Even though I very indulged last night I was up and ready to start our next to the last day of the tour. We stop a couple of places on our way back to Edinburgh tomorrow but really today feels like the end of the tour.

It started off great with the best breakfast spread in the best dining room I have ever seen. It puts the breakfast buffet at the Paris in Vegas to shame. Gleneagles does not mess around. I am very sad that I did not take any pictures but trust me it was amazing. It even had a spot down low for kids to pick out cereal, fruit and toppings. I went with the eggs baked into tomato sauce which were delicious. They had probably 10 types of juice and dozen of pastries plus all types of bread and cheeses. Of course they had all the breakfast standards even American bacon which I have not seen in Scotland.

The room was had probably 25/30 foot ceilings with big windows looking over the garden in the back. We talked about how pretty it would look done up for Christmas (it had a fire place) and somebody looked it up and it was so out of my price range I was shocked. I guess I won’t be celebrating Christmas in Scotland anytime soon.

We had a bit of time to wander before getting on the bus so we walked along the grounds. The golf course is right outside the hotel or as least the putting and chipping greens and other practice areas. The big course starts a bit farther away. Took a few pictures and headed back to meet the group.

Today we are off to Stirling. I think I have been to stirling before but I didn’t really remember much about it. I will have to dig out my old journals and see if I find it. Stirling has a big connection to Robert the Bruce and it is the location of where he defeated the English and really became King of Scotland. The castle also was where Margaret Tudor (Henry VIII sister who married James IV of Scotland) came when she first married the Scot King and was where the council came and took her son James V after his fathers death. MQS was crowned at Stirling and she was leaving Stirling when Bothwell captured her and led to their marriage and Mary’s downfall.

Today the castle is pretty empty. It is part of the historical trust and does not like many of the others we’ve seen that have a lived in look to them. Stirling is pretty bare. It is also restored to he they think it looked back it’s heyday. The historians always say that the medieval and renaissance kings and queens lived color and would have painted their walls and ceilings in bright colors. They have done that in Stirling and it looks like a Disney version of a castle. Everything they say indicates the colors are correct but it looked garish.

One ceiling I think was the great hall but not as big as some of the others had all these carved wooden disks of important people. They found most of them and could see traces of paint on them so they were painted. The ceiling itself is a reproduction but there was a museum onsite that had all the disks. They were really elaborate but I think they looked better without the paint. But the medieval royalty were gaudy and liked to show off.

After the castle we walked through the town but not much up in the old part and the new was way down the hill. I didn’t have another big climb in me so we just didn’t the old hilly part.

From Stirling we went to the Bannockburn battle site visitor center. Has far as battles it’s this is probably the best one I have ever been to as far as explaining what happened. Culloden had more artifacts and was more of a museum. This one was more of a guided tour with visual aides. They used big map and the guide told the story and pointed out the different areas so that it all made sense. Robert the Bruce fought the English here after his brother made a deal with the Sir Mowbry to give up the siege of Sir Mowbry would give up the Stirling peacefully if more English didn’t come by the next summer. The English army showed up with just a few days to spare but the Scot’s and been building their army and training so they held the high dry ground. The Scots won the day and chased the Brit’s and King Edward away. King Edward fled to Stirling but they wouldn’t let him in too worried about the ransom if the castle was taken with him in it.

Walked around a bit outside to see the other Bruce statue but was a little windy so didn’t stay out long. It wasn’t a long stop so we were soon heading back to the hotel to get all dressed up for dinner.

We didn’t have much time back at the hotel before heading off the Glamis Castle (pronounced Glams) for our final gala dinner. I pulled back out my sparkly dress and dressed quickly so that we could take some photos out by the flowers before we headed out. Still waiting to get these from Val.

Glamis Castle was the Queen mum’s childhood home. She grew up there, basically honeymooned there and continued to come to visit until she bought another estate not far off but on the water.

The castle had both the fortress look and the stately home feel. We started our evening with drinks and hor dourves in the sewing room. It had a big fireplace where most people were huddling because the castle was really cold even though the day had been surprisingly warm. The thick walls make all these castles cold. I think I need thicker walls at my house. I of course in my coat dress was not cold and could not stand by the fire. They passed around fried haggis balls which were much better than they sound. In fact it was the best haggis I had on the trip. The room was stuffed with furniture and paintings with a big round table at one end and a grand piano at the other. Through in around 50 people and I was nervous my big full stiff skirt was going to knock things off tables. Thankfully that did not happen.

From our reception we took a tour of the castle. Our guide was a bit animated but you could tell he was just very excited about his job. The bet port of the castle was the queen mums sitting room and bedroom. She had several photos out of her as a young girl and then of her two daughters. She cry at gave birth to Margaret at the castle. They also had the rocking horse Queen Elizabeth played on. In fact it was recently brought down by King Charles (before he was King). Those rooms had a nice personal touch and I a glad we got to go through them.

On a side note supposedly there is a ghost in the castle of one of the witches James V burned at the stake. We didn’t see her but after hearing her story and what she went through to get her to confess they deserve her haunting.

We were also piped into dinner which was held in the dining room which I guess not surprisingly could hold 50. The dinner was really nice. I had lamb and it was enough for three people. The wine flowed freely and I was sitting beside Sarah so it was a great evening.

After dinner we went down to exit and a highland military band could be heard in the distance and not long before it came around the corner of the castle. I have to say it gave the royal Yacht a run for its money as being my favorite part of the tour. There was just something about watching the band on a clear crisp night in front of a castle. I felt like I had gone through the stones to a different age. They played several songs then went to present themselves to the military commander of the castle which for tonight was one of the ladies on the tour who had served in the navy. She had designed her own tartan and had several pieces of clothing made from it and tonight was wearing the long straight skirt. She held herself with regal precision and looked amazing saluting the band. I was a bit jealous.

A dark night good food and drink and a highland drum and pipe band an excellent way to basically end the tour.