New Year's, Edinburgh & Stirling

I arrived back in London on New Year's Eve and had the pleasure of watching some fireworks from the comfort of my living room. Apart from all the fireworks across the river, there were a couple of guys letting off rockets right beneath my window. I've never seen fireworks that close. After they were finished with about 8 individual rockets, they brought out a heavy box and looked for somewhere to put it. They stuck it next to the embankment wall and lit it. It shot out rocket after rocket, alternating between coloured fireworks and gold ones that had secondary starbursts. Cool!
On the 2nd, I headed up to Scotland to visit Edinburgh and Stirling. The primary purpose of the trip was to see Stirling Castle, the castle that my house at school was named after. I didn't realise that it had such an important position in Scottish history. James VI of Scotland (James I of England) was crowned at the Church of Holyrood down the road from the castle and spent a lot of time at Stirling, as did his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots and various other Scottish kings. The castle has not been fully restored so the palace is just a large stone house with no ceilings (which have all rotted away), no flooring or wall hangings. There are plans to return some of the remaining Stirling Heads to the ceilings of the palace and also put up tapestries and furnishings as per Mary and James's time.
The Wallace Monument is also in Stirling and has seen the dreaded hand of Hollywood. There is a sculpture at the base of hill, which looks remarkably like Mel Gibson. Very disappointing.
It was very cold up in Scotland, snowing and windy, particularly on the day I went up to Stirling. I asked a stupid question about precipitation as there were small white balls that fell straight down from the sky. These alternated with the snow, which was blown sideways by the wind. Turns out that it was hail, much smaller and whiter than the stuff at home.
Edinburgh Castle was in much better condition than Stirling. There was a big exhibit on the Scottish Crown Jewels, which, I was surprised to learn, have a longer history than the English Crown Jewels as they were hidden during the revolution and were not destroyed. The Stone of Destiny is quite the most boring piece of stone I have ever come across. After learning about its history, you would think that there might be something special about it but no, it is just a rectangular piece of rock. The crown, sceptre and sword, on the other hand, were very nice relics. The Scottish War Memorial in the castle was also done very well, situated in the chapel with light coming in through the stained glass windows.
The Royal Mile has a lot of tourist shops and not much else. It finishes with the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence when she is in town. The Scottish Parliament building is quite a contrast to all the old architecture. Despite this, it does seem to fit.
Carlton Hill gives good views of the city, though the walk up and down it was very slippery from the ice and snow. I held onto the railing the whole way.
The National Gallery of Scotland is significantly smaller than the one in London but still has a good international, as well as Scottish, collection. I think it is the first time I have seen paintings of people in tartans.
Taffy and I are off to the ballet this weekend. It will be the first ballet for both of us so I chose a classical version of a traditional one - Swan Lake. Looking forward to it!