Italian... Thats It - Edinburgh, Scotland (August 2009)

ITALIAN… THAT’S IT

We didn’t wake until 2pm, my excuse being the days were wasted due to the nights being so well utilised, and that’s what I’m sticking with. Abbey and I were to see a few more arty and serious plays today but that all went out the window, so we settled for one of the finest (and cheapest) Italian meals I’ve had in a long while. A fine end to a fine weekend in a city I will definitely go back to; if not to finally tackle Arthur’s Seat but to see it in it’s true form without all the festival trimmings and enjoy what Edinburgh is really all about.

Tom Toms & Black Sea Gentlemen - Edinburgh, Scotland (August 2009)

TOM TOMS & THE BLACK SEA GENTLEMEN

Awaking later than I wanted with a splitting headache made me think arriving home the night before and sharing numerous vodkas and aftershock shots with Abbey’s flatmate was not such a great idea, though they say hindsight is 20:20. A slap up hot breakfast and a few episodes of Coronation Street later and we were back to normal and ready to take on the sights and sounds of Edinburgh.

Unfortunately it was already 3pm so we had precious little daylight with which to do so. Hence we headed straight for the jewel in the crown – and the home of the Crown Jewels – Edinburgh Castle. Making our way there we hit crowds of tourists on the main street and in the parks, voraciously snapping everything from Jenner’s on the high street to perfectly tended roses in the gardens that sprawl below the Castle. The journey up the side of the cliffs to the Castle from the park is an arduous one, and I’m instantly glad we opted to see this and not Arthur’s Seat, which is 10 times steeper and longer. Though the journey may have been hindered by the ice creams we were devouring whilst tackling the incline.

Edinburgh Castle is set high upon cliffs that tower over the city. It’s a beautiful old structure full of medieval delights such as original churches, prison cells and wooden doors (some of which still bare graffiti inscribed by those doomed by fate), and of course the precious Crown Jewels. The Castle itself is a fairly modest stone structure compared with its spectacular placement atop the cliffs. Clear views of the city, the sea and Arthur’s Seat make it worth a look in for the scenery alone. Couple that with an imaginative and intricate depiction of Scotland’s trials, tribulations, triumphs and monarchs and you have yourself an educational fun day out. Once done with the Castle you can also catch the famed Military Tattoo which takes place in a kind of mock-stadium set up at the entry, however this is hated by most locals and is purely for kilt loving tourists. We opted to give it a miss and head straight to the Royal Mile, a cobbled stoned pedestrian street dedicated to all things historical and Scottish. Of course a million other tourists had the same idea so once I got the gist we scuttled off towards the Udderbelly to meet friends for a show.

Abbey working on the festival meant she knew which shows were hot and which were not, and the Australian act Tom Tom Crew had been getting rave reviews. We took our seats for what was to be a show of the unexpected. They’ve been described as a hip-hop circus but I feel this description does them no justice, however I doubt my description will be any better! A DJ and drummer open the show mixing samples and beats under a camera which feeds onto a screen used as a backdrop so you can see how the DJ works. A great idea for those in the audience who have no idea what Djing and mixing involves. Eventually a troupe of gymnasts and acrobats are introduced to perform bone-breakingly gravital feats to the aforementioned beats. Then comes Tom – crew leader and beat boxer extrordinaire. What followed was an amazing array of entertainment including prop-guided acrobatics, various instrumental interludes with instruments I’ve never seen before, sample and beat box recording, playbacks and mixing – all done right there in front of you by a sickeningly likeable group of artists hailing from almost every Australian state and territory. They’d sold out every show at the festival so far and it was easy to see why. If you get the chance I highly recommend seeing them.

From there it was a cheap but tasty Indian meal on the University side of town and we were off to the next show. Legging it to the Assembly Halls just down the hill we were just in time to see Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, another Australian group. This was a black comedy cabaret show lead by the charismatic Mikelangelo backed by a group of well-dressed well-trained Gypsy musicians. An excellent show full of beauty, love, sex, death and the spookiest, funniest songs I’ve ever heard – definitely my favourite of the festival so far.

With 2 shows under our belts we decided to devote the rest of the night to drinking at the Underbelly bar at the Grass Markets. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur but I know I had a whale of a time, frequented many Edinburgh bars, met various friendly locals and didn’t get to bed until around 8am – or thereabouts…

Huge Inflatable Upside Down Purple Cow - Edinburgh, Scotland (August 2009)

HUGE INFATABLE UPSIDE DOWN PURPLE COW

Buses have always been a friend of mine. I don’t drive, have always used public transport and did three months through the United States on Greyhounds. Though since in Europe it’s all been about cheap plane fares so I was glad to be hopping a Megabus journey from London across the border and into bonny Scotland. As it stood I hadn’t yet discovered any of Great Britain so Edinburgh was to be my first UK adventure, which happened to coincide with the opening of the Edinburgh Festival. I also had a friend from Sydney working on the ticketing side of things and she’d been there only a month, had never travelled and was feeling a little homesick, so I thought I’d go and cheer her up.

Once again I was running late (seems its not only planes, must test the theory with trains…) so scrapped all my good intentions of buying cheap and healthy snacks from the supermarket and promptly boarded the bus. Lady luck was not on my side as there were no window seats left. This may seem of little importance but I need a window seat! Plane, train, bus, car – I like to survey, take photo’s and discover the world around me. Coupled with the fact that most of the people around me seemed to be sniffing and coughing this wasn’t the best start to my trip. Putting my woes behind me I eventually got to sleep, woken only by the jolt of my head rolling off the headrest and the two boys behind me laughing at me hysterically.

England’s countryside was well worth staying awake for, especially as we ventured off the M’s and through the back of the Lakes District before hitting the border. It was raining but that just seemed to make the landscape more lush and vibrant. Once into Scotland it didn’t stop there. At one point I was convinced the driver had taken a back road as the path we took was one lane, narrow and had the occasional tractor slowing the way. The landscape was quintessential: rolling green hills, cows and sheep, tiny villages of five or ten stone houses and sweet looking pubs – I had arrived in Scotland. Though I’d read my guidebooks and studied maps I had no idea how small Edinburgh was until I got there. Over the next two days I was to see so many shows and walk so far I now know the city by heart.

My friend Abbey had arrived there only a month before to work the festival and then travel. Of course working in ticketing came with perks, so as soon as the bus stopped I was into the bath room (which cost me 20p!), changed, and ready to see the Friel play she had acquired tickets to. Set in the small ornate Kings Theatre ‘The Faith Healer’ was the story of a man who touted faith to his countrymen but slowly lost his own. The narrative – performed by the faith healer and his devoted wife whom he referred to as ‘mistress’ – was simply set, well acted and presented the folly’s that come from a life on the road perpetuating and profiting from a myth, and losing faith in one’s self as well as others. A fine opener to my weekend of culture that was to be my trip to Edinburgh.

Abbey and I had worked at a bar in Sydney together and it just so happened a fellow ‘Metro-ite’ was also in town. After a cool brisk walk through the twilight we met our friend Danny at Monster Mash, a small diner serving up local grub such as snags, all kinds of mash, tatties, haggis and even veggie haggis. I opted for the latter with tatties and mash and it tasted unreal – homely, warm and stodgy. I don’t think I’d ever be game enough to try the real thing but the veggie haggis did it for me. With full bellies we rolled ourselves over to the Udderbelly, Channel 4’s take on the well-known comedy club Underbelly taking the form of a huge inflatable upside down purple cow. We lucked out on tickets for the show but soaked up the Friday night festival atmosphere in their courtyard bar, then moseyed on over to the real Underbelly to try our luck there.

Edinburgh is such a small town it was hard to believe all this excitement could be contained within its cobbled streets and ancient buildings. They say good things come in small packages and the city is a testament to that. We walked almost everywhere, never taking more than 20 minutes and the stroll to the Underbelly was an exciting preview of the personality the city takes on during festival time. People were happy, relaxed, drinking in the beer and the atmosphere. Once at the comedy club we sunk down the masses of steps through the bars and straight to the box office… no joy. Danny had done the festival before and assured us the Midnight to 3am stand up show ‘Spank’ was not to be missed, plus Will Anderson was on that night. Disappointed and disillusioned we took a drink from the bar and head into the alley for a smoke. Being the festival guru Danny decided to have one last try for tickets just as doors were closing… and we were in! We took our seats in the underground box space serving as a venue, and what followed was a fantastic array of stand up.

They ranged from London to Australia to Newcastle, featured an excellent country music parody named Willy Dickson, and a lovely boy from Amsterdam who wasn’t the funniest but was by no means the worst and just kept digging his hole. His parting words of ‘You know what? I don’t even care about you people anyway!’ didn’t really help either. The appearance of one of my favourite comedians, Will Anderson, was worth every penny and he owned the room as usual. All in all an awesome finale to my first festival-packed night in Scotland.