Adventures beyond Stirlingshire Part 2: Off to Dunfermline

This part of my adventures tale takes us to Dunfermline, the former capital of Scotland.

According to Google Maps, it should take about 40 minutes by car from Stirling to Dunfermline. Unfortunately, lacking access to a car, we took the train, which had to stop in Linlithgow, then Edinburgh, and then Dunfermline, bringing us to a total of about two hours.

The view from Linlithgow Station

On the way, our train stopped for about 40 minutes, causing us to miss our connection in Linlithgow, causing us to miss our connection in Edinburgh. Thus, it took us more than three hours to get there.

We did get to take the train across the Forth Bridge, a famous rail bridge over the Firth of Forth, bringing us from Edinburgh to Fife. It's a very famous, recognizable bridge in Scotland.

A mosaic of the Forth Bridge on the Forth Bridge.

We arrived in Dunfermline around 3:00. Since most things closed by 4:00 or 5:00, we spent the better part of our time there taking photographs of the area.

Being in Scotland, it was raining quite a bit.

On the bright side, there was a gorgeous full rainbow, though I couldn't capture it completely in my photos.

Dunfermline has lots of beautiful gothic buildings, and it was wonderful walking around the streets. I think it was almost as beautiful as some areas of Edinburgh, although much smaller and not as exciting.

One of the most important buildings in Dunfermline is Dunfermline Abbey, founded in 1128.

It's a beautiful building, and I don't think I could ever get bored of walking along these historical structures. Every once in a while I stop and think about how long these buildings have been here, and how many important Scottish events have taken place here.

One significant part of this abbey is that it is the resting place of Robert the Bruce, an extremely important Scottish king who led Scotland through some of the years during the Scottish Wars of Independence. Sadly, the parish was closed by the time we got there, so I wasn't able to see his tomb which is located inside.

Although Bruce is buried here, his heart is buried in Melrose Abbey, in the Scottish borders.

I got some gorgeous shots of the cemetery. Despite the rain, I don't think I could have asked for a better day for photos.

Next, we went to Pittencrieff Park, an area put in place by Andrew Carnegie, an internationally famous philanthropist who was born in Dunfermline.

We visited his birth home, but no photos were allowed. It was a small but pretty 19th century home, with an expansion to include a museum that showed his many contributions. Most of these described the many libraries he funded in the UK, the US, and Canada.

There were so many little squirrels running around the park. I could only imagine how much fun it would be to walk there with my puppy in Canada, who goes crazy chasing them when they invade our backyard.

Tomorrow is the start of St. Andrews Weekend, in which a ton of heritage sites open their doors to the public for free. I will visit Edinburgh Castle and do a tour of the Edinburgh underground vaults. I'll also run walk up the 246 steps of the Wallace Monument and visit Stirling Castle before the free days end on St. Andrews Day, which takes place on Tuesday.

Then, I have just four more days before I head down to London for a month-long internship at the CBC London Bureau. I definitely have an exciting month ahead of me!