Scotland (2025)
Thursday: Travel Day
We ate at Favazza’s before heading to the airport. The weather was great so we sat outside on the patio. Joy had Sicilian Chicken, and Brad had the Bowtie Pasta special.
The flight from Chicago to Edinburgh was delayed. We had Chinese food in the food court while we waited. We made the long walk from security to the gate only to have the gate changed and another long walk back to the B concourse.
Friday: Kelpies & Falkirk Wheel
Weather: Partly sunny, high of 72. Felt warm. Bright sun in Falkirk. No rain.
Airport
We landed in Edinburgh two hours late. The baggage machine was having problems and stopped and started again two times, with long waits between, before bags came out. The lines for rental cars, especially Enterprise, were extremely long due to the festival season. We rented a white Citroen Aircross, a compact crossover. Overall, it took two and a half hours to get out of the airport.
Stirling
We tried to visit Stirling Castle but traffic was backed up and there was no parking near the castle. Cars were parked on the road, making the 2-lane road a one-lane road. Cars were trying to get in and out at the same time, creating a mess that took a while to untangle.
Kelpies
We went instead to see the Falkirk Kelpies. We parked away from the Kelpies and walked in. It was bright and sunny. We saw thistle and blackberry along the walking trail, along with loosestrife, an invasive (but pretty) plant. We did a little bit of a canal walk, up one side of the canal and back on the other side. Joy bought Lana a Scottish Bestiary book. Brad had ice cream and an Irn-Bru soft drink.
Falkirk Wheel
From the Kelpies, we drove to the Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift that connects the (lower) Forth and Clyde Canal with the (upper) Union Canal. Our timing was good as we got to watch several rotations of the wheel.
We watched a few boats navigate the lower locks and the wheel. Pilots drive the boats through the lock. Brad walked up to the top of the wheel to see Roughcastle tunnel and the upper basin.
After the wheel, we tried to find the old Roman Antonine wall in Falkirk but we couldn’t find it. We wound around one way streets, dead end alleys, and accidentally drove through a pedestrian zone.
Saturday: Stirling Castle and Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Weather: High of 72 and sunny.
Morning
We stayed at the Inn at Charlestown in Fife, across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh, Stirling, and Falkirk. We enjoyed plenty of trips across the Kincardine Bridge and Queensferry Crossing.
Breakfast on Saturday was buffet-style with sausage, rashers, fried eggs, solid Scottish toast with butter and blackcurrant jam.
Our first stop of the day was the ALDI in Stirling to buy bottles of Scottish Spring Water. The poor cashier kept courageously trying to close down her lane but shoppers kept putting their items in front of the “lane closed” sign.
Stirling Castle
Parking at Stirling Castle was full. This time we experienced the traffic jam from the other side. We parked in the city center and walked up to the castle. It was a long wall entirely uphill.
The general theme of Stirling Castle is restoration, not just conservation.
The castle forework was dramatically reduced in height to accomodate cannon platforms in the 17th and 28th centuries. We went down into the Elphinstone Tower (constable’s kitchen) and enjoyed the view from the Ladies Lookout.
The first guide we met offered either the short version or the long version answer to our question about all the unicorns. We took the long answer. Unicorns are a big part of Scottish history and heraldry. The tongue out symbolizes an offensive posture. The unbound crown and leash represents monarchy and that the unicorn is free, associating with the monarchy by its own choice.
Stirling Castle has a famous recreation of the Unicorn Tapestries, based on Flemish originals. It took 13 years to recreate the tapestries, with an international team of weavers. The last week of Christ’s life is told through the story of a unicorn hunt, ending with the resurrection. The team looked at the unexposed back of the Flemish tapestry (now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) to get a sense of the colors.
In the King’s Inner Hall, the famous Stirling Heads have been recreated on the ceiling. The nearby gallery has many of the originals.
James VI (James I of England) was baptized in the Royal Chapel in a Catholic ceremony attended by his mother Mary. James VI’s son Henry was also baptized there. The chapel was built to the same dimension’s as Solomon’s Temple, as described in Kings.
The Great Kitchen was set up as it would be when in use. Commoners ate pain common and the nobility ate white flour rolls. One of Mary de Guise’s feast consisted of 3 pigs, 13 goats, 2 pieces of beef, 74 chickens, 3 sheep, and 26 pounds of butter.
For a break between Stirling Castle and Edinburgh, we went to Another Tilly Tearoom in Dunblane, a cozy little tearoom with lots of activity and hub-hub. We sat in a small corner table with limited space, so Brad had to sit sideways. We had hummbingbird cake and coffee cake with cream.
Edinburgh and Military Tattoo
We parked at Ingleston Park & Ride and rode the tram to Princes St Station, stopping across the street to use the Burger King bathroom. From Princes St, we walked to Mum’s Comfort Food. We ate there in 2017 too. We had sausage & mash, lemonade (British, so carbonated), and ginger beer.
After Mum’s, we walked through Greyfriars Kirkyard. We took a picture (from a safe distance) of the famously haunted Mackenzie Mausoleum and found several of the graves that insprired JK Rowling when she was naming Harry Potter characters.
We waited in a long queue for the Tatoo, and queued again to use the toilets inside. Brad brought a souvenir hoodie because he was chilly. Our favorites from the show were the Massed Pipes and Drums, the Scottish Dancers, the United States Air Force Honor Guard, and the Top Secret Drum Corps.
We got back to the Inn at Charlestown at 1:00, catching the final tram out of Edinburgh and packed in like sardines.
Sunday: Church and Linlithgow Palace
Weather: Perfect. Warm, breezy. High of 72.
We attended church in Edinburgh. The meeting started at 11:30 AM and had six songs, a reading, the memorial, and a lesson on “To Whom Shall We Go?”.
We stopped at the Cozy Tea Room in Linlithgow for tea and scones. Parking in that section of town was half on the curb, half on the street, so we followed suit. Brad had millionare shortbread and English Breakfast tea. Joy had vanilla chai tea. The tea room was small and cozy with just five tables and shabby chic decor.
We visited Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. It was the royal family’s pleasure palace, with expansive views and lawns. Linlithgow was a contrast with Stirling Castle’s strong military presence. But unlike Stirling Castle, nothing has been restored and the palace is only ruins. The palace was constructed of James I and built after a fire destroyed much of the town.
During the reign of the Stuarts, Stirling was the military and diplomatic center of Scotland, not Edinburgh. Linlithgow was built as a palace to get away from Stirling, similar to Versailles in France.
James V’s fountain dominates the courtyard. Linlithgow is a giant palace, even as ruins, with room and room and multiple levels.
We went up the roof bower, a favorite spot of Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV and sister to Hentry VII. The Tudor Rose is on the ceiling. The legend is that Margaret waited here for Henry IV to return from the Battle of Flodden. He was killed at Flodden and James V succeeded him as king.
We sat outside and enjoyed the views of the grounds and lakes. Sailing boats were out on the lake and Brad played ball with a dog on the hilly area outside the original palace gate.
On the way back home, we went to a Curry’s electronic store to buy an SD card and Tesco for gas. Joy got Starburst and Brad got an Irn-Bru. Scottish Starburst have blackcurrent and lemon-lime flavors.
Monday:
Weather: Overcast in the morning, but sunnier in the afternoon. Highs around 70.