Aye, it's another cold, gray day here in Stirling. Just for the heck of it, I decide to check out the temps in Indian Wells this week. If you multiply our outside temperature of 55˚ by two — then you get it... a scorching 110˚. If you don't believe me, check it out fer yerselves:
Scotland Temps and Indian Wells Temps (ouch!)
Alright, enough of that nonsense and on with the day. We begin with a morning tour of Argyll's Lodging — Scotland's finest surviving renaissance mansion. A 17th Century town residence built circa 1630 by Sir William Alexander, founder of Nova Scotia. He became Secretary of State for Scotland and was appointed the first Earl of Stirling. A nice tour, but the most fascinating thing I discovered there was a resident living within it's walls....one of the largest spiders this lassie has ever seen....eeek!
Argyll's Lodging (on a sunny day)
The inside of Argyll's Lodging
Mr. Big Spidey in Argyll's Lodging
After that, we strolled up towards the castle and stopped in the Church of the Holy Rude (Rude meaning "cross"). A 15th century church with magnificent stained glass windows and one of Scotland's rare, surviving, medieval open timber roofs. I will try to go to the service next Sunday -- apparently, it has the largest pipe organ in Scotland.
Inside the Church of the Holy Rude
Stained Glass in the Church of the Holy Rude
As we make our way back to the house for lunch, we pass a 1929 "Boys Club", so I must take a photo in front of it. Jon calls me a "tart", and I smile.
Where the boys are
The Tart near the Old Town Jail in Sterling
After lunch, we're off to the town of "Doune", which is 8 miles northwest of Stirling. It's still cold and rainy, but it makes for a perfect setting for my visit to the famous Doune Castle, where many scenes of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" were filmed. Remember the "French Taunting" scene? Here's my very corny version of it:
I also took a wee bit of a stroll up the castle turret to see the view of the small village of Doune. The stairs were steep and it was a bit creepy inside, as I seemed to be the only visitor there and me wee devil, Jonny had not interest in my Monty Python obsession -- so he waited in the car (where it was drier). Here's me video (the end is messed up and scrambled, but I think it adds to the overall horror of it):
Wasn't that fun? On the way back home we stopped at the Deanston Distillery to take a pic. It was closed, but the whole block smelled of Scotch Whiskey.
JR in front of Deanston Distillery
We got hungry, so we stopped for some goodies at the local "Tesco" market. As we passed the long line at the cigarette counter, I just couldn't help but notice the EXTRA LARGE warning signs on the packs -- the ones that the customers waiting in line seemed to miss:
Wow ... £4.64 ($10) for a pack of killer cigs!
A LONG day, so time to go home and sleep.
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