Apartment in Stirling

I figure I'd take pictures before leaving. OMG. This place, I don't ever want to get back! Picture are so deceiving. Place is deserted and not much life in the town of Stirling unless you really enjoy lots of open fields with Sheep.

Looked at Bathroom from entryway.

Bedroom with en-suite bathroom

2nd bedroom that never got used.

Kitchenette

Not very well-stocked kitchen with crappy appliances.

Living area

The National Wallace Monument

After spending almost the entire day at the Stirling Castle, I took a super duper long walk to The National Wallace Monument which was build to commemorate Sir William Wallace who help led Scotland to a victory against England in the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. He's a National hero for his patriotism and desire to have help led Scotland to peace and freedom from the English rules during the reign of King Edward I who apparently was super cruel to the Scottish people.

Taken on the way up to the monument

Close-up shot after a super long and uphill walk to the monument!

Another view from down below at ground-level. Wide-angle lens needed eh?!

The Stirling Castle Tour

I'm not much of a history buff but this weekend totally brought me to the next level. I definitely feel smarter with all this Scottish history and castle hunting I was doing this past weekend.

First stop was the Stirling Castle, there are so many Mary and James throughout Scottish history it's really pretty crazy to follow! Everyone's a Queen Mary or a King James! James I, James II, James III, Jame IV, James V, James VI. You following me so far? HAH!

Castle Entrance

Well there was a King Alexander, a King Charles, a King William and many more dating back from the 1100s but James IV - James VI are most popular as very much of the Stirling Castle was expanded and built during their reign. Between 1543-1746, there were at least 8 sieges of Stirling Castle between the English and the Scots.

This is a view of a side of the Royal Palace from Queen Anne Garden

Architecture is apparently a mix of French, German and English influences from the period when King James IV, V and VI were in power.

Behind all the history that I read and re-read, the only thing I seem to remember is just that Margaret Tudor married James VI to have James V who married Mary de Guise who had a daughter who became Mary, Queen of Scots at 6 month old when her father died. She then married Henri from France and had James VI who later became King of Scots as his mother's successor. Whew! I only remember this much as it is the basis of the entire tour of the Castle!

Inside the palace, there was the Outer Close, Inner Close, and actual bedroom of the King and Queen.

This is the Queen's Outer Close which is essentially a waiting area for people to meet and see the Queen. It was also used as an informal dining room.

Special guests selected by the staff get to meet the Queen at the Inner Close which is a much formal room with nicer decor and definitely a more "royal" feel. 

 Now to the King's Outer Close and Inner Close and the usage of the rooms are similar to that of the Queen. Only difference is that these rooms were left unfurnished before King James V died before the design and construction completed. so these rooms are actually left empty at the castle as it should. 

King's Outer Hall where guests of some social prominence are given the "opportunity" to see the King if he so chooses to see them. It's the waiting room, similar to the Queen's Outer Close.

Selected guests are then invited from the Outer Close into the Inner Close to meet with the King. Not much to an empty room but there is the Royal Coat of Arms hung above a fireplace with a stunning ceiling carved out of wood and painted. 

Now to the bedroom of King and Queen. Apparently Purple is the color of royalty and is the most expensive piece of colored fabric to purchase and only sold to those of royal inheritance. The color of the purple come from some sort of sea shells. I forget...got distracted :)

In case you're wondering..they do have people dressed up from the days of the Renaissance depicting and telling stories of the past to share with guests.

 More pictures!!!

Royal Chapel directly across from the Royal Palace where King James V and his daughter Mary, Queen of Scots were crowned

Not too far from the Stirling Castle is the Mar's Wark where the Castle Keeper stayed. There's damage on the building from canon fire during an uprising. As mentioned before, there was a lot of fighting between the Brits and the Scots for control of the Castle between the 15th and 18th century.

View from East side of the Castle from a lookout area in the Ballengeich Cemetery.

Gateway into a part of the castle.

I thought the picture above would be a great way to end this blog. Gateway to discovering some more history of Scotland :-) There's plenty more pictures but I thought these were the highlights to share. Majority of the structure obviously were renovated, rebuilt, and furnished based on historian findings as well as remnants of research and discovery throughout the Castle. Nonetheless, this was a great experiences and it's probably the closest we would ever get to knowing or understanding the history and it's significance in a completely different part of the world!

P.S. I drive by the castle with a great view of it all. One of these days, I'll pull over to snap a picture of the Stirling Castle as I find it to be much more impressive than the Edinburgh Castle in terms of location and view.

Old Town Jail Tour

I actually took this tour last weekend and that was the most I got out of being a tourist as I was called in to work on Sunday and was catching up with sleep on Saturday.

I finally have time to talk about this tour!

Honestly, I thought this was a rip-off mostly because there was really not much to see. This was an okay 1/2 hour tour...

Old Town Jail was built and opened in 1847 due to overcrowding at the Tollbooth Jail

This place was used as the only military prison of Scotland from 1888-1935 and was renovated in the early 1990s. When this place first opened, the prison cell didn't have "real" beds.

Criminals were branded, whipped, and hanged publicly even if your crime was petty. If you were in here, they made sure others know you were here after you leave prison.

The guards and the Inspector of the prison made sure all the inmates were never comfortable or happy, did lots of monotonous manual labor all day long, had strict schedule and routine, and ate coarse food.

By the 1900s, Prison cells evolved to this.

Can't stop thinking about snow...

You ever have days where you're just so sick and tired of work because you're burnt out and things seem so pointless. The politics, the red tape. and the rest of the bullshit.  You then re-gain motivation stumbling into a conversation or an opportunity that just sounds all so exciting and you're determined to make presence and be a part of. Suddenly you're rejuvenated and ready to PLAY! It's a never ending cycle and sometimes we know where we'll end up but we're stupid enough to keep circling and re-entering the same cycle. LOL

oh wells! Today was one of those days...in a good mood :-)

I'm already thinking about snow hoping to make a lot of snowboarding/ski trips with Jeff this year. Bring on the snow to the NorthEast Please!!!!

Utah? but really dream is Japan, Hokkaido! Snowboarding is one of those sports I can only see myself doing when I'm still young and able. Snow mountains in Japan are supposed to be breathtaking. Practice ! Practice!
Can't wait to be back home!

"Warning: Scalding Hot Water"

There is a sign about 2" x 1" on almost all public sinks that warn you of scalding hot water and these people do not joke. Our water at home, in the U.S., or anywhere else for that matter have a temp gauge that limits how hot your water gets. Definitely not here, and that hot water turns HOT quick!

Oh and if you like your hot coffee in the morning, you best be careful with that first sip because they serve that cup to you like boiling hot! I suppose lawsuits of this sort are not common around here.

Finally got my lazy ass out the door this afternoon..

I finally saw some life in the city of Stirling this afternoon!

The TV options are quite limited at the apartment so I've been watching Dexter. Finally got some good sleep on a Saturday and watched 2 episodes of Dexter before I got my lazy ass out the door for some on-foot adventure through this small town of Stirling.I'm in the heart of what's essentially a touristy city centre near the Stirling Castle and Stirling University.

suburban-like

Looking down a part of the Towne Center with cobblestone streets which always brings out such a unique character to a place. 

a cemetery on the way to the top of the volcanic rock where the Stirling castle sits

Just cannons :-)

Figured I'd top off the day with a sweet ending. Here comes some supposedly Luxury Scottish Ice Cream that tastes like regular ice cream! Heh!

First day to work was a success!

I found my way driving to work today, despite several wrong turns. It's only 2 miles away but it can really be super confusing. You might think otherwise, but I personally think the street signs are not very intuitive. Street signs are not quite the thing either..they are only located at intersections. Even so, not every roundabout has a sign that shows the road name (ie. A811, or Dumbarton Road). Instead, the arrow pointing to the exit of a roundabout would say "Stirling Castle" which is a landmark. In one single roundabout, you can have more than one exit with the same street name. Ahh...so confusing!!! So! I have learned that your best bet is to find out what major cities, landmarks, and big towns are relative to your destination because more often than ever..these street signs will just say..."this way towards edinburgh" or "this way towards thistle shopping center" bleh!!!!

So today I found out why some people drive on "normal" side of the car. I got into a co-workers car and it turns out he used to live in France so when he came to Scotland, he took his car along with him! That's why...people from Spain or France take their cars with them into Scotland so that's why you see some people drive on the left side instead of the right side.

Finally made it here!

Fortunately, it paid off to have insisted on flying business class for such a long flight. With a bit of technical difficulty that delayed my flight by 3 hours, I did not get into Edinburgh till like 3pm ish. I didn't even bother eating on the flight, I just slept thru the entire flight to London!

Now that I have made it to the apartment, the place is a lot bigger than what i had in HK, with enough beds for 4, but am not very impressed with the furnishings. It's almost like a rental apartment you would rent for a vacation at the beach or a ski trip. Decently clean enough I guess but at 830pm, the streets were already dead. No Mark & Spencer or supermarket open at this time of the night. Oh boy!

Btw, I have been driving around with a car I rented for use during my stay. I ended up with a car that has a manual transmission. Yes, they do drive on the other side of the car here. Although you know what's weird? There are some cars that actually has the driver seat on the left side! So everyone does keep left on the road here but then there's a mix of cars with some that drive on same side as the US!

I think I have a pretty good hang of driving around here now. So many roundabouts and I now look right first before I turn or enter a roundabout. The car is pretty easy to drive too. The clutch reminds me of that of a motorcycle. Its a short catch and needs little to no easing off of the clutch at all when shifting.

Back to blogging...

Today marks the first day of my leaving home again. This time around I'm not as excited as my last trip to Hong Kong probably because I realized then that 2.5 months is a very long time away from home. I really didn't enjoy hong kong towards the latter half of the trip. The place got boring and there was not much to explore, especially difficult when exploring solo too!

My first stop is three weeks in Stirling, Scotland which is between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The place is suppose to rain almost everyday this time of the year with minimal daylight. There isn't even an airport in the city. I'm flying through Heathrow to Edinburgh and have to get to Stirling by car with a 45min drive. Can you imagine?

On the bright side, now that I have set such low expectations, I'm hoping to be surprised by the supposed scenic views, castles, and amazing underground cities. I will have plenty of time to research the area when I get there. Hopefully, I can stay active and loose some blubber now that I will have the time.