August 21, 2012

6 Quick Snippets of Edinburgh and the Fringe

Over the past few months I've had a wonderful email exchange with Lexi from Life in Transition- she's witty, great fun, and posts both on the goings-on in her life and the not-so-goings on about being a late-twenties PhD in a crap economy- which she still makes enviable!! Not to mention she's got two horses (Fanta and Polly) and the most adorable little kitten, Scoop!!
I know Lexi's great, but stay with me for a minute-
I decided that I couldn't possibly move out of GB without meeting up with her- and she happens to live just outside of St. Andrews, Scotland, so I emailed her and we planned to meet up in Edinburgh- where the Fringe Festival is going on (along with Edinburgh's 400 other festivals; that city gets INSANE).
I booked a room at Pollocks Hall, University of Edinburgh (genius idea: the Uni lets its dorm rooms out during Festival for a modest rate and it includes breakfast in the dining hall!), and managed to get a semi-reasonable train ticket by checking the website at strange hours. Apparently businessmen who'll pay anything don't buy tickets at 2 AM... 
I digress.
I left Leeds Rail Station at 11:10 and arrived in Edinburgh at 14:10 on Wednesday (last week, duh).
I walked around by myself the first day, as Lexi wasn't able to get away until Thursday- but I don't mind a day in the city alone, despite my camera bag and backpack weighing on me!

I happened to be seated next to the one British person who chats on the train- so I didn't get a chance to eat the lunch I'd packed. When I left the station I found a pleasant sitting area just outside and had a little picnic looking up at this building. 

This building looks so much like the castles around Aberdeenshire

The Scott Monument from across the railway.

Street performers were everywhere- and you know I love some street performers!

Oh, yeah... that happened! Lexi's got some great posts about attending Olympic events (here and here).
In the right background you can see Edinburgh Castle- Paul and I visited it last year when we were in town for the Military Tattoo.

I then wandered around the Royal Mile, watching and photographing the Fringe participants as they did their live-adverts for their shows. 



I ended up pulling out Sophie, my medium-format camera, and shooting three rolls of film with her- so I guess you'll have to wait until I get those back to see more. Let's just say she drew quite a bit of attention- I got stopped and asked about her twelve times and even had one German tourist take a picture of her... yep.

I managed to fit in two Fringe shows Wednesday night, including one that was a very entertaining Flight of the Conchords knock-off- Bush & McCluskey. I was laughing so much at their set "The Loves I Haven't Known" I didn't want it to end!

This isn't Pollocks Hall, but it is the building next to it. Not a bad looking campus!

Thursday Lexi and I met up and spent the day wandering Edinburgh, having great conversation, seeing two more Fringe shows (the entertaining "The Ride of the Bluebottles" and "Love All", the play Paul and I saw in Clonmel, Ireland last year and by far the funniest play I've EVER seen!), and even went to see "Brave"- Pixar's newest film that's set in Scotland and has a princess with insane-curly red hair! (FINALLY!) Sadly, we were too busy having fun to take a single photo- I didn't even take my camera out all day!
I caught the 9PM train back to Leeds, and got home at about 1:30AM. The trip was a whirlwind, but totally worth it- I had a GREAT time!

6 comments:

  1. I so wish I could take trips like this! It just isn't the same taking a Greyhound bus to New Orleans or another part of Texas. It really isn't.

    I'll bet the Uni makes some nice extra cash during the festival. Even though the rates are low, they're still making money when they wouldn't have otherwise! Smart move and a great option for travelers!

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  2. oooh I would love to see a FOTC knock-off!

    Such pretty pictures, too.. and the girl all in gold? Hardcore!

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  3. such a beautiful town. I've only been once - over New Year's 2007/2008 - and I'm dying to visit again!

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  4. A highlight of the year so far :-)
    Now I need to make it down to Harrogate before you up and leave (I would put a sad face in here now but it might look a bit weird...)
    Such a great day, thanks for coming all the way up to say hi!

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  5. Edinburgh is such a great city! I have been so intrigued by the Fringe Festival, so it might be a consideration for us to visit next year.

    And yay for another blog date!

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Thanks so much for stopping by! I can't wait to read your comment!

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