We checked out of Castle Rock Hostel this morning. It was really a cramped room for the 4 of us but the location was so perfect and the common room was large and comfortable. The 4 flights of steps up to the room kept us in shape too!
We took an Ubber to the rental place by the airport. They talked us into upgrading to a hybrid to save on gas and it has GPS built in. Seems like it's worth it. A bit of a Tetris game to get the suitcases and back packs to all fit in but we did it and now we know where everything goes for the rest of the trip. Marilyn is our fearless driver and has had some experience with driving on the left side of the road. She just keeps repeating "keep left" whenever we get to an intersection or round about.
The scenery is open, with the occasional farm house and field with sheep and oh so green! It is about an hour drive to Stirling. We decide to go into town first and get some lunch before going to the castle. It's easy to find the center of town as Stirling is quite small. We find a delightful breakfast/lunch spot run by a Turkish couple. We all had the Scottish breakfast that came with a fried egg, bacon, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, a potato scone and baked beans. A cup of tea with that and I'm one happy camper.
Next stop the castle - We wind our way through the town and up the hill to the parking lot. Oh, the view is magnificent. Of course, the castle is always at the top of the hill, cliff, bluff precisely because of the view. The castle had all the aspects to make it fit my notions of what a typical castle should be like. Guarded entry with huge gates, round towers with jagged tops. High paths around the top, statues, a keep, great hall, royal chambers with beautiful tapestries. Oh my! We had about an hour long guided tour of the castle with suggestions of other areas to see on our own. We were all totally into it and wanted to see every little corner and garden.
I was really interested in the stories of the tapestries. They are duplicates made of original ones that were purchased and then sold to a museum in New York. We went to an exhibition of the stories of the weavers who did the reproduction. It took many years. This particular set of tapestries are all about the unicorn, hunting it down, and killing it. Then it resurrects. The unicorn is symbolic of Christ and his death and resurrection. Or others say it is symbolic of a love relationship. I think I like that one better.
We came back and checked into our AirBnB for the next 2 nights. It's a charming old row house just 2 blocks from the center of town. The view from our window is wonderful! I do hope that the church doesn't have bells that ring early in the morning. Our rooms feel palatial after the tiny room at the hostel. It has a queen bed in one room and an adjoining room has bunk beds with the lower one being a double. I have the top bunk. I'm good with that.
We venture out to look for a place for dinner. We find a buffet with mostly Indian fare but also a salad bar. We've been missing our greens. All very tasty and reasonably priced. After dinner we stop by the Curly Coo Pub which was recommended by Richard, who runs the AirB&B. Mandy owns and runs it. She's a hoot and extremely knowledgeable about the Whiskies. We ask her to make a flight for us so that we can try several different ones. We're getting to be quite the connoisseurs! We decide one flight isn't enough so we get another. We all liked the second flight better. Maybe we were all just that much happier.
Back at the AirB&B the conversation centered around strategies for the shower. Connie reported that it would be scalding hot for about 30 seconds and then go directly to freezing for about 30 seconds and repeat. Marilyn got it figured out. It is a tankless system and it works great if you keep the water temperature right in the middle. I was the last one to take a shower so we had it all figured out by my turn and I got a nice steady hot but not scalding shower.
Good night.
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