Fringe Festival

So during festival month, they say the population of Edinburgh, normally half a million, doubles (I'll let you do the math).  The Fringe catalogue is about 350 pages.    Each show is about an hour long, and if you go to a lot of shows, the costs will add up.  It seems ten pounds ($17) is a common price for shows. Here are some somewhat random show titles to give you a flavor, although these selections are biased towards the odd.

Children's Shows:  Potted Sherlock, Dean Friedman's Smelly Feet, The Comedy of Errors, Pirate Gran.

Comedy: Billie was Tap Dancing for the Seagulls, Booze Bombs and Haggis, Come Heckle Christ, A Controversial Title in Order to Sell Tickets, The Sketch Show That Cannot be Named for Legal Reasons

Events:  Literary Pub Crawl (which we did), Saints and Sinners Walking Tour (which we will do today)

Exhibitions:  Jewelry of the World,  Urban Twist Papercut Artwork, Scottish Landscape Photographers, West End Street Fair

Music:  A Tribute to Cole Porter, Bach on Guitar, Footstomping Traditional Scottish Music

Musicals and Opera:  The Onion of Bigotry A History of Hatred, Funny Girl, The Pirates of Penzance

Spoken Word:  Arrest That Poet!, Arthur Conan Doyle Experience, Brave and Free Traditional Tales of Scotland, Hard Travelling with Woody (Guthrie)

Theater:  Star Wars A One Man Play, The Lord of the Rings a One Man Play, Government Inspector, A History of Falling Things.

Later that same day

Previously I mentioned our Rick Steves look alike guide from the Harry Potter tour.  As we were hurrying down the street to the pub crawl, I noticed a young couple walking up towards us, and noticed the guy was our tour.   I mentioned that to Cathy.  She had not seen him because she was looking at the lass, thinking how she looked like Jenny Weasley.  How funny, a Harry Potter tour guide whose girlfriend looks like a Harry Potter character.

The pub tour was fantastic.  We walked from pub to pub with two actors who  debated throughout, in a humorous fashion, the inspirations and characters of Edinburgh writers Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. It was simply a delight, and so much augments our appreciation of the city and Scotland. 

Now, back to food....we had lunch at a pub, and decided to go traditional.  Being more adventurous, Cathy ordered the haggis, neeps and tatties.  The haggis was not bad, though the spice combination wasn't particularly appealing to me.  The neeps (mashed turnips) were surprisingly good.  Kinda like sweet potatoes.  The tatties (mashed potatoes) were good as well.  I had a steak and ale pie, although it wasn't in pie form.  The beef stew and mashed potatoes were the definition of comfort food.

Now earlier in the day to breakfast.  We ate at Urban Angel because found two articles that listed it in the top ten breakfast places in the city.  Cathy and I both ordered French toast and bacon.  The bacon portions were far to large. Since CT didn't like how they were cooked, she gave me her share, so I had double the large portions.  Elizabeth wouldn't help me out.  She had two poached eggs.  Though they looked like, well, lets not go there.

Themeless Thursday

No selfie of the day on facebook yet.  Tonight we're doing a literary pub crawl.  Maybe will get a pick then.

 

So we went to the Scottish National Museum specifically to see the Arthurs Seat Coffins.  If you've read Iain Rankins' murder mystery (I'm 2/3rds done) The Falls, you have read about these mysterious coffins that were found in the 1800s on Arthurs Seat -- a large hill looming over the city.  The coffins are quite small - maybe 4" long and less than an inch wide, with a tiny carved figure inside each one.  Easy to see how Rankin would be inspired to base a murder mystery around the history of these coffins.

 

The national museum building is quite a specimen in itself.  Worth  the admission of nothing for a quick peek.  This pic is a central atrium of the old part of the museum, off of which are numerous interesting galleries.  Attached to the old is a new wing that resembles a castle.  Navigating between existing and new was a little tricky, but with the help of museum staff we made it!

 

 

Have I mentioned how hilly Edinburgh is?  On the map it looks flat.  This particular stairway is very tame compared to others we navigated.  Cathy commented how impossible it must  be for disabled to get around, given the hills, cobbled streets and narrow walks.

 

 

 

A big vote is coming up in a week or two.  I'm don't know the details, but the gist of the vote is for greater or maybe even complete independence from England.  Our Lochs and Castles tour guide was very animated and patriotic and in support of the measure.  That is the extent of our pre vote polling.

 

This cutie is Bobby.  He was partnered with a policeman who died of TB. Bobby kept a vigial over his partners grave, and upon his death was as well buried in the Greyfriars Kirkyard, a hundred yards from this statue.  More on the Kirkyard below.

 

 

Is this walking tour guide a young Rick Steves?  We think so.  The tour was Harry Potter themed. The next three pictures were taken in the Greyfriars Kirkyard where some of JK Rowlings inspirations can be found.  We were pointed out a few graves with names than appear in the books, including Tom Riddle.  The orphanage just  outside the gates was a model for Hogwards.  From the outside it didn't look the same as the movie version, but Rick Steves Jr assured us the inside is very similar.

 

Our potions master turning a base metal into gold.

 

A rather simple stone in the kirkyard.  I have numerous other kirkyard pics on my big camera, as the light was so nice.  For the purposes of the blog this is what you get. Plain and unadorned.

 

JK Rowlings handprints.

 

Fringe Festival

 

Time to go to pub crawl.  Look at pics below and in next post I'll give a brief update on our culinary day.

Art Museum

Why do five cent pieces here look like dimes and 10 cent pieces look like nickels?   That darned self pay machine was making me mad, crediting only five cents for each dime.

Failed to mention our visit to the Scottish National Gallery.  It compared favorably to art museums in Italy in many ways.  Free vs. 20 Euro to start.  Galleries that are well laid out for easy flow.  Relatively uncrowded.  Not sweltering heat.  The collects aren't as vast, but they're not shabby.  Not so big it wears one down.  To drop a few names of artists I can recall a day  later (spellings not authenticated):

Bottacelli, Degas, El Greco, Gauguin, Hals, Leonardo, Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rodin,  Seurat, Tiepolo, Titian, Van Gogh and the professor and Mary Ann.

Wednesday

So Edinburgh character has changed incredibly.  With the Fringe Festival commencing Friday, the crowds are pouring in.  A day or two ago we could saunter along the Royal Mile at our own pace with little hassle.  Suddenly this afternoon the street and all streets nearby the Royal Mile are packed with people.  It was a change not to our liking.  However, street performers are popping up, that adds interest and creates dense blocks of people who stop to watch.  If you're trying to get somewhere, bad.  If you're not and just there for the spectacle, good.

 

Princess Street Gardens at the foot of the castle.

 

St. Cuthbert Kirkyard at the base of the castle.

 

The castle looking from the base of the castle.

 

 

Filler material.  I may have posted this picture a day or two ago.  We met up with Elizabeth this morning and walked the base of the castle before she had a class to go to for her summer studies.

 

Old town Edinburgh.  Somewhere near the Fleshmarket Close.  It's still closed.

 

Tombs we came across on Monday.

 

 

Lawn bowling pitch.

 

 

Elizabeth has been in town for less than 24 hours and is already hitting on the guys.

 



 

Waiting for Elizabeth to return from her class so we could go to lunch. Cathy sketched and we enjoyed the street musicians (a rockin' bagpipe featuring band, following by a bagpiper playing traditional tunes in traditional garb). Unfortunately we didn't connect so Cathy and I had to eat at Haman's Kurdish restaurant without her.   The food was so good.  Nice reminder of our vacation past.

 

Thursdays events includes meeting E for breakfast followed by a visit to the Scottish Portrait Gallery, then Cathy and I going to a Harry Potter tour while E is at a class function.  In the evening we're going on a literary pub crawl and possibly a gallery show at our hostess' place of employment.  But I get ahead of myself.  I'll write all about it in the next post.  In painful detail.  Unless I can come up with some humorous quips to lean upon.

Lochs and Castles

Gave our feet a rest today, took a bus tour of Lochs and Castles.

 

A sorry attempt at re-enacting Monty Python and the Holy Grail at Doune Castle



 

 

Railroad bridge, now a bike trail

Highlands Glen

 

Castle at Loch Awe. 

Inverary Castle

 

 Fish and Chips

 

Loch Lomand

A sunny day in Edinburgh.  Here are some pics.

Closed?  Really? Closed????

 

 

Can you see if the fuse is still lit Honey?

 

 

 St. Margaret's Chapel at Edinburgh Castle

 

Defending the Castle

 

 

This café is where JK Rowling milked her tea while writing some fiction that apparently became popular with teens, tweens and adults alike.  Haven't seen any vampires.

C'mon girl start writing your wildly popular series of novels.



 

The blind leading the blind?

 

 

We Interrupt My Sleep to Bring You This Post

Two Fifteen AM wide awake.  Cathy, who made no attempt to sleep on the plane on the way over fell asleep on the couch about six and I trust will sleep through the night (she did make it to the bedroom  at some point and is no longer on the couch).  Since we didn't have dinner last night before crashing (except for Gin and Tonics, bread and olives and cheese), I'm snacking on some food stuffs we picked up at the market - an apple, a tomato, picking away at a roast chicken, and a tea cake from a box of cakes left us by our hostess.

Walking.  Okay, I don't know the rules of the road here.  The painted markings I don't understand.  I understand in my mind they drive on the left side of the road, but with fifty five years of internalized right side of the road driving it is difficult to turn off my automatic pedestrian habits.  I did cut across streets a couple of times only to realize there were cars coming from the "wrong" way.  Fortunately controlled crossings are located at regular intervals, so as long as we obey the WAIT signs and not try to take matters into our own hands we should be safe and fine.

Apartment tidbit of the day.  The apt block we're in was built in the late 19th c.  From the street you see a solid wall of masonry with small doors and certain intervals that are the main entrances.  Certainly not the prominent entries into apartments that we planners are so insistent upon in new projects.  Once inside this little door, there is a dark.  A little quirk we don't see in our every day life. 

Hibernian Football Club is the local team whose stadium we walked by yesterday.  Their color is green.  Not sure who they were playing, but we observed  the regalia of the visiting fans was orange.  We did come across fans later in the day following the match.  Judging by their unexpressive faces, whether orange or green, all I can conclude was the match ended in a tie.  Probably nil-nil.

Monday's main attraction will be Edinburgh Castle.  Stay tuned.  For now I'm going to have another bite of chicken and see if I can get back to sleep.

Brilliant.

Love at first sight

Admittedly we're a bit weak and vulnerable. But in the ten hours or so since we landed, we have become smitten with Edinburgh.  Granted weather has been tricky.  Going from sunny to cloudy to partly cloudy to short lived but seriously wet showers.  Being from the NW we are used to unreliable weather, but we're not used to these showers materializing out of nothing.

Our apartment is lovely, in a 19th building with funky worn concrete steps leading to the third floor flat.  A lovely view of gardens out the living room window, and a very nice land lady.  The neighborhood is great, straddling the borders of New Town and Leith.  A short walk to the heart of the city, yet a real neighborhood just beyond the reach of the tourists and the businesses catering to them (and us). 

For our first day we had no agenda, other than to get somewhat oriented and try to stay awake as long as we could, following a sleepless overnight flight for Cathy and a near sleepless one for me.  It is now approaching seven pm, so we have done pretty well.  Our wonderings took us by a soccer stadium that was filling up with fans for an afternoon match, coffee and rolls and people watching at a nearby bakery, and maybe 7 - 10 miles of walking, chancing upon historical sites like Holyrood Palace and the Scottish parliament, as well as following the royal mile   to the entrance to Edinburgh Castle. 

Down the road from our apartment

From the apartment living room window

Hiding under trees during a surprise rain shower

Next to Holyrood Palace.

Scottish parliament

 Stadium where we'll be watching Military Tattoo come Saturday

  
Old façade preserved with the construction of a newer glass building.