Happy and satisfied!

Although we wanted to skip Edinburgh on this vacation, we spontaneously decided to make a small visit. Just the thought of really good pie led to terrible puddles on the tongue, so that eventually we couldn't resist it anymore. Besides, we gave ourselves the fortress as a gift last year, which we wanted to visit this summer if we go there again.

If only we had left it and spent the entire time at the Pie Maker. With an entrance fee of 18.90 pounds per person, the expectations were high and were mercilessly disappointed. The 'exhibition' was extremely dreary, the jewel chamber overrun, and the royal rooms currently inaccessible (what a cheek - those were the bait to make Ida interested: 'this is how real queens and kings lived!').

A little anecdote about the crown jewel chamber:

The Scots have something in the world that is supposedly unique, in addition to the customary minimalistic royal crown and scepter!

This includes a sandstone that measures approximately 66x41x27 cm and weighs 152 kg! The Scots, or rather their cultural ancestors, the Picts, worshiped this stone as holy and magical, which is why from the 11th century onwards, the kings had to sit on the stone during their coronation to be as close to the sky as possible!

It is well known that the Scots do not like their southern neighbors with their sometimes strange head shape very much! This aversion is due to the fact that Edward I took the stone as spoils of war to London in 1296 and had it built into the Westminster Abbey under the coronation throne! An insult to all Scots that from then on every king up to the current Elsbett was enthroned sitting on the stone!

700!!! years after Edward's capture, the stone was ceremoniously brought back to Scotland in Edinburgh Castle!

And now back to the present. Neither of us had that on our radar, so we thought the stone was just a base for, for example, an amulet or another crown that might be being restored right now!

So we went up the tower again to the treasure chamber and paid the proper respect to the stone and its significance! We had to do it.

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed of the stone and crown...

Unfortunately, there were no real horses either, so Ida was doubly disappointed. 

At least she was able to run around the whole time, was admired many times for her red curls, and was allowed to celebrate the day with an ice cream. Well, that's something too.

Today, as compensation for the slightly messed up Wednesday, we had a children's day at the swimming pool. 'Olympia' was recommended to us by Mike from Aberdeen (he lives here on the campsite for his job because hotels are too expensive for 3 months). The fun pool cost the city a whopping 31 million pounds. We found it freezing cold, but we are not Scots after all. When it's 10 degrees, the Scots put on their short pants and go swimming with a water temperature of about 15 degrees.

Since we were there in the morning, unfortunately, only the reduced program was available (Mike didn't mention that part to us, or we simply didn't understand it. Quite possible, because his Scots is sometimes very pronounced). The slides and whirlpools will only be opened and put into operation from 4:00 pm onwards. But it doesn't matter, splashing and playing for an hour, and especially an additional hour under the warm shower did our family a lot of good. We were already prepared for the fact that we should now either go to the swimming pool or to the changing rooms and vacate the showers!

Mike came by again in the afternoon, borrowed some games for Ida and had a chat with us. Due to his job in the oil industry, he has traveled a lot, so he is staying in this area while his family is at home in Aberdeenshire, and he is quite lonely accordingly.

He reported how dependent Scotland is on this industry and how a few years ago, with falling oil prices, 60% of the people here were unemployed. His wife is from Cornwall, and although it is beautiful there, he wouldn't want to leave here. We can understand that (and those who don't know the warmth of the sun can't miss it either...)

Today is the longest day of the year. Hard to imagine that the days are getting shorter again, even though summer hasn't really started here yet.

Will we get used to it? We complained about the heat in Germany and will probably curse it again after returning, but we do miss the warmth a little. Tomorrow we will just keep moving a little more and explore Corrie Fee. That should warm us up.

If we ignore the power struggle during the morning getting dressed, in which Ida flew out of the tent several times, and set aside the tantrum while shopping (because we didn't want to buy a glittering swimsuit with an attached tutu that was two sizes too small), we call the day very successful and are satisfied with ourselves and the world.