Karl Hartwig Schütz's favorite photos

Both strange and beautiful, the Pineapple has always amazed and inspired visitors. It was built in 1761 by the Earl of Dunmore as a summerhouse where he could appreciate the views from his estate. At this time, pineapples were among Scotland’s most exotic foods. The intricately carved stone pineapple, which is situated between the two bothies, forms an elaborate cupola atop an octagonal pavilion, with sash windows topped with Gothic ogee arches on seven sides and a door, topped with an ogee transom, on the eighth. The pineapple is around 14 metres (46 ft) high and constitutes a stunning example of the stonemason's craft, being a remarkably accurate depiction of a pineapple. Each of the curving stone leaves is separately drained to prevent frost damage, and the "stiff serrated edges of the lowest and topmost leaves and the plum berry-like fruits are all cunningly graded so that water cannot accumulate anywhere, ensuring that frozen trapped water cannot damage the delicate stonework." Courtesy of Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunmore_Pineapple It is possible to rent part of this building for a vacation.

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Tamfourhill, Falkirk, in central Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It reconnects the two canals for the first time since the 1930s. It opened in 2002 as part of the Millennium Link project. The two canals served by the wheel were previously connected by a series of 11 locks.[With a 35-metre (115 ft) difference in height, it required 3,500 tonnes (3,400 long tons; 3,900 short tons) of water per run and took most of a day to pass through the flight. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

The world’s only rotating boat lift, The Falkirk Wheel links the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Union Canal 35 metres above, allowing vessels to sail through the sky thanks to a unique fusion of art and engineering – and the same power it would take to boil eight kettles. It really is a wonderful piece of engineering. The first PiP shows the wheel just starting to lift a tour boat on the left and lower another tour boat, which is almost at the top level, on the right. The second pip shows the tour boat on the right being lowered down and the the other tour boat being taken to the top.

SC56 - Post July 30 - Text, number or characters A short stay in Cardiff for the weekend enabled us to visit Aerospace Bristol, the home of Concorde. The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). The first prototype flight took off from Toulouse on 2 March 1969. Concorde entered service on 21 January of 1976 with Air France from Paris-Roissy and British Airways from London Heathrow. Transatlantic flights were the main market, to Washington Dulles from 24 May, and to New York JFK from 17 October 1977. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after take-off with all 109 occupants and four on ground killed, the only fatal incident involving Concorde, and commercial service was suspended until November 2001. Concorde aircraft were retired in 2003 after 27 years of commercial operations. Courtesy of Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde

This canal boat was entering a lock leading from the Forth and Clyde Canal into the Falkirk Wheel basin. We watched as it was taken up to the next level, together with a tour boat, to the Wheel.

A rainy morning at the site kept everyone in the cafe or under awnings. The Kelpies still looked magnificent even in this dull weather. The first PiP shows the dramatic scenery behind The Kelpies. The second PiP shows The Kelpies in sunshine, but the hills behind have disappeared under clouds. The presence of people adds scale to the horses.

I's just possible to see the old (yellow) lighthouse on Inchkeith Island in the far distance in this photo. The island lies in the midst of the Firth of Forth, midway between Kirkcaldy to the north and Leith to the south. Due to the undulation of the Fife coast it lies substantially closer to Fife rather than Midlothian. In July 1561, Mary, Queen of Scots made Robert Anstruther captain of the island, in succession to the French Captain Lussaignet.She inspected the garrison, and a stone from the original gateway with "MR" (i.e. Maria Regina) and the date still exists, built into a wall below the lighthouse. The Forth Ports are preparing very ambitious proposals for the creation of Scotland’s largest and best located renewable energy hub on a 175 acre site at the Port of Leith – supporting Scotland’s economic recovery and energy transition plans and the achievement of Scotland’s net zero carbon emissions targets. This £40m private investment will see the creation of a bespoke, riverside marine berth capable of accommodating the world’s largest offshore wind installation vessels. Apparently it has been very noisy for the last few weeks due to pile driving. To find out more about Inchkeith please use this link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchkeith Courtesy of Wikipedia.