Royal Mile, Monster Trucks and Henson puppets uncensored...
We expected a big day so started with a full cooked breakfast - homemade by Di, resident Master Chef.
4 seasons in one day was the weather that we expected today - and got. Starting with a nice "spring feel" to our morning as we walked south east towards the start of the Royal Mile. This street is just behind our building and is called Calton Hill.
Forget any town planning for places as old and evolved as Edinburgh. This lane disappears into nowhere.
We liked these art posters which highlighted the top 10 of a range of Scottish things - bands, crime, students and also "fake Scots" such as Shrek, Groundskeeper Willy from the Simpsons and Dectective Jim Rebus from Ian Rankin's books. However, they missed out on "Fat Bastard" from the Austin Powers movies.
In a vacant lot behind Waverly Station we found "Snooze Box". Ingenious pop-up motel made of containers which can be set up at any festival or event site within 48 hours. The brochure we picked up showed simple but good rooms and even ensuites. They must have a container for water, perhaps another for a generator and self contained plumbing in the rooms.
The only window in the Snooze Box appears to be the front door porthole.
We continued our walk until we reached the Scottish Parliament building...very new and funky in style and located among old buildings such as the Holyrood Palace and Queens Gallery.
The parliament from another angle.
The weird thing is that the funky new parliament building is opposite the very old Holyrood Palace, still used about 4 weeks a year by the British Royal Family. Seemed a bit of a mismatch.
Hans found the gates locked so was considering alternatives...
This royal emblem was on the outside wall, it appeared to have been moved from an older location as Holyrood Palace is "only" about 200 years old.
The gift shop was selling copies of the official castle china wear. Don't drop it, Di...
...as one cup and saucer costs £49!
We took note of the map and found out that one route was closed due to rockfalls, but we had a few other options.
The pig takes pride of place and catches the attention of quite a few who pass by...
Felling stuffed after breakfast and a "piglet" we continued our walk. This attracted our attention but for a completely different reason - tinned Haggis? Tinned Curry Haggis? Nope. We will try it but want it fresh and from a good chef.
We zigzagged a little near the top of the Royal Mile as we wanted to collect some tickets for both a Castle tour tomorrow and our Military Tattoo event on Wednesday.
No luck with the Tattoo event - the store was closed on a Sunday. Oh well at least we got to see a great example of the tiny Close alleys that run all through this area. No Hans, the walls are not getting closer...
Back to the Royal Mile.
We searched out the Heart of Midlothian, a marker that showed the site of a notorious 15th century prison and tax office. Locals spit on the heart as they pass due to the executions that took place here - an old habit that seems to be not as common during festival time as the heart did not look slimy to us.
Hans contributed to this old tradition... and attracted some strange looks in the process.
Onward to the top of the Royal Mile, looking west.
This guy had come up with a new and funny concept. Would work for the introverted performer. We liked it.
We finished our "Royal Mile" at its western end at the Edinburgh Castle as we were due to pick up our pre booked tickets for Monday. This is where the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is held with the castle just behind us. Did we mention that we have tickets to the Tattoo for Wednesday night?
"Luxury Scottish Ice Cream"??? What would that be? Haggis? Kippers? There was nothing obvious outside the van and we did not feel tempted.
Us at the The Royal Mile looking east.
These stairs take you down from the Castle to Grassmarket. You can see Heriot's School next to the Greyfriars Kirkyard in the background.
We had coffee and tea at an awful place with the most shockingly slow service down at the Grassmarket before we checked out this performer for a while. He was one of those loudmouths juggling a chainsaw while cracking jokes at bypassers experience. OK, he was quite funny.
A couple of interestingly named pubs side by side. The right pub didn't look like what it was claiming and the left pub is named after the woman who was sentenced to death for "concealment of pregnancy" (yep!), but cheated death after being wrongly declared dead by hanging as she later sprung back to life.
OK, suckers as we are, we had to swing by the Elephant House again to check it out a bit better. Not only did J.K.Rowlings write her first 2 books here, but also Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall-Smith had visited according to the plaque on the wall. Di was impressed as she likes all these authors.
Never mind, here is the Frankenstein's monster... To the right.
We continued south on Bank Street and Bristo Place and reached yet another festival site at Bristo Square, referred to as "Underbelly"... Hmm...or is that "Udderbelly"?
And then it got cold and windy, the rain started and we put on our new shower proof jackets...
Di was sucked in to let go of £2 for a "show bag" containing The Scotman newspaper, a bottle of water and some other goodies. She liked the bag but we declined the DVD of great football moments in history as what were going to do with that?
The rain stopped soon enough and we wandered back to Victoria Street where we had seen a second Oink outlet, very popular these places, for another bread roll with roast pork for our lunch. Yep, delicious yet again.
The show's highlights of course were the 2 Monster Trucks, but apart from the initial parade, they were parked waiting for their appearance as the final attraction. The red one...
...there were ramps at either end...
No stunt show could ever be complete without flames...
The burning man walking from one side of the show ground to the other...
We loved them (as did everyone else).
This is how the props looked like after being "monster trucked". The car to the far right was driven around at the grounds before the show, but it looked like toast now.
Well, the wind was howling a fair bit at the show grounds and all the stunt vehicles ripped up a lot of dust and grit while performing so we needed a refreshment after the show. We jumped back on bus 22 and got off at our stop for a cold one at "The Conan Doyle". A pub with a name like that needed to be experienced.
And guess what... The Conan Doyle served Franziskaner Weiss Bier, cold, in the proper glasses. Finally a beer in the UK that Hans really liked. So much that this one was followed by a second one. Of course.
Di didn't like the ciders on offer so she went for a Corona with lime, but she also helped herself to Hans Franziskaner a few times.
Note the doors behind Di. We don't know about you, the reader, whether you would interpret these doors to be the way to the Ladies WC. We didn't, but a Korean or Japanese looking young girl did. She came up behind Di and tried to force the doors open. We didn't particularly fancy hearing a loud intruder alarm getting off, so we pointed out to her that the door to the Ladies was just behind her, perhaps 2 meters to the right from where this photo was taken. OK, we were laughing our heads off as she sheepishly disappeared in there.
Di looked very pleased with a pre show drink and tickets to the show.
Of course, photography was not allowed during the show, but Hans took one of the stage. The yellow video screens on both sides of the stage displayed the puppets while the performers were in the centre of the stage holding up their puppets into the air.
The show was hilarious. The MC was Patrick Bristow who took story suggestions from the audience and threw them at the puppeteers. Pretty much the whole show was improvised, with singing and various rhyming, and therefore no two shows could be the same.
The funniest segment was when he asked for a name to a children's bedtime story and settled on "The Princess with No Face" which quickly became "... no f**king face" in a rap song. Definitely not family friendly material.
We laughed through the full hour and then wandered back to the apartment exhausted after a full but very satisfactory day. Good night.
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