Idyllic Chick

Today we celebrate the (presumable) birthday of the National Poet of Scotland, Robert Burns. You know him best for numbers such as Auld Lang Syne and To a Haggis. Tonight we will celebrate the occasion with friends, knitting, haggis, and Scotch.

Appropriately, Braveheart is on TV this morning. I guess it's appropriate. I've heard that it's not a very accurate representation of the events of Sir William Wallace's life. I can't say myself. Don't know much about Wallace, though I've been to his memorial and seen his sword. I can't imagine that their teeth were that nice.

The Wallace Memorial is in Stirling. We made it to that area towards the end of our two-week stay in Scotland a couple of years ago. Beautiful place, Stirling. There are weird UFO/Burial mounds/crop circles all around. I should ask Karen about them, as we were never able to figure out what the hell they are. Karen, can you hear me? What the hell are these things? Anyhoo, to get to the Wallace monument at all, you have to hike a half a mile or so up this hill. After tramping around Scotland for two weeks, my legs weren't really excited about making this trek. Me and my legs muddled through, though, and were rewarded with the promise of a lengthy march up a few sets of narrow, spiral staircases. Luckily, the Wallace Memorial is divided into a handful of different levels. I made it up to the second, I believe. After climbing up a few thousand narrow, spiral staircases over the previous two weeks, I just couldn't bring myself to do those last 2,352, 483. Call me a pussy, I don't care. I was just plain tired.

Perhaps when we return to Scotland we'll hit Stirling earlier in our journey. I'll have more energy and might make it to the top of the memorial next time. The view was gorgeous enough from the base; I bet it is breathtaking from the top.