Day out in Stirling

Yesterday morning, we hiked up the hill behind our B&B which leads to a path that runs along the back wall of the castle through the woods.  It pops out just at the bottom of Stirling Castle, making it well worth the added effort of climbing upwards to get to our destination. 

Although the castle stands with  the original walls and structures, the inside has undergone a major refurbishing  with the National Trust making every effort to duplicate what the interior would have looked like in the time of King James IV.  While walking through the grandiose rooms, ladies-in-waiting and pages greet the visitor, and give one an idea of life in that time period.  

We were admiring tapestries in the King's Greeting Room that were on the wall, when the guide mentioned that they were copies, and that two more were being made to complete the collection, so that the room would stand as it had been when James IV would have been greeting important officials.

I inquired about the original tapestries and was quite surprised to hear that they are displayed in New York City's Metropolitan Museum. Once purchased by the Rockefeller family, they were donated to that museum.

I find it kind of crazy that  the National Trust is paying to duplicate tapestries to showcase Stirling Castle in its original grandeur while the originals are sitting in an American Museum.

I'll leave you with some photos that I took while walking through Stirling:

Above, the Wallace Monument stands in the distance.

And, we managed to get in some fun photos when Stacey wasn't looking.

Stacey would say that we were being ridiculous.  But, hey, we should be able to have some fun, don't you think?