Scotland: Stirling Castle

Knowing that we wanted to get out to the Highlands as quickly as possible, my parents arranged their train into a town near Stirling so that we could be further West to start our drive. Then we realized that Stirling has a castle, a pretty amazing one. So we spent our first day together at Stirling Castle, learning the history and taking in the views from the top. I was most impressed by it's location and scenery. You could look out over the valley to another hill top where the William Wallace (AKA Braveheart) monument sits. 

Stirling Castle

Our tour guide had us all shout "BOOM" as part of one of his stories. Pete was there to protect the little ears!

Nana and Pops with Jude. They last saw him when we was just over 3 months old.

Inside the Great Hall

Brilliant colors (recreated, but known to be there originally)

We had a fun time with Jude's photo shoot! 

Once outside, we could take in the views some more and explore the grounds. We went to a talk in the Tapestry studio where a few women have been painstakingly recreating the castle's tapestries for over a decade. They expect to be done by the end of the year. One piece of the original tapestry (Unicorn with dogs laid across it's back and blood trickling down), hangs in the Cloisters in NYC.

A few years ago, I was walking through Park Slope after work one evening and happened to look up at the sky and see a rainbow. That was the only time that happened in NYC. The next morning, I found out that my maternal grandfather had passed away unexpectedly during the night. I took that rainbow to be a sign from my grandfather and think of him every time I see one now. When we arrived in Scotland, our plane crossed the North Sea and then went up the East coast of England before crossing into Scotland. Literally at the moment the pilot announced that we crossed the border, I looked down and saw a rainbow in the sky. My grandfather, Samuel "Bruce" Copeland traces his roots back to King Robert the Bruce and we planned to pay homage to him on this trip to Scotland. Outside Stirling Castle sits a large Robert the Bruce Statue and as we walked around the grounds, what do we see, but a huge, beautiful rainbow!

Double rainbow!

Rainbow coming down in front of the William Wallace Monument

Robert the Bruce Statue

After the castle, we warmed up in a nearby pub and enjoyed some Real Ales and local food!