We based the first half of our stay in Scotland in the town of Stirling. Stirling, scene of the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Close to the Battle of Bannockburn. Famous for William Wallace and the movie Braveheart.
We arrived on Saturday around lunch time and had to hang out for a while before we could go to pick up the keys for the apartment.
Old Town Stirling.
It took an $80 cab ride to pick up the keys for the apartment. It was, however, a very nice apartment.
Scottish plumbing is a little different than ours when it comes to showers. Normally, we turn on the faucets in the tub section of the shower, then turn the knob or flip the lever in the center of the faucets to route the water to the shower head. Not so in Scotland.
We had a contraption on the wall in the shower to choose the strength of the water flow and the water temperature. However, in order to turn on the water a switch outside the door had to be flipped. Then, and only then, would the shower start up. The little bathroom worked right away. The large bathroom took a day to figure out.
Although I was on vacation and I didn’t plan on doing much cooking, I really liked the kitchen. It came complete with refrigerator/freezer, stove, double oven, dishwasher, all dishes, glasses and cookware, built-in wine rack, and a washer/dryer combination. I never could figure out how to make the silly thing actually dry.
A few other odd things about Scotland….
You can’t get drip coffee. It’s either instant or french press. Ewwww!!! Ok, the french press is ok, but instant is difficult. And if you know my husband, you know he can’t survive without his coffee. So, we took travel mugs with drip filter holders. Worked great because everywhere we were had electric kettles to boil up the water.
Everywhere we stayed also had radiators for heat and two of the places had towel heaters. We didn’t stay in really high-end places either.
After we got our backpacks pried off our backs and sat down for a few minutes, it was back up and out to walk to the grocery store. I said it was one way and Jim said it was another. We ended up having to ask a cuuple of people how to get there, but in the process we walked by the river Forth and a cool old bridge, plus a clock tower in a roundabout in town.
There were lots of walking paths and sidewalks and even walking tunnels under the roadways. People do a lot more walking there than here. It’s expensive to own a vehicle and gas is waaaaayyyyy more expensive than here. So, people use buses, trains, and their own two feet to get around.
Here’s a few pictures of the food we picked up at the store. The eggs only came in either a 6 pack or a 15 pack, they were brown, and the shells were twice as thick as our white eggs. The bacon we got looked like mini porkchops and fried up beautifully.
The River Forth snakes around Stirling and our apartment was right in one of the curves. Here are some views out the living room window.
After being up for basically two days and getting to the we’re-so-tired-we’re-sniping-at-each-other point, we fell into bed. Stirling Day 2 is up next.
