Stirling

Traveled from Inverness to Stirling first ting in the morning. I got to ride in the first class of the train--it was SO NICE. Plus it was a large train headed to King's Cross Station in London. So, the chairs were cushy and they brought by a paper, coffee and tea constantly, and even a croissant with cheese and tomato. THAT is the way to travel.

Got to Stirling at around 10:30 and immediately found my hostel. After dropping off my stuff, I got a map and went out. I climbed up to the top of the hill and paid for my entry and tour through Stirling Castle. It was AWESOME. the tour was great and I'm more and more able to understand the Scottish history. The only bummer is that I am two weeks too early to see the newly-refinished throne room/palace. But, what I got to see was awesome nonetheless. They have reproductions of the larger kitchens, they have refinished the banquet hall, the Chapel Royal, and the Tapestry studio. In the tapestry studio they are redoing the tapestries that they believe would have hung in the Palace Hall. The man was giving a little talk about it and showing us how they did it. It a was fascinating and sounded like grueling work.

After the castle, I walked through this beautiful old graveyard and then into the Church of the Holy Rude. It is one of the oldest medieval cathedrals in Scotland or something like that. The church is absolutely beautiful and has quite the history. My favorite part of their history is when the pastors disagreed and put up a wall in the middle of the church and two separate congregations met. For more than 200 years, two Church of Scotland congregations would show up at the same building, go to two different churches, and stared at the wall that divided them. Finally, in the early 20th century, the wall came down and the two congregations have been worshipping together ever since.

This cathedral is full of history--windows and decorations ripped out and destroyed during the Reformation and now beautiful stained glass windows and decor. Not only was the cathedral beautiful, the people who were working or volunteering there were incredibly nice and anxious to tell you all about the cathedral. By far, my favorite comment was a guy who pointed me to look at the timbered ceiling. "That ceiling was built before America was founded. Did you know that?" Crazy.

After the church, I took a few more steps down the hill and went to the Old Town Jail. The tour was interesting, but the actor who walks you through the whole thing was HILARIOUS and a little scary. Throughout the course of all of it, he plays 4 different characters, treating you like inmates, making fun of people and just being very convincing. I was impressed.

Since it was cold and pouring rain, I decided to go back to the hostel and take advantage of the free cup of hot tea. Once I got there, I began talking with some of the staff and folks who were staying there. They showed me such great hospitality. They invited me to join them in a pot of soup they were making and to join in their card games in the evening. So, I ended up staying up til the wee hours of the morning talking and laughing and joking with these people. They almost have a little family there and they were more than willing to welcome me into it even though I was only staying in the hostel one night. Shouldn't the church be more like that? Just a thought.