Scotland Day 2

Today, we focused on a piece of Scottish history near and dear to my heart: Stirling Castle and William Wallace (aka Braveheart). Those of you who know me well know that Braveheart is my favorite movie, so I was pretty giddy all morning. Before hoping on the bus, we filled up with a hearty, traditional Scottish breakfast at Weatherspoon’s Free House, where we got to try black pudding for the first time (very tasty).

When we arrived at Stirling, we walked through the town, then hiked up the steep hill to the castle.

Outside, we happened on the statue of Robert the Bruce.

The cashier offered us audio tours, which we reluctantly accepted. However, we quickly ditched them when we saw a real guide starting a free tour inside the castle. The castle has such amazing history. It has changed hands numerous times and was home to many of Scotland’s kings and queens such as James IV and Mary Queen of Scots.

The tour lasted about an hour, and by the end I was ready for the main event: The Wallace Monument.

The Wallace Monument was not as close to the castle as we had hoped (~2 miles) and we didn’t have much time left, so we took a quick cab ride over. To get to the top of the monument, you have to traverse 246 steps. There are galleries along the way, one of which housed Wallace’s actual battle sword.

I learned that the movie Braveheart is not very accurate to the actual history. For one, Mel Gibson is only 5' 9", but historians put William Wallace at around 6' 6", since it would've taken someone of that size to wield a sword that large.

Another gallery housed Scotland’s Heroes. In my ongoing quest to determine whether or not I am really a descendent of Robert Burns, I posed in front of my apparent ancestor. Spitting image, eh?

Once we reached the top, we got amazing views of Scotland. The picture below shows the green where the actual Battle of Stirling Bridge took place (those of you who have seen Braveheart may recognize it).

The Battle of Stirling Bridge didn't really happen the way it was portrayed in Braveheart. Wallace was indeed outnumbered and the Scots did win handily, but it wasn't an open-field battle with a cavalry charge. Instead, the English tried to cross the Stirling bridge 3 or 4 horse/men at a time. Once almost half of the English had made it across, Wallace gave the order (from the hill where the Wallace Monument stands) to attack the half that had crossed. They slaughtered the English, and all the other half could do was watch (this half finally fled).

After returning from Stirling, we made our way over to my Uncle Irwin’s old stomping grounds, The University of Glasgow. Uncle Irwin grew up in Scotland and got his medical degree here (he now lives in Boston).

After walking the grounds, we leisurely strolled around the surrounding area, walked through a few neighborhoods, and eventually made it back to the center of Glasgow. We ate a hearty dinner at The Counting House in George Square, then retired back to our hotel.