Day - 03: Friday, August 25, 2017
Starting Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Ending Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
So today begins our real tour of Scotland, no flights, no travel and the fact that we're almost aligned with the UK time zones, well almost, I think it was 9:45 AM when we awoke to begin the day.
On Wednesday I made note of Sheila's interest in the TSA baggage inspectors rifling through someone's bag at Norfolk. Well guess what, they must have noticed and assumed that she too wanted the baggage screening. As she opened her large suitcase she found the evidence, the TSA "notice" indicating that they had taken liberties with her things, but no problem with such a well run process what could possibly go wrong.
So Sheila goes to get her sneakers from the suitcase and discovered that she brought the wrong ones, she apparently had packed the ones that don't fit and were bright yellow with red laces, but wait she doesn't own such sneakers and after checking, we find that no-one in the family has any memory of such sneakers. Could it be a TSA inside joke, like let's swap the young kid's sneakers with the older woman's and see if she notices, or did a TSA agent really want to swap their own yellow sneakers with a well-worn pair of older person sneakers? I guess we'll never know how those shoes ended up in Sheila's bag.
After selecting alternate walking shoes we were on the street climbing the grade to the Edinburgh Castle. Along the way we saw more Fringe Festival posters than can be remembered.
As we reached the Royal Mile our first order of business was to collect our tickets for tonight's performance of the Royal Military Tattoo at the castle. The walk along "the mile" was of course interesting, with people just like ourselves and a few somewhat different.
This "red shorts" street entertainer began his act in bib overalls but had little success until he exhibited his red & white socks.
With our Tattoo tickets in hand it was back to "the mile, where we stopped for lunch at the above pictured Deacon Brodie's.
Did we mention the rain, not steady but always in the area. No problem for Sheila, she's prepared! By the way check that staircase she has climbed on the way to lunch, she's already halfway to the top.
For lunch we had typical Scotsman fare, a cheeseburger for me with a side of Mac & Cheese (apparently a local favorite). To lessen the wait time for the twosome behind us we invited this local couple to join us. Margo and Robert are from a town just north of Edinburgh; we enjoyed our conversations with them, at least the part we could understand. Apparently Margo was a plant manager for a local distillery, that said in retirement she'll rarely partake of Scotch.
Following lunch and a little more of the street scene we returned to the hotel to rest and get ready for the night's big event.
By 6:30 PM we had retaken the high ground and entered the venue for our dinner and a show. The "dinner and whiskey" experience was at the Amber Room, a local eatery.
For starters we had a tasting of four different "starters", smoked salmon, a cheesy thing, something else and a ball of haggis, that's right we have had our haggis, check it off, we're done! For dinner we had steak, not bad for UK beef. Our table partners for dinner were a couple from Calgary. Their combined age likely didn't reach one of ours. Nevertheless they were enjoyable to dine with and being that they were Canadian there was no language barrier to deal with.
With dinner completed we were entertained by a pseudo-military pipers group. The music was great, how can you not like bagpipe music and all that goes with it.
Sheila with the young Canadians.
As 9 PM approached it was time for the show. We were led to our grandstand seats at the entry to Edinburgh Castle, these were great seats in the end-zone area where the bands and marching groups would coming right toward us.
As we would soon find out it was either Navy Night or Navy Year for the Royal Military Tattoo. Actually military units from all over the world participated in this 3-week event. For two hours we were entertained by all sorts of groups, singers, dancers, marching units, Japanese swordsman, all highlighted by fireworks shot from the castle walls through the show.
Turns out that with us for Friday night was none other than USMC General "Fighting Joe" Dunford, the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs. Unfortunately our schedule wouldn't allow for us to invite him over for after-the-show drinks but perhaps he'll have another chance to join us at another event.
Enough said, here are some pictures representative of the night. To really get the feel of the event I would suggest checking out YouTube videos of the Edinburgh Tattoo.
By now you probably get the idea. It was a great show!
We returned to the hotel but stopped by for a wee nightcap, for Sheila an Irish Coffee and for me a Gaelic Coffee.
So today begins our real tour of Scotland, no flights, no travel and the fact that we're almost aligned with the UK time zones, well almost, I think it was 9:45 AM when we awoke to begin the day.
On Wednesday I made note of Sheila's interest in the TSA baggage inspectors rifling through someone's bag at Norfolk. Well guess what, they must have noticed and assumed that she too wanted the baggage screening. As she opened her large suitcase she found the evidence, the TSA "notice" indicating that they had taken liberties with her things, but no problem with such a well run process what could possibly go wrong.
So Sheila goes to get her sneakers from the suitcase and discovered that she brought the wrong ones, she apparently had packed the ones that don't fit and were bright yellow with red laces, but wait she doesn't own such sneakers and after checking, we find that no-one in the family has any memory of such sneakers. Could it be a TSA inside joke, like let's swap the young kid's sneakers with the older woman's and see if she notices, or did a TSA agent really want to swap their own yellow sneakers with a well-worn pair of older person sneakers? I guess we'll never know how those shoes ended up in Sheila's bag.After selecting alternate walking shoes we were on the street climbing the grade to the Edinburgh Castle. Along the way we saw more Fringe Festival posters than can be remembered.
As we reached the Royal Mile our first order of business was to collect our tickets for tonight's performance of the Royal Military Tattoo at the castle. The walk along "the mile" was of course interesting, with people just like ourselves and a few somewhat different.
Of course there was a bagpiper, what you don't see is the open case at his feet for donations as this piper is a street minstrel, one of the favs on the street.
With our Tattoo tickets in hand it was back to "the mile, where we stopped for lunch at the above pictured Deacon Brodie's.
For lunch we had typical Scotsman fare, a cheeseburger for me with a side of Mac & Cheese (apparently a local favorite). To lessen the wait time for the twosome behind us we invited this local couple to join us. Margo and Robert are from a town just north of Edinburgh; we enjoyed our conversations with them, at least the part we could understand. Apparently Margo was a plant manager for a local distillery, that said in retirement she'll rarely partake of Scotch.Following lunch and a little more of the street scene we returned to the hotel to rest and get ready for the night's big event.
By 6:30 PM we had retaken the high ground and entered the venue for our dinner and a show. The "dinner and whiskey" experience was at the Amber Room, a local eatery. For starters we had a tasting of four different "starters", smoked salmon, a cheesy thing, something else and a ball of haggis, that's right we have had our haggis, check it off, we're done! For dinner we had steak, not bad for UK beef. Our table partners for dinner were a couple from Calgary. Their combined age likely didn't reach one of ours. Nevertheless they were enjoyable to dine with and being that they were Canadian there was no language barrier to deal with.
With dinner completed we were entertained by a pseudo-military pipers group. The music was great, how can you not like bagpipe music and all that goes with it.
Sheila with the young Canadians.
As 9 PM approached it was time for the show. We were led to our grandstand seats at the entry to Edinburgh Castle, these were great seats in the end-zone area where the bands and marching groups would coming right toward us.
As we would soon find out it was either Navy Night or Navy Year for the Royal Military Tattoo. Actually military units from all over the world participated in this 3-week event. For two hours we were entertained by all sorts of groups, singers, dancers, marching units, Japanese swordsman, all highlighted by fireworks shot from the castle walls through the show.
Turns out that with us for Friday night was none other than USMC General "Fighting Joe" Dunford, the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs. Unfortunately our schedule wouldn't allow for us to invite him over for after-the-show drinks but perhaps he'll have another chance to join us at another event.Enough said, here are some pictures representative of the night. To really get the feel of the event I would suggest checking out YouTube videos of the Edinburgh Tattoo.
By now you probably get the idea. It was a great show!
We returned to the hotel but stopped by for a wee nightcap, for Sheila an Irish Coffee and for me a Gaelic Coffee.
It was now time to sign-off for the night, as the TV Navy actors would say to an order to turn in for the night, "Roger, Wilco, Over & Out"!
