Stirling

We made a day trip out of Stirling on October 16. We drove up on saturday morning - of course not getting out as early as expected, but it was quite a relaxed and enjoyable trip. A bit about William Wallace - when people in Scotland talk about heros and admirable historical figures, William Wallace comes up frequently, along with Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi, in fact.
This is the William Wallace Monument. It was completed in 1861 and has stood since as a memorial for the great Scottish patriot. It is a must see. I was struck by the nationalistic feel of the monument itself. It is never anti-English, but most of the quotes and the displays are very pro-Scottish. As you climb the narrow, circular staircase, you can enter a room every fifty or so steps that exhibits some aspect of the history surrounding Wallace, Scotland, and other Scots heros, such as Robert Burns, John Knox and Robert the Bruce.

Rich and I fighting with our headsets at the top.

We also visited the battlefield at Bannockburn, where the Scots delievered a most humiliating defeat to the English Army back in the 14th century. Robert the Bruce, shown above in the statue, led the Scottish army. The field itself was quite serene, with the mid-morning sun shining clearly above the dew covered grass. It is hard to imagine a battle of such magnitude taking place here.