Edinburgh

 

Flat in new town Edinburgh

While attempting with difficulty to book hotels in Edinburgh we were told several times that the "festivals were on and space was scarce". Festivals, we yawned... the avocado festival, the county fair; deep-fried chocolate bars and macrame necklaces. It turned out to be the festival of all festivals; like all the festivals we've ever seen going on simultaneously. Book fairs, choral and music fairs, live theater of all kinds, comedy festivals, mime, dance of every variety. Reputedly the largest culture festival in the world, it's program is the size of a small telephone book. 24 hours a day every conceivable nook and cranny in the city is booked. We managed to see a couple of concerts, the best - a preview of the Purcell opera, Dido and Aeneas. Wandering the Royal Mile every day to watch the "previews" presented on the streets could keep you busy all day every day for a month.

Performances everywhere

Pipers were a-piping on every corner.

 

Beautiful flowers in hanging baskets all over the city

 
The military tattoo was a wonderful experience but the expensive whiskey tasting aforehand overblown and contrived for tourists. We had to buy a "package" in order to get the really good seats for the tattoo and thought it couldn't be all that bad. It was. Part of it was the cheesiest ride I've ever experienced in a whiskey barrel on rails which travels through a series of tableaux depicting how whiskey is made. There isn't enough whiskey in the world to turn that sow's ear into a silk purse. The only two things of value we learned were: 1. Whiskey is spelled with an "e" in Scotland and spelled "whisky" in Ireland and 2. No matter how you spell it, people will pay incredible prices for a prized bottle - up to $20,000.00. The tasting organizers also housed a collection of rare whiskeys, perhaps the best part of the experience.

There was a shadow head in every one of my photos

Whiskey collection