scotland, part 4

[kirkcudbright]

More vacation pictures. There's probably one more batch after this, but it won't be tomorrow, because we're going to visit my parents; it's their 45th anniversary (plus the fair is in town).




Clicky-click to see bigger.

The Great Hall at Stirling Castle. This was recently renovated from top to bottom, and looks more like it did 500 years ago than it has in about 400 years. In fact, we recognized the very room in a historical/informational film at Urquhart Castle a few days later. The Palace is now undergoing renovation, which is fascinating in itself. During WWI/WWII, Stirling Castle was used as an army barracks and training area. In the Palace, they're de-constructing all that, and doing a lot of archaeological work besides. Informative plaques point out current findings, along with evidences of this and other past use (holes for floor beams, staircases, bricked-up doorways and windows, etc).

Unicorn tapestry at Stirling Castle. They are hand-weaving copies of the 500-year-old "Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestries that now live in the Cloisters in New York. This is "The Start of the Hunt", one of two completed so far. "The Unicorn in Captivity" is more instantly recognizable, but I didn't get a good picture of it.

Foxgloves in captivity, at the Oban Rare Breeds Farm Park

Chaffinch, same location.

Close encounter with a Kune Kune piglet, also at Oban Rare Breeds.

Seal Hospital at the Oban Sea Life Centre. The pup is behind glass, and under both a shower and a heat lamp, if you're wondering why the picture looks a bit funny. They rescue abandoned seal pups, rehabilitate them (with a minimum of human handling, so they don't imprint on humans), and release them back into the wild.