its former splendour, replastered with gold coloured plaster and fresh wooden beams and flooring. The basement kitchens have been recreated with furniture, pots, pans, kitchen staff mannequins and models of all the types of food that would have been produced in the castle kitchens.
We walked through the royal apartments where Kings and Queens of Scotland once lived and visited the Great Hall where there were five enormous fireplaces needed to keep the cavernous space heated during the bitter Scottish winter. At the Castle cafe we shared an overpriced pot of tea and scone and plotted our next move. The sky was threatening rain, so instead of exploring the town, we opted for an indoor tour of Argyll House. Allan, our Scottish tour guide, took us through the 400+ year old house explaining the history of its illustrious occupants and the significance of its architecture and fittings. In the vaulted kitchen rooms we learned that barley was used to make mead in large quantities - since it was safer to drink than the water! - the first press was the most alcoholic and would be saved for special occasions and feast days, the second press was the mead consumed everyday, while a third press resulted in an even weaker mead known as 'small beer' which was for the women and children. Meanwhile, the wealthy elite would drink only wines imported from continental Europe.
The house was at one stage a military hospital and, up until recently, it was used as a youth hostel. Fortunately a great deal of restoration work has been done helped by the meticulous inventory made of the house fittings (down to the last teaspoon) made while its last lordly owner was on death row. (He wanted to ensure that after he was beheaded for treason, his heir would inherit the full estate). The British army also helped to preserve this piece of history since when it took over the building and converted it into a hospital, it carefully removed a lot of the more elaborately decorated wood panelling from the walls and stored it in the attic, to be rediscovered during the restoration project.
Lunch was a disappointing pub meal in a shabby establishment at the bottom of the hill. We were seated next to a gormless family intent on eating their body weight in fried food - quite a feat for the teenage boy whose fatty folds were pouring out of his straining chair. Trying not too look at the sister chewing with her mouth open (with difficulty since she also had purple hair, a tattooed neck, and a dozen or so facial piercings!!), I turned back to my lime & soda in time to notice a bug floating in circles around the glass. I ordered what I thought would be the safest thing on the menu - a baked potato - while Dale was unaffected by his surrounds and chose a towering beef and bacon burger with chips and mayonnaise soaked coleslaw!
That pretty much concluded our trip to Stirling. The worsening weather put us off lingering to see more of the town and its attractions. Why is the climate here so dreadful?!!
- comments