Stirling Castle, and the One, the Only, the Wheel

We stayed in old Stirling on Thursday night at what felt like an old firehall inside–with a church façade outside. ;o)
On Friday we went to Stirling Castle during the tumultuous rain. Above is a statue of Robert the Bruce guarding the castle (set within the fog). Its location rivals even Edinburgh Castle's for sheer magnificence as it sits on its high volcanic rock, visible for many miles in every direction. During a long and bloody history Stirling Castle has been attacked or besieged at least 16 times. Three battles have been fought in its immediate vicinity, two of which were turning points in Scottish history: and a fourth equally important battle (Bannockburn- with William Wallace/Braveheart and Robert the Bruce) took place just a few miles to the north. A number of Scottish Kings and Queens have been baptised, or crowned, or died within or near Stirling Castle. At least one King was murdered nearby: while another committed murder within its walls.
The castle itself inside reminded me a lot of Edinburgh castle, but not as impressive. ;o) The kitchen was definitely the highlight (I love when they reenact the kitchens!).
The Great Hall was also really cool and it had beautiful tapestries in it, cathedral ceilings and thrones - where we found our rightful places. The hall was redone in the 'kings gold' colour, which if you can imagine the whole castle like that back in the 1600's it would have looked very expensive indeed! Except now it looks weird in contrast to the rest of the castle which was not restored...
We followed up our 3 hour tour with a picnic at the Wallace monument at a private lookout point. The sun came out just for the occasion and was a welcome reprieve from 2 days of rain (and soggy shoes).

We then set out towards Dunfermline (the home of Dad's family), but on the way we made one final stop at the Falkirk Wheel, which is named after the nearby town of Falkirk and is a rotating boat lift onnecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres (79 ft), roughly equivalent to the height of an eight storey building. On 24th of May 2002, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Falkirk Wheel as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations. The wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and is regarded as an engineering landmark for Scotland. It is a v. interesting lift lock based on a hydraulic system. It replaced the need for 11 separate locks (those locks are now defunct). I saw it like a massive ferris wheel for boats that sit in big bathtubs! You can watch it in action here.
Syd got a kick out of the sign at the entrance to the Wheel:
Here is me at the top canal (union I think).

We then had a really nice reunion with the cousins (Evelyn and David) that evening in Dunfermline with a great dinner, and then drinks all night with the whole family.
The boys latched onto Syd and the 3 of them linked up their Nintendos to play against each other - geeks! ;o)