J and K Adventures: Hitting the Road--Stirling Castle

After 2 days ( we needed 4) in beautiful, graceful, enchanting Edinburgh, it was time to move on into the next phase of our adventure.

We packed and had our breakfast at the Ibis we had called home, we checked out and walked the 6 blocks to Hertz. They were busy yet I was impressed with how the agent took his time with each customer to go over everything concerning the lease, car and best route to take to get to your destination - I found myself not bristling over the wait but appreciating that we would get the same quality care when it was our turn - we did.

We loaded up the red Skoda Fabia, forever from now known as our own Fabio and headed out of town, driving on the left and going around the many roundabouts that seem to have been installed at every other intersection. Fun to negotiate as you mentally compute "what f...ing lane am I supposed to be in" while transferring everything you ever knew or felt about driving on the right to now trying to drive on the left. Not easy when the grey Audi behind you is riding your tail and blasting a ear shattering BEEP your way!!

We made it the 60 miles to Stirling while only getting lost once, quite the accomplishment I dare say. Opps, I'm becoming Angelicized! We drove up to Stirling Castle where so much history was recorded - think Braveheart, Robert the Bruce, the Jacobites and all the conflicts between Scotland and England. In a lot of ways I felt Stirling Castle was superior to Edinburgh Castle, which we saw yesterday. Lots of Docents were dressed in period garb with a fountain of information to bring stone and brick come alive. I could feel the Palace intrigue.

I came across a stand where you can look up your last name and heritage and they would pull up the Coat of Arms and history of the folks that had come previous to yourself. Turns out the Berger clan can be traced back over 3000 years and yes I purchased it just to be able to one up a certain brother in law of mine who is interested in Geneology.

We enjoyed the gardens, the views, the setting and the area. So much so that we scrubbed the idea of driving to Oban and stayed in Stirling which turned out to be a good decision, as a hotel called "The Travel Lodge" turned out to be a good pick. It was comfortable, clean, friendly and with a tasty kitchen. It wasn't "The Dome" but we didn't have to drive anywhere to eat there!