Skene House Whitehall - Our "temporary" Home

Well, for all of you who asked (and I am sorry it is so "late"), here are some pictures of our temporary living quarters. The place is quite nice. Here is their website: http://www.skene-house.co.uk/ It is called Skene House Whitehall and is located on the corner of Rosemount and Esslemont Streets. It is about a 1/2 hour walk for Mark to work, 15 minutes further than our house will be. He actually walks right pass it on the way to Marathon.

We are in building #8, room #12. It has three bedrooms, two baths, a lounge and kitchen. I will try to walk you through it with the pictures...

Here's the lounge... if you go out the door you see...immediately to your right (behind the big mirror you see) is the big bathroom.

Bigger of the two baths with shower/tub, toilet and sink.

Another view...going out this door, immediately to your right ( the "closed" door you could see in the lounge picture) is the "master" bedroom.

Looking in the door of the "master"... has wardrobe, chest of drawers, bed (UK sizes are way different that US sizes, Mark's feet hung off the bottom...mine practically did too), desk and little night stands.

The wallpaper and curtains were the same pattern! :) It grew on you, trust me...it is very European.

Our bed, this is considered a "big" bed...the closet you see was about 7 inches deep, pretty useless.:)

Going back out our bedroom door straight ahead is the smaller bathroom and taking a right, there is the entrance into the flat on the left and another bedroom on the right.

Here is the small bath...shower, toilet and sink.

Here is the double bedroom. Landen and Trevor stayed in here.

The far bed was Landen's and the one closer to the window was Trevor's. There was a wardrobe, two chests of drawers, and a desk.

Back to the lounge, the center of the flat...I am standing in the doorway of the first lounge picture, looking in the other direction. The door on the left hand wall is another useless closet. It was about 7 inches deep and stored the ironing board. The closed door next to the window was the other bedroom. An the door that is open, is along the right hand wall and is the kitchen.

Cameron's bedroom. It had a wardrobe, bed and chest of drawers also.

And, last but not least, here is the kitchen. It was small, but served us fine. The two small things under the counter are the refrigerator and freezer.

It had a hob (stovetop), oven, sink, frig, freezer, microwave and dishwasher.

It was obviously a lot smaller than we are used to living in, but it was fine. It served the purpose and there was breakfast every morning downstairs. That was a perk I loved...one less meal I had to cook and clean up after...:)

Crathes Castle

In case you were thinking we didn't "do" enough on Staurday...:)...we decided to "do " more on Sunday! But this time we stayed much closer to home. On, June 29th, we went to Crathes Castle, in Banchory, which is about 14 miles southwest of Aberdeen. It is a very fairytale like castle.

It was an beautiful day! The blue of the sky was so crisp, even with the spotted clouds!

The view of the front lawn looking out one of the turret windows. It was actually the room that would have belonged to the nanny at the time.

The breathtaking view from the rooftop!

Family photo...

Closer up...

The boys playing chase...

Landen, either in the lead or the caboose, depending on the way you look at it! :) (I'm chillin' on the grass.)

My handsome little man...Landen.

In a tree...

Trevor

Cameron (that's looks painful :))

Cameron being a monkey...he loves to climb trees!!

The front where you go in for the tour. The front lawn where the boys were playing and climbing trees would be behind my back as I took this picture.

Looking at things like this, still take my breath away and make this whole thing feel like a dream!

One side of the castle...

The other side.... The clouds moved out of my way for this picture!! :)What a beautiful castle AND a beautiful day!!

Mar's Wark and The Church of The Holy Rude - Stirling

Okay, we are almost to the end of our long day in Stirling! Right up the hill from the Old Town Jail and down the hill from Argyll's Lodge is Mar's Wark.

There is only the "shell" that remains of this once splendid, Renaissance style town house. It was a very grand building for its time ans still is quite impressive. Both its age and architecture are amazing... built in 1569 as the residence for the powerful Earl of Mar, the hereditary Keeper of Stirling Castle.

Its front is decorated with stone carving, panels and gargoyles. It was damaged by Jacobite cannon fire in1745 and fell to ruin after that.

Right next to Mar's Wark is the Church of The Holy Rude. Is the second oldest holy building in Stirling after the castle. It was founded in 1129 and used as the parish church of Stirling! The origianl structure was destroyed by fire, but the rebuilding began in 1414. However you look at it, it is an OLD church!

The boys outside the churchyard....

Walking down the road back to the car...I love the hilly streets and quaint houses that line them.

A "driveby" shot of the Stirling Old Bridge. It was built around 1500 and for four centuries was the lowest crossing point over the River Forth. There is a covered booth in the middle of the bridge where customs men would be stationed. They would charge heavy duties on the goods coming into the burgh.
Before this bridge was built, there were other structures , including a wooden bridge, which was where Sir William Wallace defeated the English in the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.

A better picture ....

Hope you were able to "tie" together some of the history of Stirling through our very adventurous day!

Old Town Jail - Stirling

Saturday, June 28th, continued to be a busy and fun day! The next stop in our day, was the Old Town Jail of Stirling! We fooled with the boys leading up to this part of the day, that if they weren't good, we might just leave them there...:)

Lots of history to this place too! Here's their website: http://www.oldtownjail.com/

Landen and Daddy...

Cameron and Trevor... These were just inside the front gates.

Here it is. Stirling Old Town Jail was built in 1847 when the old Tollbooth Jail became too overcrowded. It was then used as the only military prison in Scotland between 1888 and 1935. The prisoners had a grim life at Stirling jail, with coarse food, hard labour, no comforts and solitude at all times. Stirling Old Town Jail was refurbished in the 1990s to become a visitor attraction. We got to experience what life was like in the prison 150 years ago, with an actor guided tour. He played out the roles of the prison warden, the hangman, a Victorian reformer and some convicts trying to escape.

An actual old cell! I cannot even imagine what it would be like to spend every waking hour in a small, cold, cramped room like this!

Some of the cells had wax figures dressed the way the "would have been" and the boys were in total awe! They couldn't believe how real they looked!!

Landen "behind bars"...part of an exhibit of "life in the prison". He sure looks like a HAPPY prisoner! :)

The views from the prison rooftop are, again, amazing! It was an overcast day, but it was still gorgeous! You get a 360 degree view of the old town of Stirling.

The blue tower you see is the Old Tolbooth Clock Tower.

More views from the rooftop.

We continue on...

William Wallace Monument

Our Stirling adventure continues....a very busy Saturday, to say the least! So on to the next part, The William Wallace Monument! To all of you...think Braveheart!

No, not Mel Gibson, his character...William Wallace. He really existed and was very important to Scotland! Even today, they refer to him as the Guardian of Scotland! And there are statues of him all over. There is a really big one right in front of His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen, right off Union Street.

The top is called The Crown, due to its magnificient architecture.

http://www.nationalwallacemonument.com/

The "spiral" on the right is the staircase to the top. The slits are for airflow. It is quite a windy walk up...

Sir William Wallace (1267-1305) is considered Scotland's greatest freedom fighter. This Victorian Gothic tower was opened in 1869 to commemorate him and all that he did for Scotland. It is 220 feet high and has 246 steps in the tower to get to the top. There are three different chambers, which you can stop off at along your journey up...helps to break up the 246 steps with little kiddos. :) The monument is on the Abbey Craig, a rocky crag from which Wallace watched the English army gather on the South side of Stirling Bridge.

This is our walk/hike up....the guy, who shuttles people to the monument from the bottom of the crag, was at lunch! :)

Foxglove growing wildly all along the winding path up the hill.

Statue of Sir William Wallace on the outside of the tower. It is made of solid bronze and is over 15 feet tall!

One of the three chambers where you can learn lots more about Sir William Wallace. Cameron loved seeing REAL chainmail (we had studied about it...)

The Wallace Sword is said to be 700 years old and is 5 feet 4 inches long! Can you imagine coming face to face with that!!! Can you imagine picking it up, for that matter?? I think this was high on the "coolest things", according to the boys!

This view is from right outside the front door of the monument entrance. So, it's at the top of the crag, but not yet the view from the top of the tower. That is even more amazing!! The "hill" you see, is the closest of the Ochil Hills.

This is the winding waters of the River Forth. Stirling is the lowest ancient crossing point of the river. There is evidence of a fortress there, since prehistoric times. Whoever controlled the "fortress", effectively controlled Scotland!

Looking WAY down...no crazy guardrails either, so a bit scary with little ones!

Our Family Photo (notice Landen is missing??)...that is Stirling Castle in the distance on the right. (The guy who took the picture didn't even get Landen in it...he is right in front of Trevor!)

The Spiral Staircase...narrow steps...makes you kind of dizzy walking down them. :)

Actor performing as William Wallace. Gave an cool, acted out, single person "play". The boys loved his sword and shield!

The walk DOWN was much easier! Landen had it the easiest...he "hitched" a ride on Daddy's shoulders!

The journey continues....