Winter break somehow flew by but also felt like it lasted a lifetime. We had roughly 5 weeks off from school, which was a gift and a curse all wrapped up in pretty Christmas wrapping paper. It was a gift because, after a really arduous semester, it was really, really nice to have some time off. And, a curse because I did almost absolutely nothing at all for 5 weeks straight. I guess almost nothing is better than nothing, right?
Ashlee went home for the break to see her family, so it was just Aaron and I over the holidays. We did a whole lotta notta in the first few weeks of December, unless you count flipping your sleep schedule completely around (i'm talking going to sleep at 5:30 am and waking up at 2:30pm), and leaving the house to see the new Star Wars movie (which was FANTASTIC).
We finally decided to get off our asses to visit the town of Stirling, which is roughly a 45 minute train ride North East of Glasgow on the 23rd of December. Stirling is a beautiful city which holds the National Wallace Monument and the Stirling Castle. When we arrived in Stirling, it was covered in a thick, eerie fog, which i'm all about, honestly. We don't get much fog in sunny STG, so it's nice to see it sometimes.
We hopped in a cab from the train station and headed toward the National Wallace Monument first. The cab driver insisted that the fog would dissipate before we got to the top of the monument, although I mentioned I didn't mind it. We arrived, bought our ticket, and then hopped on the little bus to drive us up to the monument, since it's on quite a hefty little hill. The fog just added to the intrigue, making it seem like we were in some sort of eerie, mystery movie. We climbed up the many steps, visiting each show room as we made our way up, and finally got to the top. Now, they say that you can see for miles on a clear day. We could maybe see 10 feet in front of us. I don't know, the fog had it's own charm that I just enjoyed all the more! We then made our way back down the monument, and walked the trail back down to the bottom. The trail is littered with cute little wood carved statues along the way.
Next, we hopped back in a cab and headed for Stirling Castle. We only briefly talked about walking from the monument to the castle, and boy am I glad we didn't. The castle is nestled on the highest peak in the city, which would have been roughly a two hour walk/hike. We entered the castle, bought our entry tickets, and headed to the cafe for lunch. They actually had delicious food, for being a little cafe in a castle. We then walked around the ginormous grounds of the castle, basically all by ourselves. The fog must have driven the crowds away, which was yet another positive thing that came from such a foggy day (foggy skies 3, clear skies 0). There are seriously so many exhibits and places to look in the castle, I'd highly recommend everyone visit it, if they can. After several hours of roaming around the basically empty castle, under thick fog cover, we decided to leave.
However, we couldn't leave quite yet, as i'm collecting soil from each place we visit and putting them into little glass vials so I can have a little piece of all the fun places we go forever! So, we leave the castle looking for some nice, dry-ish dirt, and stumble on the castle's really cool cemetery, located just below the entrance. Now, had there not been any fog, i'm sure it wouldn't have been nearly as alluring as it was to walk around, but damn if that didn't make it the coolest part of the day (foggy sky 1,000, clear sky 0). Walking around the old-school cemetery was probably my favorite thing of the whole day!
After walking around the cemetery for about a half an hour, feeling like something interesting was going to happen the whole time (queue the start of some mysterious, adventure movie), we decided to head back toward the train station. It was close enough to walk (and, hey, it was all down hill). While walking down the mountain we were on, we stumbled across the city centre, which was just so cute. I wanted to stay and walk around some more, but it was getting dark. We stopped at a little cafe for a treat and a drink, and then finished our unhurried saunter back to the train station to head home. Here's a little video of all the events of the day stitched together.
Shortly after our visit to Stirling came Christmas, which was very quiet and uneventful. Aaron and I made my mom's famous Buttermilk Syrup for Christmas Eve and Day breakfast, and some gingerbread cookies to help us feel a little more in the Christmas spirit, and watched Christmas movies as well.
New Year's came shortly after and was just as uneventful. I'm sure there were numerous New Year's Eve parties around the town, but they're just not that appealing when you're an introvert that doesn't want to get smashed with a bunch of strangers. Ah, well, it was a quiet way to bring in the new year! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!!