Pavement pounding at its finest - between kilts, the royal yacht, and the great literati

Our battle plan for today: take a short round through Leith Harbor, give Ida a long nap, then stroll through Old Town, and in the evening be fit enough for at least one article from Geo Epoche. That's the theory.

In reality, Ida is already on her way to bed at 7:00 p.m. and we can barely stay upright. No wonder, as we walked 11.6 km around the city and ran in a hurry.

We first tackled the harbor with the Britannia, Queen Elizabeth's royal yacht, after a leisurely breakfast. However, we took much longer than expected to reach Leith (a district by the harbor) within 2.5 km. To make sure Ida has her fun too, we took a longer break at the playground. After all, it's her vacation too. The harbor disappointed us all a bit. It didn't look very appealing (completely without a promenade or anything similar), and there were only a handful of ships or other things worth seeing. The Britannia was too expensive for us with a £13 entrance fee!!!!!! Somehow, all that pomp and circumstance has to be financed. Not to mention that we weren't overly interested in the royal yacht anyway (we only found some of the facts fascinating, such as the fact that there were 220 sailors on board when the royal family set sail).

On the way back, Lars and I walked at a good pace, which amazed my dad. But, it didn't help much, Ida fell asleep 200m before our front door. So much for the long nap. Oh well, we didn't have any hurry anymore, so we strolled more leisurely and then enjoyed a culinary highlight. Fish 'n' chips, fried chicken, and steak pie. It wasn't the greatest, but very Scottish.

(Greasy, greasy, greasy)

Until now, we had the impression that Edinburgh was a rather sleepy town without any charm, where things were relatively calm. But from the North Bridge onwards (the beginning of the old town), we were proven wrong.

Crowded and chaotic! Sometimes we were carried away by the crowds, sometimes we squeezed through, and not everyone always knew whether to walk on the left or right. Slowly but surely, we made our way up the extinct volcano to the castle.

Edinburgh Castle is built on one of the countless former volcanoes of the Scottish Highlands. This is how the beautiful scenery and character of this city with its many hills and cliffs came about.

By the way, we still haven't really gotten used to driving on the left and we hold our breath every time a double-decker bus shoots by us 'backwards' and too close to our heads.

Here's a quick historical, but everything else but dry, aside: Nowadays, you cross an immense train station when you want to get to the old town. As recently as 1780, the North Bridge was used to cross a stagnant lake of excrement that must have stunk like hell. All waste from the crowded city was dumped there and left on its own. An English visitor of the time is said to have joked that Edinburgh was the most picturesque of all capitals from a distance and the most disgusting up close.

The old town itself is impressive and still very medieval in character.

It's not hard to imagine how things were a few hundred years ago. The Royal Mile (the main street) leads straight uphill to the castle on cobblestones, passing countless whisky shops with dark facades where you can sample their offerings, various options for a stopover, and shops full of souvenirs in old sandstone houses. While preparing for the trip, I had educated myself about the Scottish landscape, but I honestly ignored Edinburgh as a city during my research, so I was somewhat disappointed and had preconceived notions and romantic ideas of not encountering any Gaelic or men in kilts. Lars rightly pointed out that Edinburgh is in no way inferior to London, except perhaps in terms of size. It is a bustling capital that has embraced modernity, with all that entails. It would certainly take many more days and more detours through the side streets and less central neighborhoods to truly get to know traditional life. But unfortunately, we don't have the time for that, and bars and pubs, where one might find access to culture through music and conversation, are not exactly the right environment for a two-year-old.

Thanks to Ida, we did find one of my highlights. At relatively regular intervals, I had to rush off with her to find a toilet, as diapers are clearly for little girls. Finding a decent toilet on the high street seemed impossible to me. So I randomly turned into a side street and walked straight to the Museum of Scottish Writers. It's an almost enchanted-looking sandstone building with little towers from 1622.

Free entry and a clean restroom. Wonderful. My dad went down to the basement to visit the exhibition of Robert Louis Stevenson, while Ida and I wandered around the corner, and Lars admired the quotes from local writers embedded in the asphalt.

After this welcome hiking break, during which Ida also had fun with her typical pigeon chase, we continued on to the castle. Another stop at an ice cream stand later, we arrived at the fortress. Here too, the word 'impressive' describes it very well. The fortress is, as mentioned above, on the crest of an extinct volcano with a marvelous view. A well-chosen place for a secure property. In front of it, the old town, and behind and next to it, the cliffs and slopes of the mountain.

Here too, we let reason prevail and decided against visiting the courtyards and rooms. It wasn't a difficult decision at £17 admission! For the way back, we chose a different path than through the crowd on the Royal Mile and hiked down a narrow trail along the cliffs.

To Ida's great delight, she could barely hold herself together on Lars' shoulders from laughter. However, why remained her little secret...

Back in the apartment, we immediately started dinner so that Ida wouldn't have to go to bed after 9 p.m. again.

In order to give the little redhead a somewhat enjoyable vacation that doesn't just take place in her stroller due to the crowds, we decided to take the bus to Roslin the next day and take a little hike through the greenery. Ida can walk and we will enjoy the landscape and take pictures!

Whether and how that worked out, you'll find out in the next installment... um, in the next post.