Stirling Castle

Hello! Today, we finally made it up to Stirling Castle.  In my opinion, it was way better than Edinburgh Castle.  This one wasn't quite as military as Edinburgh, plus there weren't a lot of people around (Yes, I know it's February and all, but Edinburgh Castle was still packed.).  Of course, this castle was at the top of another hill, but the views were amazing.  First, we stopped to walk through a graveyard (I know this sounds creepy, but the views were really good.) and went to the top of this little cliff to take pictures of the castle.  That is where this first video was taken from.  It was a little windy, so I know some if it is kind of hard to hear, but everyone can at least still enjoy the views.

Despite what this video shows, it was actually a really nice day today.  The sun was out this morning, until it started to rain and get really windy when I shot this video. (The nice thing about Scottish weather though, is that when it rains, it usually ends pretty quickly.  It hasn't rained all day here yet.)

After our graveyard visit, we headed in to the castle.  First, we saw the statue of William Wallace, who is a Scottish war hero icon.  He is the man that the movie Braveheart is based off of.  It sits right outside of the castle.  Then, we went inside.  We got to use our tickets from Edinburgh Castle to get in for free.  Then, we went on one of the guided tours.  I'll admit that I was pretty skeptical of the guided tours because of how boring they typically are, but the tour guide was awesome! He was the stereotypical Scottish man.  In fact, I took a video from inside the castle (I know, 2 videos in one post!) and he is featured in it. 

This was taken directly inside of the castle.  The yellow building is the Grand Hall, there is also the chapel, and  the King's quarters that is under renovation.  

We spent a long time at the castle.  There were a lot of places to explore in and around the outer wall.  I would just like to say, that the prison cells in the castle were honestly bigger and less drafty than my dorm room.  I deeply considered moving in.  

Here are some pictures from the castle.  

This is the entrance leading up to the castle.  (Note: This castle kind of reminded me of the castle in Lord of the Rings at the Battle of Helms Deep.  No, it isn't carved out of a mountain, but it still looks similar to me at least.)

I realize I'm going to take a lot of jokes for this picture, but I couldn't help sitting on the thrown when the opportunity presented itself. 

This is the view of the town of Stirling from the castle.  My campus is just below the tower on the hill off in the distance.

After we explored the castle, we went back to Pound Stretcher (this place is seriously awesome) and to Tesco (In case you were wondering, they don't sell peanut butter or parmesan cheese here.) before heading back to campus. Tomorrow is the official start of classes, but I don't actually start mine until Thursday.  This means I will be getting acquainted with the library most of the day tomorrow.