Scotland: Stirling and Oban

Here are the pics from the day trips we took from Edinburgh...

First we went to Stirling and visited Sitrling Castle. It's definitely smaller than Edinburgh Castle but sits at an important strategic junction between Northern and Southern Scotland. So, lots of kings, battles, and "brave heart" stuff.  Stirling had been recently restored and only opened a few months ago. In its day, the castle was full of sculptures and paintings and they've recreated some of that.  We were really impressed with the historical attractions in Scotland really fun and informative.  We lucked out and the castle was nearly empty so we got to chat with one of the guides and one of the vets working in the regimental museum.  Pretty neat!

Stirling Castle

There's an awesome old cemetery around the castle...and it was Halloween...pretty spooky!

Love the little terrier on the dog waste bin :)

Inside the Duke or Argyll's house (adjacent to the castle).  Practicing my rotisserie skills.

Tony and I w/ the Duke

Yep unicorns on the ceiling....

Purple was the color of kings...I can dig this kind of decor!

Room in the palace part of the castle- the ceiling is actually flat and painted with the 3-d affect.

Wood sculptures- theses were painted in bright colors and hung on the ceilings.  There were hundreds of them!

There were over 200 sculptures on the outside of the castle!

Views from the Castle looking over the kings garden.  The houses were built during the Victorian area.  Stirling real estate prices are inflated b/c a lot of footballers live there, according to our guide Brian.

Sirling Castle

We took another trip out to Oban, a sea-side town on the West coast.  It was pretty long journey (4-hours each way) by train, but was worth it to see some beautiful scenery! We also got to visit the Oban whiskey distillery- really neat!  It's tiny and have been operating since 1794(-ish) but all Oban is made here.  Craziest part- our guide, Deidre, looked like she could have been my mom's sister.  Same eyes, face, and hair. Uncanny! Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos in the distillery, so you'll just have to trust me. :)  

On the train

Scotrail

It was freezing- ices were really not necessary

Dunollie Castle- we took this pic for the beautiful dog in the front left

Hmm....looks a lot like New Zealand!

Scottish sheep have more photogenic faces than New Zealand sheep (and pose a little better)

Donollie Castle.  From the 13th-14th century but unused since the last Jacobite rebellion in 1746

How'd he get up there??? ;)

Inside the tower

Looking out

Yum yum fresh seafood- there were a lot of Norwegian ships in the harbor & the waitresses at this restaurant were definitely from Scandinavia.

Coffee and chocolates!