Edinburgh's Fringe Festival

On the trip to Edinburgh we splurged and paid an extra £20 (round trip for the two of us!) for first class train seats. I was so excited; we would be traveling in super style, with free food and beverages, and extra leg room for Bill! I should not have been so excited, the leg room was nice, but the free water and coffee/tea was marginal at best. And my tomato and cheese tart was basically a sad little crust filled with a thin layer of tomato paste and topped with what looked and tasted like American cheese soup. Mmmm…

On the train again!

But, the train was still a lovely experience and the farther north it took us, the more picturesque the wee towns and villages were to look at as we whizzed past. 

Passing through Berwick-upon-Tweed

We made it to the Edinburgh hotel around the same time as our friends and their three girls (with five people, it's much more economical to drive than pay for the train). Our hotel was very near Edinburgh's castle, where we walked for our first night's entertainment - the famous Edinburgh's Military Tattoo (see previous post). 

Edinburgh castle up on the hill

Our friends' youngest child, Alison (nicknamed Alice), is a total hoot! She loves frilly dresses, dancing, and all things girly, yet she will dig in the dirt, go-go-go to keep up with everyone else, and already lives life to the fullest. The photo of her rapturously eating ice cream is pretty much Alice in a nutshell. 

Eat ice cream like nobody's watching! 

Our first evening consisted of the Tattoo for entertainment, but the rest of the weekend was chock-full of  Fringe festival shows. Although Bill and I probably would have chosen totally different shows had we been by ourselves, we truly enjoyed all of the kid-friendly shows we attended. Audrey, our friends' middle daughter, always held her hand up when an audience member was requested. And more often than not, she was chosen to hop up on stage. In the show below, the kids comedienne had us cracking up, shooting nerf suction-cup guns, grabbing sweets in the air, and generally enjoying ourselves. It was one of the best shows, and it was FREE! 

Audrey chosen to help out during the kids's show

On that second day, we also saw a card ninja, a sushi tap show, a dance/magic show, and were kicked out of another free comedy show right before it started because, we were told, it really wasn't kid appropriate. Oopsie!

That night we went to a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), a big Scottish dance. We knew we were in trouble when we arrived and it was being held in a church assembly hall and the guy running the dance was forcing EVERYONE to get out and do the dances. Bill and I thought we would be able to have a beer and watch from the sidelines, so we tried to be wallflowers. An elderly man in a kilt came over and asked me to dance, so I went and did the dance. And man! That dance was ENERGETIC!! I was completely winded, Bill was incredibly uncomfortable, and wee Alice was starting to have a meltdown. 

Bill and I left to walk back to the hotel with Alice and her mom in tow. Alice was not having any of it, and was screaming at the top of her little 2-year old lungs, "NO!! I WANT TO DANCE!!! YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!! I WANT TO DAAAAANNNNNCEEEEE!!!!" as we walked back to the hotel at 10:00PM. After about two blocks, we realized, we were going the wrong way - Alice was right! So we turned around, and had to walk past the ceilidh to get back to the hotel. Alice calmed down a little bit, and thankfully, when we walked by the ceilidh, her two sisters and dad were coming out to go back to the hotel as well. Phew!! What drama!! :-) 

The next morning was filled with even more Fringe events, starting the day with a musical, family-friendly version of MacBeth. And yes, it still had murder, suicide, and the like, but it was all done with such great flair, the adults and kids really enjoyed it. From time to time, I still find myself singing one of the main songs:

We are the good guys (good guys), 

and we do not deserve to die (to die)!

Inside a speigletent 

I think Audrey had a bit of a crush on the guy who played MacBeth, as she wanted us to take a photo of the two of them after the show. He tried to talk to Audrey, but she was shy, so he feigned disinterest when I took the photo as a way to be silly. 

Audrey with Macbeth

We also went to a pretty amazing trapeze act, where I took this cute picture of all three girls and their mom. Too bad Alice wasn't looking! 

Audrey, Gwen, Alison, and Marianne (smiling at the end of the row)

For the first part of the trapeze act, three artists were on the scaffolding, acting as though it was a raft after a shipwreck. At one point the cables holding up the right side of the scaffolding broke free, making the artists hang on  - it was very beautiful and impressive. But Alice did not like it one bit! She kept saying, rather loudly, "Oh, no! It's broken! That's dangerous, it's broken!" She became inconsolable, so her mom had to step out with her for the remainder of the program. 

Trapeze-type art show

On that last night a babysitter was procured for the three girls and the adults went out for dinner and a show. 

Well… Every restaurant was jammed packed (we didn't think ahead for reservations), we ended up eating at an Indian food truck before going to our 7-piece folk band concert. Then the 7-piece band was a no-show, so we got to sit and listen to a sad, political guitarist wax poetic about Scotland's failed bid for independence for an hour and a half. Off we went to a comedy club, finally saw a great show, went back to our hotel and proceeded to have wine in the Premier Inn bar until 2:00AM! I don't remember the last time I was out that late, having fun! 

Bill walking into the circus hub

Oh! And the next morning before we left Edinburgh, we went to one last show, The Amazing Bubble Man. Again, another kids' show that Bill and I never would have chosen on our own, but so much fun! 

Here's a little YouTube clip of the Amazing Bubble Man in action: