Edinburgh

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Geo: 55.9488, -3.20001

Today we left at 8:30am in the Saunders' car for the two-hour drive to Edinburgh for the Tattoo and sightseeing.

Although I was looking forward to the Tattoo, I had not expected to enjoy it as much as I did. It was absolutely terrific. The theme was "East meets West" and there were bands and performers from all around the world including Australia, China and Bollywood dancers from India. The show was a great blend of tradition (bagpipes and marching), dramatic lighting and modern flair - a real credit to the organisers.

We had good seats and we were very surprised to be among several people personally welcomed to the Tattoo in the opening commentary: "Mr and Mrs Clark from Brisbane Australia", no less! The 90min show started at 9pm. Although it became cold (but not overly so) the weather was clear with no wind. A light drizzle of rain started as we were walking back to the car, but not enough to get wet. Definitely a highlight of our holiday.

We got back to Kilcreggan a little before 2am; another very long day and well driven by Michael.

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Photos

Edinburgh Castle
Changed lighting on this castle facade made for an interesting backdrop to the evening's performances.

Courtyard
This small chapel is the oldest (12thC) building still standing at Edinburgh Castle. The hilltop fort itself dates from ancient times.

Palace of Holyroodhouse
The Queen's residence in Scotland, at the eastern end of the Royal Mile from the Castle. Normally the Scottish Banner is flown, but if a "Royal" is staying, their personal banner is used.

No Parking, or else!
The traffic guy said this was normally a parking area that had been closed for the Tattoo. So apart from the shock of finding their car missing, the driver can retrieve the car from the pound at no cost. If we'd known, this could have been free parking for us ��.

A Yin-Yang symbol
With 24 performances from 7-29 Aug, this is the 66th year of the Tattoo. Erecting and dismantling the massive stands takes 12 weeks and costs about £1.5M. The seating capacity is 8,800 and all shows have been sold out for the last 16 years.
A good revenue raiser for charities and an estimated £88M annual boost to the local economy.

Bollywood comes to Scotland
The term "Tattoo" is derived from the cry of Belgium inn-keepers over 300 years ago. They announced it was time for the occupying soldiers to return to barracks with "Doe den tap toe" - turn off the (beer) taps. The cue for this call was the regimental fifes and drums marching through the streets.

The massed finale...
I regularly moan about useless carrying of my binoculars when holidaying. On this occasion it was really useful to be able to zoom-in and see detail of interesting sights.

Comments

[Eric]

I guarantee you'll be hearing bagpipes in your dreams for months to come

[Kerrie Lonn]

So lucky to have fabulous weather throughout the trip.