Day Three: Edinburgh to Stirling

Today, we got up early and took the bus to the airport to rent our car. We rented from Europcar which is a branch of National. They have all of the car rental companies in one place, way outside the terminal. Unlike in Houston where you can take a bus, in Scotland you have to walk to this area...I know, you are suprised right. :) Anyway, once we got there and got our car, we were off. Let's just say driving in Scotland is quite an adventure. At the end of our trip, I plan to dedicate an entire post to driving in Scotland and all of the different traffic signs you must learn. I have to wait until the end so that I am sure I have pictures of all the signs. I am about 4 short. :) For now, here is a picture of "Greased Lightening" as Steve named our car and a few pictures of him driving and the traffic around us...

Notice that we are on the left hand side and a truck is coming toward us on the right

We left the airport and drove back into the city to get to Edinburgh Zoo. Steve had to manage his first roundabouts which he declares are brilliant...keeps traffic moving at all times. They were a little scary at first, but he soon became a pro at them and really thought they were quite nice. The Edinburgh Zoo is amazingly HUGE and all uphill...even when we should have been going downhill, we felt like we were going uphill. The amount of space that the animals have in their enclosure is awesome. You really feel like you might just be watching them in their natural habitat. The penguin exhibit is so fun. You can look up the zoo online and there is a penguin cam where you can watch them. They are are too cute. We were very sad that we could only stay for a short while. We truly could have spent the whole day there. We are so glad we chose to come. We almost decided against it for time reasons, but we would not be Steve and Kasie if we did not go to the zoo. :) We have definitely ranked it up in the top three we have ever been. One thing to note is that while at the zoo, we experienced some rain....it lasted about 5 minutes. We bought an umbrella while shopping in Edinbugh and were able to use it. It would amaziningly be the only drop of rain we had on our whole trip.

 Is this not the cutest spider monkey you have ever seen?!?! They had HUNDREDS of them!

Sleeping Carpuchian monkey...if you want to see how they usually act, go to Gallery Furniture! :) 

 This is a view from the highest point of the zoo....

 How cool is the penguin exhibit. At 2:00 everyday they actually have a penguin parade and the penguins walk all over the zoo. Unfortunately we weren't able to stay for that.

How awesome is this play area? This was the biggest one...with a ropes course included, but there were smaller ones all over the zoo. 

Yes, Friends, even in Scotland....these kids could not have been older than 5th grade....probably entering 6th in the fall...we were cracking up laughing at them. The funniest thing was that by the end of the zoo, the boys were alone....not sure what happened to their girls. :)

After leaving the zoo, we were on our way to Stirling. Stirling is a pretty short drive from Edinburgh so we weren't in the car long. Falkirk is on the way and Steve wanted to go and see the monument from the famous battle of Falkirk. However, it sure wasn't as easy as it seemed. After we almost died...the exits are roundabouts...we didn't know that and almost got run off the road, and drove around the city for awhile, we decided that maybe we should only go to places that were clearly marked. We will save Falkirk for another visit. :) So we hopped back on the motorway and we finally arrived in Stirling. Our day was not nearly finished as we still had things to see in Stirling, made famous by William Wallace, aka Braveheart. We checked into our hotel and went straight to Stirling Castle. Stirling Castle itself was first built for James IV. However, the Grand Hall was finished by his son, James V. Eventually James V started building the new palace for he and his third wife, Mary of Guise, but he never actually lived there as he died before it was quite finished. Mary, Queen of Scots, James V's daughter was born only days before his death. She became queen of Scotland at just a few days old.  The castle was beautiful and the views from the top were quite amazing to say the least...

 This is one of the many tapestries throughout the castle. We were able to go into a room to watch some ladies working on tapestries....they did not allow us to take pictures but it was amazing to watch. Each tapestry takes almost four years to complete.

 

 This is the palace and it has been restored to what it would have looked like. The whole castle would have been this golden color. They are in the process of renovating the entire castle, inside and outside.

 This was one of the ceilings. It has been restored. They found the original works of art and using modern technology were able to test paint flecks and restore them all. The ceilings in the castle were beautiful!

The following pictures are views from the top of Stirling Castle. All I can say is WOW

 I love this picture....this is a picture of the Wallace Monument across town....on tomorrow's post, you will see a picture of Stirling Castle from the top of the Wallace Monument

So, after a very long day of traveling and sightseeing, we found a pub called Baker Street where I had another very tasty cider (called Kopparberg) and hit the sack.

This is a picture of our hotel. It used to be a high school....see below

This is the courtyard of our hotel....this is what we saw from our window. It is also important to note that this picture was taken about 10:00 in the evening with no flash. :)