Thirty minutes north of Glasgow lies the beautiful town of Stirling, home of Stirling Castle, the first of many castles I will be visiting while in the UK!
I DIED when we reached Stirling, this is everything I had dreamed Scotland would be. Quaint village with cobblestone streets, higgledy-pigglety mished mashed town planning, turrets (everywhere!), moss and vines growing up crumbling buildings, coloured doors, history, unicorns, and of course an amazing 12th Century castle sitting atop a hill. Mary, Queen of Scots was crowned at Stirling, Robert the Bruce fought for the castle (more on Robert later) and William Wallace fought for freedom nearby. An historian also associated Stirling with the seat of King Arthur and while this fact is debated, I choose to believe!
After a few hours in the castle I decided I would walk to the William Wallace monument, but 40 minutes of hardcore walking I decided it was way too difficult and I paid for a hop on hop off tour (the horror!!) so these lazy legs could rest up. The bus went in the opposite direction of the monument, as I didn't check the map before getting on, and we drove towards the site of the Battle of Bannockburn, about 10 minutes outside of Stirling. I've never heard of this, and had no intention of hanging around when there was a William Wallace monument to check out, until our "tour guide" started explaining to a UK couple about the interactive battle games you can play. Ahh excuse me yes I want to play battle games pick me pick me! WOW this was the coolest thing I have ever done. The game begins with a 30 minute history lesson, complete with 3D glasses and a 360 degree screen where you pretty much feel like you're in the middle of the battle. You're standing in the middle with Scotland's army on one side and England on the other, and each side starts shooting bows at each other and of course I ducked because I'm embarrassing, but props to the creators for making it so damn realistic! After learning about long bows, cavalry, spearmen etc we were finally lead in to the battle room.
These guys are not as animated and excited as they should be for a battle!! Get out and let me play
I was designated Queen of Scotland (naturally) and together with my comrade Samuel - who took great joy in fighting against his Mum and brother - we beat the living SHITE out of England. Samuel was luckily as competitive as I was and we deliberated on battle tactics and defending the Queen (lol, my idea) to ensure Scotland came out as victors, and England suffered immense casualties. This pretty much happened in real life with Robert the Bruce shutting down Edward II's English army in 1314, ending the First War of Scottish Independence, and keeping Scotland from British rule. BOOM History.
Beautiful Old Town in Stirling.
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