When I woke up today I heard a well-known sound - rain. Yesterday the weather forecast said, it will rain at lunch time. Looks like the cloud know no time of day. Howsoever, today I wanted to go to Stirling, the gate to the Highlands. Stirling Castle was not only the place where the Scottish kings spent their childhood it is also an defense line. On one side the Firth of Forth on the other side Loch Lomond and swampland. And the Castle is situated on a hill over the plains. Here you really can see who will come for lunch tomorrow. Even though it was raining I went to the Castle. Inside the Castle it is dry. When I left the car in Stirling the wind blows quite strong - water from all sides. There is a parking area at the esplanade of the Castle so you do not have to climb up the hill (it is not that bad, later I climb up the hill from the center of the town). First I bought a ticket at a small shop for souvenirs. And again the EC-Card did not work. It is strange, at some places it is possible to pay by EC-card (everywhere I tried in Edinburgh) but at other places it did not work (Perth BP-station or now Stirling, it worked in Campbeltown and that is in the middle of nowhere).

I was very curious about the castle. When I was there the last time I was in Scotland the palace had been a great building site. The thing I remembered best was the Great Hall. The last time is was nice warm inside (my last stay in Scotland was in March 2007 - and when I visited Stirling it was raining too and it was cold). This time also the Hall was nice warm and dry. But Stirling Castle has changed quite a lot. Of course not on the outside but inside - wow. The conservators did an excellent job here! Everywhere they put up tapestries, all original handmade and on the ceiling are wooden cassettes with beautiful painting - simply fantastic. I just miss the words to describe what I saw. If you ever come to Stirling visit the "Tapestry" (workshop fot tapestries). Here they manufacture the tapestries and if you are lucky you can see the artist (craftsperson) at work. At the moment they are working on a 3-part tapestry. Alone to finish the middle part the will need a proximal 2 years. The tapestry pictures are woven not tied but do not ask me how they do that!

Also the kitchen is worth going there. Here are sculpture preparing the meal for the royal offspring and their entourage. Queen Mary Stuart one worried that her son Jacob will get rheumatism in the Castle - something I can understand very well it is not really comfortable here. Without central heading it must have been bloody cold here, a open fire cannot heat the whole room.

What is really fantastic is the view you have from the castle over the countryside - wide flat land to the south, west and east. In the north, running from the west to the east, the first hills of the Highlands. If the sun is shining here it is properly wonderful here. But unfortunately I had at two visits with rain so it makes 100% rain in Stirling.

Then I did a wee tour into the old town direct underneath the Castle. Of course Stirling is a borough, so it has the right for a fair. Somehow the ensemble at the market place at the street around and up to the Castle has something nice.

Her now the picture of Stirling and the Castle: