Linlithgow

I'm a bit late in reporting on an adventure Brandon and I took on Tuesday this week. I got asked to work on Wednesday so we decided our trip to Linlithgow should happen a day early. We got up, ate breakfast, Brandon played his pipes, then I packed us a lunch and we made our way to the train. It took about half an hour to get there and for once it was easier to find where we were going in town due to a fabulous map at the train station and the fact that you could see the palace from there. Nice! A quick walk up the high street (main street in Canadian) and we found our way in.

Linlithgow Palace was a very important home to the Stuart monarchy. Many of their kings and queens, including Mary Queen of Scots, were born, lived or died there. There were plaques on the wall leading up to the gate showing the line of the British monarchy from Queen Mary to present Queen Elizabeth II.

The church on the grounds of the palace is very old and it looks really neat, but I don't have any details about it since we weren't able to go in. The gates were locked and all the doors were shut up tight.

We stormed into the palace and made our way to the gift shop/ticket office and chatted with a really helpful lady who gave us some details and pointers about touring through. She explained to us that this building was very much different from castles in Edinburgh and Stirling because this was a show piece for the monarchy.

They probably didn't spend all that much time here in the course of a year, but when they were in residence no expense was spared. Walls would've been hung with tapestries, fires would've been lit in every room, floors brightly tiled, and the carved stone and wood painted or gilded. Not much of that around now...the ceilings are missing in large portions of the palace and the massive windows no longer hold their stained glass. It's still gives you a sense of awe when you walk into the great hall and imagine long tables, ladies in rustling skirts, candles everywhere, food that would've taken all week to prepare, hundreds of gallons of wine and ale being poured, and there at the top of the room, the King and Queen in all their glory. It's like every fairytale you've ever dreamed or any episode of The Tudor's you've ever seen.

We wandered from hall to hall and tower to tower taking in the splendour that was once this place. And at one point, while waiting to take a photo, we started talking with another couple. Turns out they farm near Lethbridge. They come over to visit family ever year and this trip is just short of nine weeks long. We stood and chatted to them about the differences between here and home and the husband said something that really resonated with us: You have to take Scotland for what it is. You can't compare it to any other country in the world because it isn't like any other country. The people are friendly and polite, the weather is sometimes difficult, the food is humorous but oh so tasty, and the scenery is beyond what you can even imagine it can be. It was refreshing to speak and be spoken to in a Canadian accent and use words that people don't think are cute.

It's interesting to note that you can tell where successive monarchs made changes and additions to the palace. There are places where two walls meet in strange angles and create spaces that are unusable. It's hard to see it in this photo, but on the left is a rounded out possible fireplace while on the right there's an awkwardly angled wall and a cavity that is pretty much useless. I guess renovation on stone walls is more difficult than it is with drywall!

We ate our picnic lunch, or well as much as we could before we were nearly frozen, in one of those secret window alcoves and then climbed up to the top of the fourth tower. There's a tiny little stone room up there with a vaulted ceiling and a bench all the way around. It's called Queen Margaret's Bower as it's said that this is where she waited and heard news of her husband, King James IV's death in the battle of Flodden. I got a photo of the ceiling by lying on my back and taking the picture upside down!

We made our way back down, found the wine cellars, pantry and kitchens, bought our magnet in the gift shop and then called it a day. It was one of the best days out we've had in a while.