Dunfermline and Stirling: Monday, April 20-- A.M.

  We had the Three Sisters' Scottish breakfast again, despite an unfortunate incident on Arthur's Seat the day before during our hike.  Maybe it was that mystery round on the plate which we could not discern whether it was brown bread or blood pudding. We checked out of STAY.CETRAL and walked to our car. By watching some strangers a couple times, we managed to get the machine to take our money and parking token. We round-about-ed to the highway over the Firth of Fourth Bridge to Dunfermline Abbey (final resting place for Robert the Bruce). Once again, I needed immediate bathroom privileges since it was about an hour since the Three Sisters' breakfast. We were going to park close but the parking police were out trying to catch late returners with a £60 ticket. We found enough coinage to get us to the Abbey for an hour.  Robert is interred right in the floor of the Abbey. No admission but they ask for a donation to keep up the Abbey. A nice volunteer docent is anxious to tell her national history to anyone. She convinced Judd to by the children's version of Robert the Bruce and William the Wallace.  (Maybe more pictures and less text.)

Bridge over the River Fourth

Robert the Bruce

   Stirling Castle is one of the largest and most historically important castles in Scotland. Famous back to the 1300s when King Robert the Bruce defeated the English at Bannockburn (in sight of the castle) to the 14-16th century (home to the Stewarts and Mary Queen of Scots ), it has sustained being a renaissance palace to a military fortress to a prison.  King James the V introduced changes making it the first renaissance palace in the British Isles. The King's Presence Chamber held the Stirling Heads, large carved oak round portraits which have been restored. Judd and I took our time exploring the rooms and gardens. In the back close was an exhibit showing how they  commissioned weavers to re-create some of the famous unicorn tapestries for the Queen's chambers.

 

 

http://www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk/home/experience/highlights/tapestries.htm

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