Edinburgh and a pledge

Okay, so my New Year’s resolution is to blog more, and in a more timely fashion.

So, here we go…  The end of the mighty 2012, part one…

Looking back through the mists of time, I do seem to recall our weekend jaunt up to magic Edinburgh.  We popped up for the long weekend at the end of August to soak up the atmosphere of the famous Fringe Festival, see the Military Tattoo and try that polarising local delicacy, haggis.

We arrived early on a Saturday morning and, true to form, it was drizzling.  Our bus ride from the airport into the central city let us take in some of the outer city areas and admire sites such as Arthur’s Seat, which Kyle would still like to climb one day, and various cobbled streets.  We roamed the city for a bit – the Golden Mile was thronging with people handing out fliers for various shows happening all over the place ranging in price.  After about 10 minutes of slow dawdling we had a fist full of pamphlets each and a mighty hunger.  A friend who used to live in Edinburgh had recommended a slew of pubs to us, one of which boasts of having the best haggis…  We queued for about half an hour to see if they had a leg to stand on.  Kyle ordered it and I chickened out and got the fish and chips.  But it turns out it’s really tasty!  I’d been expecting something of a firmer or harder consistency, more like a tough sausage, but instead it more like porridge or something.  Anyway, we had it a couple of times during our stay and enjoyed it every time.  Nothing about it screamed “I’m made from guts!”, which I was worried about at first.

See you next time, Arthur's Seat

That afternoon it hosed down, which was great since we were off to the Military Tattoo staged outside Edinburgh Castle that evening.  Luckily the rain held off and we were armed with a matching pair of super-patriotic Scottish rain ponchos.  Go, St Andrew!  We were running late after dinner, so had to jog all the way there – right past Rhys Darby!  The show itself was brilliant, if you ignore the bit where the Aussies came out and tried to make us join in on some Waltzing Matilda….  Seriously, learn a new song already!  Images were projected against the castle throughout and there was a bit of a fireworks display at the end.  It was all very pro-monarchist, being the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but that was ok.  The best bits were definitely those involving the massed pipe bands (Scotland the Brave was last and well worth the wait), but a couple of the performances from other countries were amazing too.  There was one band from… somewhere South American, I think… who dress a bit like Musketeers and do amazing choreographed stuff with no accompaniment.  A group of about 10 guys, they drum on their own drum and on their neighbours and then on their own again, all in perfect time and in various moving patterns.  Very impressive.

The next day we went back to the castle and wandered around the inside.  Who doesn’t love a castle?  This one had some brilliant history too – neither of us had heard the story of how the Honours of Scotland had been hidden from Oliver Cromwell there back in the day, forgotten about and given up as lost before being found over 100 years later.

  

All that history was thirsty work, which was why we next found ourselves in the midst of the Scotch Whisky Experience…  Part ghost-train, part burn-your-throat-out-with-fire-water-while-the-staff-have-a-good-giggle-at-your-expense, it was actually quite fun and Kyle had a ball tasting various examples of Scotland’s finest brew.  The guy said to me “oh, don’t worry, we’ll make a whisky drinker out of you”.  Um, wrong.  Suffice it to say that Kyle’s stash remains safe from me.

Yay!  Poisonous fire water! 

From there, we were off to our chosen Fringe show…  Rhys Darby…  It was kind of hard not to go for that one after we’d seen him on the street and because he’s a kiwi.  The show was quite funny but I think the highlight was seeing David Hasselhoff outside on the way in.  He’d just finished his show and was out the front of the venue signing autographs and posing for photos with fans. 

Can scratch him Hoff the list...

And that was pretty much it!  We caught the train back to London because it had been billed as having good scenery.  To appreciate it though you have to a) stay awake and b) not have a cute kid sitting opposite you that wants to play Game of Life with you on his phone.  We’ll be back in Edinburgh this May though for Kyle to do the marathon, so we’ll see what else we can get up to then.

Next stop…. Crete!