Last week my boss offered a friend, Eric, and I a pair of tickets to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. This a huge gathering of marching bands and pipe and drum groups from around the world where they perform and put on great marching displays. We were both interested in the event and jumped at the chance to go. I went online and booked some train tickets and Eric went to work on finding us a place to stay for a night.
So, Thursday early afternoon we took the 40 minute drive up to Oxenholm Rail Station in Kendall and boarded our 2 hour train ride up to Edinburgh. When we got there the weather was beautiful and we made the 1.5 mile walk to our little bed and breakfast called 6 Mary’s Place. Once we dropped off our gear we headed up the hill to old town and towards the Edinburgh Castle, where the Tattoo is held.
The size and scale of the Tattoo grand stands are amazing the entire courtyard leading up to the castle is surrounded with temporary stands that can hold about 10,000 people.
The stands at the Tattoo (this is not my picture)
The Tattoo was an amazing show and contained military bands from England, Switzerland, Tonga, and had pipe and drum groups from all over the world. The beautiful night added to the show and we were very glad that it was not raining.
The Royal Air Force Band
Just some of the hundreds of bag pipers and drummers
The Tonga Military Band
A military rescue demonstration by Scottish soldiers
After the show Eric and I walked to a pub that was recommended by one of the locals and had a couple of pints of Orkney Brewery Red MacGregor real ale before heading back to the bed and breakfast.
The next day, after a great breakfast, we headed out to do some sight seeing. It had started to rain so we were sure to bring our rain gear just in case. It is a good thing that we did because it came in very handy once the rain really started coming down. We walked towards old town and in route we decide to check out the Scottish National Gallery exhibit, The Discovery of Spain: Goya to Picasso. I am not much of a art guy but it was very interesting non the less. Plus it got us out of the rain for a while :)
Once we finished at the gallery we headed to Greyfriars Kirk. This is a lovely church in old town that is surrounded by a grave yard that contains many graves of famous people in the history of Edinburgh.
Greyfriars Kirk
One interesting story is about Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby was a Skye Terrier, looked after by John Gray for the last two years of the old man's life. After the death of Gray, Bobby reportedly guarded his grave for fourteen years (he only left to eat), capturing the heart of the Lord Provost, William Chambers (whose own statue stands nearby on Chambers Street). Chambers organized for the Town Council to pay for Bobby's dog license, and so saved him from being rounded up and destroyed. Bobby was buried just outside the graveyard, near where his stone stands today.
Bobby’s Grave Stone
John Gray’s Grave Stone and the Table Stones that Bobby lived stayed under during his 14 year vigil.
One of the most famous images of Edinburgh is the statue of Bobby on George IV Bridge, near the entrance to the Graveyard. It was erected in the year after Bobby himself died, 1872.
The Statue of Bobby with some weird looking guy next to it :)
After the Kirk we went to eat at a pub on the Royal Mile called Deacon Brodie’s Tavern. I had a venison steak with potatoes and vegetables and a couple pints of Caledonian 80 real ale. The food was excellent and a nice hot meal was just what we needed on the rainy wet day out in the city.
Deacon Brodie’s Tavern (not my picture)
We then walked around a bit on the Royal Mile and took in a couple of street performers shows. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe was also going on and there are hundreds of shows in venues all over the city as well as a large number of street performers.
Street Performer, The Sam Wills of New Zealand, putting his body through a tennis racquet frame\
Video of his trick from a different performance
Then it was time to head out so we walked down to the train station for our trip back to Kendal and then Ulverston.
Deacon Brodie's is JUST devine!! We ate there a few times while in Edinburgh and loved it! Isn't "Bobby" cute?!! We also had lunch there one day, but found the Pub not as nice as others. The courtyard at the castle is amazing. Hard to believe it would hold so many people and allow such a big event like the Tattoo to happen. You MUST spend more time in Scotland with Amanda. Our 2 weeks still wasn't enough!
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