Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Look out... here's some more!


So Stirling was not a ruin. Anymore. It has been re-roofed and restored very carefully, in large part back to it’s 16th/17th splendor. The wood carvings from ceilings & doors have been reproduced and the originals, or what’s left of them, are in air-tight display cases in the exhibit hall. It was a splendid place & another well done audio tour. 
Next up was Doune Castle. We did not know until we got there but it was the castle used for most of Monty Python’s Holy Grail and the audio guide was narrated by one of the cast from the film This made it even more wonderful for us. The audio guide kept saying things like, at the entrance gate, “if you’d like to know about the attempted siege of this castle using a ‘Trojan Rabbit’, press the green button now” and there would be excerpts from the film & bits about the making of the film. (Most of the extras at the wedding festivities were tourists whom they persuaded to stay for the day.)
Doune was also a ruin. By 1800, the roofs had fallen in as well as the floor of one set of bedrooms into the great hall. Over the last 200 years several wealthy, noble-born history buffs and, more recently, Scottish Heritage have worked to replace all the roofs, the minstrel gallery, and doors. They’ve also shorn up the outer walls are presently rebuilding a section of collapsed wall. I think that, even without the Monty Python bits, Doune was one of the best, most informative we’ve seen.
Pub lunch down the road & now we’re back on the road again, officially in the Highlands.
Stay tuned. 

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