Vacation Day Eleven-Another Day, Another 15th Century Castle

OK, Theresa, today's objective: Stirling Castle. Ground: the high ground near the River Forth, upriver from Edinburgh, the highest point between the Highlands and the Lowlands.

Ah, forget it.

Today its another 15th Century castle. Yawn. Seen one, you've seen them all. Except that this is the one Mel Gibson defended in Braveheart. Except apparently the movie gets a lot of the historic details wrong. Go figure.

Well the previous day's super-fine awesome day has given way to what in Dublin is called a "fine Irish mist." By the time the train is halfway to Stirling, its a flat out rain storm. The train is a pretty great way to go. It would be fantastic if we had them in places other than New York and Chicago. In Austin, we have a train that no one rides. It took about three consultants' reports, six times of being on the ballot, followed by a bunch of court challenges, then construction delays, now it goes from Cedar Park to the east part of downtown. The problem is most people don't live in Cedar Park (or as I like to call it "West Pasadena"). The other problem is what to do once you get to 4th and IH-35. Over here the "town centers" are pretty compact. Once you get off the train, its a quick walk to your building, or you can hop on very dependable busses to get there. And because everything is in the city center, you don't really need your car during the day. Not true in most southern and western cities. The automobile's preeminence has made most Sun Belt cities pretty disparate. A successful train system would require several different inner city stations. Plus, bus service is either a joke, or a good place to get rolled.

Edinburgh has a ring of industrial and commercial facilities surrounding it, which give way to agricultural fields, and small towns. These aren't developed suburbs, they're old towns that the railroad link. It rained all the way to Stirling, and about the first hour I was there.

Stirling Castle occupies a pretty dominant position in Scottish history. It sits on the highest ground, on the River Forth (which runs down to Edinburgh), in a small strategic area between the Highlands and Lowlands. As explained on the tour, every invader that wants to take over the Scottish Highlands has to go through Stirling, and the Castle, by virtue of its high ground and fortifications, controlled everything in the region. So whoever controlled Stirling Castle in effect controlled Scotland. The English and Scots fought over it for hundreds of years.

The place is in really good shape. The government recently completed extensive renovations on the palace and the Great Hall. Both are close to their presumed original condition, c. 1500s. The photos, on flickr, show the vivid colors of the tapestries, wall coverings, furniture, and so forth. The Great Hall, surprisingly, is painted a mustard color. The tour guide explained that all castles used to be this color, because they were covered with a type of plaster with that color tint. The idea was for them to be visible from long distances. Most castles now have a bare stone appearance because the plaster wore away over centuries. At Stirling, they've restored the plaster on the Great Hall. The palace, where Kings and Queens resided, has been spectacularly restored. One feature is the "Stirling Heads," a collection of some 30 carved heads on the King's bedroom's ceiling. Those were copied from the originals, and painted like the originals. They also have a tapestry shop, where weavers make tapestries using original medieval techniques. Four of their works hang in the palace. Other exhibits show the Castle's history, the kitchen operations, and the Stirling Heads gallery. During the renovations, they found two skeletons dating back to the 1500s. Using "CSI" techniques, they created models of the two skeletons' faces as they would have appeared back then. One of them looked like the ticket taker on my train out to Stirling. Which was weird.

One kind of disconcerting thing, which everyone else seemed to really like, is that they have actors playing various roles throughout the castle. They're in period costume, and take the role of someone who would have been at the castle (like a lady in waiting or a herald). They explain what they do, or various parts of the castle, all the while acting as if they're in the 1500s. Very Ren Faire. Reminds me of Ron Livingston in Swingers, who was going to kill for the chance to play Goofy at Disneyland. They address you as "My Lord," as if though you were also in the 1500s. That's ok when its your girlfriend calling you that, but in 2011, its kind of creepy.

After leaving the castle, I walked the trail leading around the castle's base, along the ancient wall. Then back into town to take the train back into Edinburgh.

Once there, it was still daylight so I explored the "New Town" area immediately north of the river. Though called "new," it in fact dates to the late 1700s, when the city started to expand out of the Old Town area. It still retains many of the original Georgian style buildings, which then were townhouses for rich merchants. We experienced a really nice sunset, so it was fun walking around Friday evening as people were starting their weekends. Princes' Street is one of the main retail venues, and it was very busy with pedestrians and vehicles. I also passed the Princes' Street Gardens, at the foot of the hill bordering the Old Town. The gates were locked, but the gardens were obviously lush and well tended.

I got cleaned up, then went back into town (New Town) for Spanish tapas at Cafe Andaluz. Yes, that's right, in Scotland, I went for tapas. I figured I wouldn't have the chance for awhile, so off I went to Cafe Andaluz. It was really good. I had some spicy carne de res with manchego, a seafood stew, and some excellent paella. Not as good as Sevilla Restaurant in the Village, of course, but still good. Interestingly, every male server was sporting a three-day beard, like they were Antonio Banderas. You may look like him, but when you open your mouth you sound like Scotty from Star Trek, so the ladies are going to see through that.

I had a thing about the local news saying there's an excess of red haired sperm donors, but am going to give it up due to the hour. Suffice to say, women are voting with their choices and they don't choose reheads. Sorry reds. Hey! More for the rest of us. Julianne Moore, Angie Everhart, Lucille Ball...not sure what's the point. Sorry Major Applewhite.

Next-Linithgow Palace and St. Andrews.