When Bill and I visited Edinburgh during our honeymoon almost eight years ago, we saw a few stage remnants of the Tattoo, which runs throughout August every year. There was probably one section of seating still being dismantled outside the historic castle. and a videos showcasing the Tattoo. It looked so cool, I turned to Bill and told him if we ever found ourselves in or near Edinburgh in August, we HAD to get tickets to see the Tattoo.
Flash forward seven and a half years: I remembered my proclamation while sitting in our newly rented house (but still empty as our household shipment had yet to arrive from the states) and started researching tickets. That night I told Bill that tickets were still available on the night of my birthday, and that's basically what I wanted to do as my birthday present. Of course he said okay (he's awesome like that!), so I clicked "buy tickets" and found ourselves a room at a bed and breakfast for the weekend.
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| Edinburgh Castle Entrance |
The Tattoo showcases national marching bands and dance troops from all over the world, with the backdrop being the entrance to Edinburgh's Castle. They sell out the stadium for every show (one show most days, two shows Friday and Saturday), and the energy of the audience was amazing.
I took a few short videos as the show started. Again, the videos upload in QuickTime, which will not play on a tablet or smart phone, but will play on a computer with QuickTime - sorry!
I also took a very short video of Mongolia's national band as it was very pretty in an erie sort of way, with throat singing, dancing, and actual snow fall. Again, it's a QuickTime movie, so fire up that laptop or desktop and watch away!
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| Scotland's Pipes and Drums |
My phone ran out of juice, so I didn't record anything else. But, if you want to see the band that (I think) had the most fun with the Tattoo, here's a link to a video of New Zealand's portion. Enjoy the Maori chants, traditional and pop hits, including busting out Gangnam Style click here: New Zealand
And if you're really into it, you can watch the grand finale featuring all of the bands, fireworks over the castle, the lone piper, and much more by clicking here: Finale (PS Who knew singing Auld Lang Syne involved criss-crossed arms and shaking hands with your seat mates?)
As you can tell, we had a ton of fun - three blog posts from one weekend - woohoo!! I'm already crossing my fingers, hoping we can attend the Tattoo & Fringe Festival next Summer :-)
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