We left Edinburgh this morning and headed off towards Pitlochry. But first a stop at Stirling Castle. Our new driver, Ryan, will be with us till he drops us off in Glasgow on Monday. He will probably be ready for a quiet time at home 🤣
It is not a big bus, but it is bigger than the van that drove us to Edinburgh, and it has table seats. Everyone has chosen their own seats. I am so glad I got a table. I can spread out and type, however I am missing what Wendy is saying as I am trying to get caught up on stories for you. We do pass the nuclear submarine graveyard out of town and I yell out (I am halfway back of the bus) to ask Wendy if she worked on any of those submarines. Did I mention Wendy was a nuclear engineer before “retiring” and becoming a tour guide and running her own business? The answer is yes, she did work on those submarines!
We will be riding in the bus for about an hour or so. The clouds come and go. It is not as warm as it was when we arrived in Scotland, but somehow the sun seems to shine each day. And we all know that into each life a little rain must fall. One of the things I wanted to see or do, after I researched a bit was go to see the Kelpies Monument. There was so much traffic, we were running a little late… that’s okay. I was sitting on the left side of the bus and what does Jim tell me but they will be on the left side. I plug in the directions my google maps, and BAM
The Kelpies, via VisitScotland.com, “Standing at 100ft tall and weighing more than 300 tonnes each, the magical Kelpies are a man-made wonder and a feat of engineering. The works of art, created by artist Andy Scott, have become iconic on the landscape after being modelled on real-life icons of times gone by — Clydesdale horses Duke and Baron. The Kelpies represent the lineage of the heavy horse of Scottish industry and economy, pulling the wagons, ploughs, barges and coalships that shaped the geographical layout of Falkirk. The Kelpies’ name reflects the mythological transforming beasts that possess the strength and endurance of 100 horses; a quality that’s analogous with the transformational change of the area’s landscapes, endurance of its inland waterways and the strength of its communities.”
Stirling Castle, what do I remember? I didn’t take any notes. The gardens were lovely, the statues outside on the walls reminded me of the little people on the castle/palace in Vicenza we used to go see when I visited Kate. This castle had ladies and gentlemen dressed up in period dress, not kilts, to give you added information. I still wonder why their was a gentleman in the Queen’s bedroom, even though it technically wasn’t her real bedroom, as apparently not just anyone can be invited into the Queen’s bedroom!So here is a little tidbit of information to refresh my memory, even though it is from Wikipedia, it rings a bell as to the information that was trying to process through my thick skull… or fog from the night before. “Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification in the region from the earliest times.”
I have so many more pictures, hit me up if you want to see a slide show. Maybe I will make one!
Oh, I almost forgot..It’s the Unicorn that liveth at the Metropolitan and sleepth amongst the flowers. There were many tapestries in the castle, and keeping in mind the Unicorn is the national animal of Scotland, it was still a surprise to see the wall hanging tapestry that inspired a boy, his mother, and then his sister to write a poem, with verbs all ending in /th/. I was very disappointed when we went into the building with the tapestries and there was a coin/penny machine… okay. pence machine, that the Unicorn tapestry coin was all sold out and I had to have the cannon coin.
Ryan drove us to the hotel after depositing the first group at the distillery. Jim and I checked in, carried our luggage to our room and took off for the museum.
It was a nice little jaunt through town and up 39 stairs +5 for inflation and made it to the Atholl Palace hotel. The museum took about 20 minutes, if that, but very interesting. The hotel first started as a Hydropathic establishment, which was a Victorian alternative medicine. Its assets were ceased in 1909, bought again and established as a hotel. During the Great War, the hotel was commissioned as a girl’s school, because their school had been bombed by the Germans. The girl’s school term was shortened as the hotel would open back up in the summer. Thehotel was only opened in the summer and kept a minimal stafff all year round. The summer help would come back each year in May and stay through September or October. During WWII, the hotel was once again commissioned as a school, but this time for boys and they used the hotel until it reopened as a hotel June 6, 1946. The boy’s school had not beem destroyed like the girl’s school, instead their school ha been appropriated to be a hospital.
Finishing our visit to the museum, we walked around the outsside of the hotel and found a path/trail that would take us down to town to meet our group at the distillery. And yes we followed the trail markers!
Our tour of the distillery, ended with the realization that 1) I do not like whisky, except in whisky sours adn that is either Canadian Club or an Irish whisky, 2) I do not like smoked or peated whisky, and c) I do not have to buy or drink whisky again.
Ryan and Wendy were waiting for us when we reached the end of our tasting and whisked us back to the hotel. I had made reservations for dinner at The Wee Choo Choo, a Thai restaurant in a train car. The train car had been used in one of The Mission Impossible movies and Tom Cruise was filmed standing on top of the train doing Tom Cruise Mission Impossible tasks. Caitlin and Jess joined us again for supper and it was truly a lovely evening. Both couples ordered a sampling of appetizers of chicken skewers and spring rolls with special dipping sauces. For dinner, we splurged: Jim- a duck leg (Ma-sa-Man) with a Chang (or several) beer; Liz- Highland Banana leaf Beef Panang-the beef was cooked perfectly rare!; Caitlin had the Pad Thai; and Jesse-Gai Preak-Thai-Dum-chicken breast with house black pepper sauce. Dessert was a mango and sticky rice and Mekong ice cream with the Whisky chocolate.Â
Back to the hotel and off to bed… but wait, we have a bathtub. So a nice bath, no salts or bubbles, but my aching feet really appreciated it!
I thought the bed was going to be too hard… It was not! Sweet dreams!
#HowFortunateWeAre #RetiredAndLovingIt #MakeOurOwnSunshine
Love the Kelpies (beautiful), castle, and shots of everyone’s food. I wouldn’t have liked the whisky either. I’m sure someone else would of drank your shot of whiskey lol Thanks for sharing! 🙂🥃
Wished we could have stopped to walk around the Kelpies!