Along the way to Edinburgh: We stopped at the William Wallace Memorial in Stirling. Sir Wallace (Braveheart, as played by Mel Gibson) was a defender of Scotland, and rose to power in the late 1200s.
At that time, Stirling was the only gateway from the south to northern Scotland. In 1297 King Edward I sent troops to squash the rebellion headed by Wallace, but they had to get across the very narrow Stirling Bridge to reach them.
It was expected that they would easily trounce Wallace and his small army, but Wallace's troops cut them off as they attempted to cross the bridge, dividing the army in half and slaughtering over 5000 men.
Eventually Wallace was betrayed, brought to England, found guilty of treason, and put to death. That is the extremely short version of his story :)
Edinburgh in August is a hopping kind of place. The crowds are amazing, and kind of fun- for a few days, anyway.
In addition to the month long International Military Tattoo, there is an enormous book fair and a festival called " the Fringe".
Our flat was smack dab in the middle of the action, which was awesome, because we had turned in our rental cars, and navigated the city on foot, which is very easy to do in Edinburgh.
Quite a few of the roads were closed off, and temporary pubs and cafes were everywhere.
First on the agenda was a tour of Edinburgh castle. Mike and Julie have seen it, so we were on our own.
Although some of the castle was left looking like a castle, much of it has been transformed into a museum.
With so many places to eat, we decided to eat most of our dinners out, instead of cooking- our first night we kept it simple and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe.
Back when planning our trip, one of the first things we did was decide when we would be in Edinburgh, so we could buy our tickets to the Tattoo.
The venue is outside, at the castle, so we were lucky it was a nice night.
A tattoo showcases military music, and Edinburgh has one of the best in the world. There were performers from many different countries, in addition to Scotland.
My favorite is usually the pipe bands.
After an hour and a half, the concert ended with fireworks.
The Fringe Festival began in 1947, the same year as the "invitation only" Edinburgh International Festival. Performers who weren't invited to that festival invented their own, and it has grown over the years, so that now there are more than 32,000 shows over the course of the 3 week festival.
Naturally we had to see a show! Most of the performances are short, and very inexpensive. Some are outside and some are in small pubs or theaters. We chose to see a comedian, in the afternoon. I can't say we understood all of the humor, but it was entertaining, and now we can say we have done it.
On our final day the weather was iffy, so we checked out the Museum of Scotland. Admission is free, which is nice. I found it huge and a bit confusing, but I did discover that backgammon was around in 1717, since Mary, Queen of Scots gave this set to one of her companions.
Bowling is also a very old game- these artifacts date to about 1640. The original way it was played is different though. Two or more men would choose a spot 2-3 miles down a road, and throw a bowling ball until it hit the target. Whoever did it in the fewest throws, won. The pins came into the game a few years later.
The last thing I wanted to do before leaving Scotland was try a cask ale. These are locally made, but are nocask carbonated and are served at about room temperature. It was pretty good.
Edinburgh in August is a hopping kind of place. The crowds are amazing, and kind of fun- for a few days, anyway.
Back when planning our trip, one of the first things we did was decide when we would be in Edinburgh, so we could buy our tickets to the Tattoo.
