Tuesday I drove up to Stirling Castle, which is every bit as good as the one in Edinburgh, and is run by Historic Scotland (of which I am a member). I was one of only two to show up for the guided tour that morning, and as the other guy was off on his cell phone half the time, I got a very exclusive treatment. I highly recommend taking such a tour, you learn a lot and the guides are knowledgeable and friendly. It was raining for most of the time, so I didn't take any pictures, figuring I'd come back the next day when the weather reports were looking better. Included in the ticket was a guided tour of a building known as Argyll's lodging, with the interior reconstructed to be that of a 17th century nobleman. Very interesting story and some magnificent furniture, etc to be seen.
As the weather improved I quickly drove up to the National Wallace Monument on the other side of the valley. The view is incredible from up there, and I climbed all the 246 steps to the top, a good 200 feet up. There are a few landings with various displays along the way up, you should take the time to stop and study them. I recommend you get one of the free audio guides from the front desk, they are very informative.
This sword alledgedly belonged to William Wallace, aka Braveheart. Judging from the size, he must have been a huge man in order to wield it - 6'6 I think the display said.
One of the displays was a Hall of Heroes, with 20-sumfin busts of the great and good and audio bios. You can go here to see more, but my hero of choice is of course Adam Smith:
View east from the top towards Edinburgh:
Northwest towards the Highlands. The Battle of Stirling Bridge took place down on the fields.
The Monument from the bottom of the hill:
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