We headed out of Glasgow caravan-style. Amy and Louis with the 3 wild boys in their rented stick-shift (foreshadow) car, Rachelle and me with the 2 sweet girls (lucky us that a tiny piece of broken glass found its way into the middle seat belt slot meaning we got the pair of angels!). Twisting through beautiful country-side that we were almost taking for granted at that point, we found the adorable stone town of Stirling and our 200+-year-old converted church hostel (see picture of Noah in Stirling). 5 boys to one room, 4 girls to the other one, and we went off to explore by foot. The narrow winding roads are all cobblestone; the buildings are all stone, carved, and intricate; and the incredible castle rising from the jagged cliff above it all. We head up to the castle and Liv and Jill delight in finding tiny rooms, caverns, hiding places, lookouts, and crannies. The boys show a bit of interest in the canons and archery posts, but mostly enjoy each other and a game that they have invented involving foam heads that Amy acquired at the conference (picture). These heads provide hours of amusement and many, many short videos that Noah and Max film with Max’s camera. As soon as these videos are up on youtube, I will post the link. I am sure you are eagerly awaiting with popcorn in hand.
The Stirling castle was truly spectacular, and were I not sharing the experience with our attention-span challenged tots, I would have loved to join the tours and soaked in the incredible stories of English-Scottish battles and occupation and romance that lived in the ancient walls.
After being turned away from one historic and ancient pub (the chef said he only could cook for a maximum of 5 people at a time), we ate fish-and-chips and shared some John Smith and Guiness pints. We then walked over to the graveyard for a ghost story tour. The guide was bald and painted white and stayed wonderfully in character – a mean, violent, medieval member of the inquisitorial board. For example, when Miles (9 years old) walked to close to the guide, he took the “annoying welp” by the ear and asked that his parents “restrain him”. Fortunately, the thick accent and poetic stories were a bit over the head of the kids and they did not lose any sleep from the tales.
Next, we drove to Duone castle (picture), which is reportedly the best example of a medieval castle (most other castles have been expanded over the ages), and the one used for many scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Amy and Louis brought the movie for us to watch in the evening, as well as a knight hat and some coconut shells (if you have seen the movie, you would understand). This castle was great fun because we could pick out where different scenes were filmed and also because it was far less populated by tourists. In fact, for a little while we had the castle to ourselves and the kids could be as loud and wild as they liked, without Rachelle and me fearing we were appearing like obnoxious loud Americans.
We headed off to Edinburgh (also known as "Egg-n-Butter") caravan style, and thank you broken seat belt, Rachelle and I were blessed with Liv and Jill who played quietly with teddy bears in the back seat. Amy and Louis had mixed reports on their passengers' behavior.
Explanatory side story: Before leaving for Scotland, a Scot living in Bath informed us that Edinburgh is correctly pronounced Ed-in-burra with a roll of the tongue and that if we said Ed-in-berg or Ed-in-burrow, we would be promptly tossed off a cliff. Noah noticed that the "burra" sounded like butter so he began calling it Egg-n-butter.
Amy in her stick-shift was able to follow me - with the occasional stall - through 3 or maybe 4 round-abouts in Egg-n-Butter before I lost her. Rachelle and I had Emily as our faithful guide but no cell phone, address, or map; and Amy had the name, phone number, and apartment number of our rented flat, but no Emily and no map. So, together we were a force to be reckoned with, and separated, we were two ill-prepared ships lost in the storm and paddling on the wrong side of the waves. With help from a coffee shop worker and Amy calling the flat owner, we all made it to our 3rd-floor walk-up 100+-year-old apartment. Alas, no internet and no blog posts until now (we are back in Bath).
Edinburgh was amazing, and we were there during the Fringe festival, a huge party involving street artists, theater, music, food, and tents selling everything imaginable (picture). Each day, we walked up the Royal Mile toward the Edinburgh Castle, pausing to enjoy the various street artists juggling fire or knives, climbing poles, doing magic, or performing other acts.
Three times Noah was selected from the crowd (picture). On one occasion, he had to toss large machete-like knives up to the juggler standing on a stack of garbage cans over 10 feet in the air. When Noah's part was done, the performer held up a 5-pound note and had Noah jump for it. After the 3rd unsuccessful jump, Noah pretended as if he was going to kick out the bottom garbage can, which brought a round of cheering and laughter from the crowd. What a ham! Noah did get to keep the 5-pound note. In fact, one of Noah's other moments in the center ring resulted in him "earning" a 5-pound bill. So, Noah earned 20 U.S. dollars! Following one of the acts, Noah asked me if he could give the performer the 5 pounds back. Before I could praise Noah's generosity, Noah said, "And, if I do, will you pay me 5 pounds back when we get home?"
One day, we purchased tickets for "Potted Potter - A Satire of the 7 Harry Potter Books in 70 Minutes". The 2 actors were a hoot, and our group of big and little muggles had a blast. During this show, Miles was selected from the crowd to help out as a Seeker and try to catch the snitch, one of the actors dressed in gold. Miles' full body tackle of the snitch brought howling cheers and laughs.
Edinburgh is an amazing city - gorgeous, historical, and incredibly alive with energy and excitement. We walked miles soaking in the culture and taking skinny alleys and enjoying incredible architecture everywhere we went.
We also spent a large chunk of a day exploring the immense Edinburgh castle, which is really a walled town. Again, Liv and Jill delighted in finding secret passageways and lookouts and the boys amused themselves in their own ways. The adults had a great time while simultaneously trying to keep track of the 5 kids.
Today, bright and early, Amy and Louis and their threesome headed to the airport to fly back to Atlanta, and we popped into our Clio to drive back to Bath. The kids read in the back seat while Rachelle and I took turns following Emily's perfect navigating. We arrived home, glad to be back in our cozy cottage.
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