**Please note that if you read this on Sunday, I've now added some photos below, due to the amazing awesomeness of "change date/time" of posts on blogger.**
My Saturday night was spent up in Edinburgh.
I met a friend, K, at about 5 p.m. We grabbed coffee at Starbucks, sat down on the curb on the Royal Mile, and chatted for a while, and she told me that she needed to be off to meet her boyfriend's parents. They were going to have dinner, then go see her boyfriend's show at the Fringe. She asked what I was up to until the tattoo began, and I told her not much, probably find a pub somewhere for dinner, maybe sit and read for a while, get a good spot in the queue... And I was promptly invited out for dinner at the Sheep Heid pub/inn in Duddingston, and to see as much of D's (the boyfriend's) show as possible.
That pub was INCREDIBLE! If you visited the website, it dates from at least 1360, which is great (the Golden Fleece, York's oldest known, is only from 1503), and it's small, cute and quaint inside. I fell in love and could have wandered around just staring at the photographs and knick-knacks all over the place.
D's parents were lovely, full of questions, conversation... And they wouldn't let me pay for my dinner! They said that they'd recently been in Canada and that they'd paid for almost none of their meals, the hospitality was that fantastic, and that there was no way they weren't going to return the favour, in spite of my protests.
A quick walk away was Duddingston Kirk Gardens (Ed. Fringe Venue 121 - absolutely flippin' beautiful!), where D was performing the role of Antonio in The Tempest. I only got to see the first half before I had to leave (where else but in Britain do you get a "tea tent" at intermission?!), and someone told me as I was running away "but you'll not find out how it ends!". I looked the man straight in the eye, smiled, and said "somehow, I think I'll figure it out...".
Took a cab from Duddingston to the Royal Mile.
I got there, and was faced with this:
Yup. See all those people? They lead up the Royal Mile from as far back as St. Gile's cathedral all the way up to the Castle. I'm always amazed at the logistics of the whole thing - they manage to get thousands of people onto the Esplanade and seated in about 45 minutes. It's incredible.
So. The tattoo. The core is military, with pipes and drums. I was having some issues with my camera, so I'm afraid the video has no sound (boo!!!!!! Boo-urns!!!!!). The best acts were probably the New Zealand Army Band for comic value (I don't know any other group of grown men in military uniform that will put down their instruments and dance around flapping their arms like ballerinas while the rest of the band plays excerpts from Swan Lake), while for impressive technical skill and 'holy shit that's awesome' value, the "Top Secret Drum Corps" from Switzerland were the best. Seriously, click on that link and watch the video - they're fucking amazing!
So then I took some video with my camera, to give you an idea of what I was watching...
My Saturday night was spent up in Edinburgh.
I met a friend, K, at about 5 p.m. We grabbed coffee at Starbucks, sat down on the curb on the Royal Mile, and chatted for a while, and she told me that she needed to be off to meet her boyfriend's parents. They were going to have dinner, then go see her boyfriend's show at the Fringe. She asked what I was up to until the tattoo began, and I told her not much, probably find a pub somewhere for dinner, maybe sit and read for a while, get a good spot in the queue... And I was promptly invited out for dinner at the Sheep Heid pub/inn in Duddingston, and to see as much of D's (the boyfriend's) show as possible.
That pub was INCREDIBLE! If you visited the website, it dates from at least 1360, which is great (the Golden Fleece, York's oldest known, is only from 1503), and it's small, cute and quaint inside. I fell in love and could have wandered around just staring at the photographs and knick-knacks all over the place.
D's parents were lovely, full of questions, conversation... And they wouldn't let me pay for my dinner! They said that they'd recently been in Canada and that they'd paid for almost none of their meals, the hospitality was that fantastic, and that there was no way they weren't going to return the favour, in spite of my protests.
A quick walk away was Duddingston Kirk Gardens (Ed. Fringe Venue 121 - absolutely flippin' beautiful!), where D was performing the role of Antonio in The Tempest. I only got to see the first half before I had to leave (where else but in Britain do you get a "tea tent" at intermission?!), and someone told me as I was running away "but you'll not find out how it ends!". I looked the man straight in the eye, smiled, and said "somehow, I think I'll figure it out...".
Took a cab from Duddingston to the Royal Mile.
I got there, and was faced with this:
Yup. See all those people? They lead up the Royal Mile from as far back as St. Gile's cathedral all the way up to the Castle. I'm always amazed at the logistics of the whole thing - they manage to get thousands of people onto the Esplanade and seated in about 45 minutes. It's incredible.
So. The tattoo. The core is military, with pipes and drums. I was having some issues with my camera, so I'm afraid the video has no sound (boo!!!!!! Boo-urns!!!!!). The best acts were probably the New Zealand Army Band for comic value (I don't know any other group of grown men in military uniform that will put down their instruments and dance around flapping their arms like ballerinas while the rest of the band plays excerpts from Swan Lake), while for impressive technical skill and 'holy shit that's awesome' value, the "Top Secret Drum Corps" from Switzerland were the best. Seriously, click on that link and watch the video - they're fucking amazing!
So then I took some video with my camera, to give you an idea of what I was watching...
Sorry - no sound. Turns out I have to remember to turn the sound ON on my camera. If you want, go back to Delly Bean's posts from mid-July to find her Highland Gathering video, and that'll give you an idea of the sound I was listening to as I took the video.
Photos in the posts below
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Sounds like you had an awesome time! Great video, too!
Woot woot!