Visit to Stirling

Laurie did such a fantastic job writing about our trip to Stirling so I just played photojournalist and added links to what she wrote.  There were just a few additional comments I had below.


Driving
I am getting adjusted to driving here.  I love the roundabouts. They keep you going without having to stop (or at least usually the stop is shorter than it would be otherwise.

I am surprised that people seem free to park facing in either direction on either side of the road.  Since the traffic inicators aren't as obvious as they are in the US where you can tell directionality as opposed to lane separateion, this is a bit disconcerting to see cars facing you as you turn down a road—though so far I have not turned down the wrong way once so far.

The Stirling Castle
I thought the castle was amazing.  I'm getting a bit better about making panorama pictures with the digital camera and Photoshop.

Particularly impressive is how much research and work they have put into the returning the castle to the way it would have been originally. For example the Great Hall has a stucco like coating over the large stones made from limewash which is "flicked'on with a brush.  It is stunning and not at all what you might have expected a castle of that time to look like.

There are also excellent examples of period cooking and costumes.

Stirling Silver

Since we went to Stirling, I was currious about Stirling silver. I thought there might have been some connection, but I was wrong. At I. Franks Antique Silver, they have a nice history as does the WikiPediA which presents alternate theories of the history. Sterling was once the capital of Scotland. It's geography makes it both a natural fortress and a natural delimiter between the Scottish highlands and the lowlands.