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It's been awhile since we updated this blog - mainly because we've had a our heads down working - but we finally got away this weekend so we have something to write about! The coach company i'm working for is doing trips to the Edinburgh Tattoo every weekend in August, so we thought we'd tag along with the nannas and see what the Tattoo's like in reality. So, we hopped on the coach Saturday morning to drive up to Edinburgh where we had a few hours free to look around. The Fringe festival is on in Edinburgh during August so the vibe in the city is amazing - street performers and people everywhere. An old friend living in Edinburgh, who I hadn't seen in a long time, met up with us and took us to a really funky cafe for a few beers and a catch up. The cafe was like nothing i've really seen before - run entirely by volunteers with an open stage where people can jump up and perform if the urge overtakes them. The walls were covered in artwork by customers and they were serving beer from a microbrewery in Scotland. So we sat back and had a few wee bevvies.
We were under strict instructions to be back on the coach by 6:15 so we bid farewell to Josh and made our way back to the drop off point....only to be driven to exactly the place we'd come from (the cafe). D'oh! Then began the scrum up the royal mile to get into the Tattoo. The royal mile is the road leading up to the Castle - we joined it about half way along and spent about 40 minutes in the mass of bodies trying to get up to the castle. The people were all over the road and stretched about as far as you could see - too bad if you're claustrophobic! So, we began the slow shuffle towards the security barrier and managed to get into the seating stands about a minute after the show started.
The actual Tattoo was amazing - we had a great view of everything, and really enjoyed the music and displays. Really, really glad we went - i can watch it on TV now in the comfort of my lounge room back home and have great memories of seeing it live. The weather held for the whole performance (unlike the 10:30 performance where i think the whole audience got drenched) and the sheer body heat of being cramped together with so many people ensured we didn't get cold!
Afterwards we hopped back onto the coach to travel to the hotel, which was nearer to Glasgow than Edinburgh. We were served hot soup and sandwiches there, before Heath, Kevin the driver and I were driven to another nearby hotel. The regular hotel had stuffed up the booking and left us short of rooms, so we got shunted into another hotel down the road. To compensate they plied us with free bottles of wine so we weren't really complaining (she says as she sips her glass of red....mmm....free wine tastes all the sweeter)
Today we went onto Glasgow for the afternoon where Heath and I were too knackered to do anything but a bit of shopping and lounge around in the pub, and then onto Gretna Green for a stop before coming home. So, all up we had a really good weekend. It was really odd being on a bus trip run by the company I work for - I think i spent a good part of the weekend worrying that everything was going ok! Thankfully everything did, and I didn't get anyone coming to lodge a complaint with me.
There are a couple of photos of the Tattoo in our Scotland gallery and also some amateur video in the video section. Unfortunately it doesn't do much justice to the atmosphere that was there, so you'll have to take our word for it; it was great!
This coming Friday we are off to Bergen (Norway) for the weekend so stay posted for stories and photos next week.
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