Edinburgh Military Tattoo Festival - Day 1

So if anyone is counting, I was headed to my seventh show of the day.  Did I mention #heaven?

Contrary to popular belief (and mine when I first heard about it), the Military Tattoo Festival does not involve body art.  Here's the educational part of the post...

The word "Tattoo," is derived from "Doe den tap toe", or just "tap toe" ("toe" is pronounced "too"), the Dutch for "last orders". Translated literally, it means: "close the (beer) tap". The term "Tap-toe" was first encountered by the British Army when stationed in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession.

The British adopted the practice and it became a signal, played by a regiment's Corps of Drums or Pipes and Drums each night to tavern owners to turn off the taps of their ale kegs so that the soldiers would retire to their billeted lodgings at a reasonable hour. With the establishment of modern barracks and full Military bands later in the 18th century, the term Tattoo was used to describe not only the last duty call of the day, but also a ceremonial form of evening entertainment performed by Military musicians.

Although the first Tattoo in Edinburgh, entitled "Something About a Soldier", took place at the Ross Bandstand at Princes Street Gardens in 1949, the first official Edinburgh Military Tattoo began in 1950 with just eight items in the programme. It drew some 6000 spectators seated in simple bench and scaffold structures around the north, south and east sides of the Edinburgh Castle esplanade. In 1952, the capacity of the stands was increased to accommodate a nightly audience of 7700, allowing 160,000 to watch live performances each year.

I booked these tickets way in advance and I sort of figured that since I didn't know what else was going on, I would book both nights whilst there.  I'm really glad I did; such great entertainment against an amazing back drop.  I can't believe I'd never heard of it before moving here.  If you are in Scotland in August, it is a must see.

Anyways, this post will probably overwhelm you with pictures and video.  I can't choose what to put up so I will just put it all up.

This is just as I arrived with the sun setting in the background - castle esplanade is slowly filling up. The gates open at 8:15 and you have to be seated by 8:45 as the majority of the entrances also serve as stage entrances for the bands.

The castle with the flag flying high before the show began

Sun is setting further before it began - it's also starting to get very cool.  I don't think it ever gets hot in Edinburgh, even in August.

The guest of honor arriving, I think it was the deputy minister of defense for the UK that night.  The person who greets him is the lone piper who ends the night later.

The pipers and trumpets start the show on the top of the castle

And then the fun really begins with full bands marching out of every direction from the castle and the esplanade:

All of the bands together on the esplanade, including the her royal majesty's band and bands from all over the world.

Ode to Scotland, the pipers get a solo performance with violinists.

Quick clip of the pipers:

 

Who were joined by Scottish dancers:

 



The theme of the show was Our Home, Friends and Family.  Essentially, bands from around the world where the UK or Scotland had some influence were highlighted.  The first band was from Malta, where the UK had significant military bases in WWII.  Here they are carrying the Malta cross:

 

The sun is almost complete set at this point.  The lights on the castle are just about to begin:



After that, it was a Zulu dance group, who really got into the performance

Zulu short video clip:

 

And then it was the Shetland Fiddlers with a melody of traditional Scottish songs:

 



Great clip of the fiddler group:

 

 

The next group was from North India.  The lights on the castle are just starting:



Then it was the Tattoo Highland Dancers...lights on the castle were so cool:

Highland dancers:

Mid air dancers:

Next up was the Singapore Armed Forces band:

Followed by the Massed Pipes and Drums:

Scotland had a huge influence in New Zealand.  The next group was a mixture of aboriginal culture in NZ and Scottish influence, including the New Zealand Highland Dancers:

New Zealand dancers:

New Zealand has something called the Haka dance, which you usually see in Rugby.  I think it's the coolest sports tradition around:

They did something similar at the Tattoo (not exact), but definitely a highlight of the night:

Next up was Trinidad and Tobago, with the world's only marching steel drum band (defense forces).  It felt like stepping onto the streets of Rio for Carnival (I know, different country, but seemed similar).

Steel drum band clip:

The next three pictures are from the Royal Marines bands as the colors on the castle changed.

Then there was a series honoring the royal navy, which included dancers and the castle decked out like a ship:

After that, it was the closing with the full cast, which included a melody of hits through the years (a litany of good music), patriotic songs and fireworks.  The last bit was the lone piper.

Full cast:

Children's choir leading the melodies.  Does that not look like Harry Potter?!?!

Close up of full cast:

Texas representing during the song mash up - I think when Rock Around the Clock was playing

Thriller in the mash up:

Thriller clip:

Next three shots are fireworks over castle with traditional Scottish music playing in background.  Chills....

Then it was God Save the Queen time:

 

 

Then it was the tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Great War.  I've talked about the poppies before when I attended Remembrance day events 2 years ago.  Poppies give me chills still - such a poignant reminder.

 

Lone piper closing the show:

Whole cast exit below.  What an amazing show!  I'll have a second post for the following evening with new pictures and video.  I'm so glad I went twice.

Edinburgh Fringe - The moment I knew E was my favorite city

So day 1 of the Fringe for me skewed the results a bit, as I felt like I almost couldn't miss on the show selection.  I was really nailing it - great show after great show.

First up at noon was Ellie Taylor:

One of things I noticed was the female comedians I saw generally killed it.  Ellie was a free show in one of the very small rooms in a pub just off Nicholson Street (all of these shows made me learn almost all of the streets in Edinburgh - I can navigate it like the back of my hand now).  She was absolutely hilarious - from London, just starting out in comedy.  I would have paid probably $15 for a full show - I got to see her for free with 30 other people.  I hope she was full the rest of the festival, she deserves it.  The Fringe works on word of mouth - in most shows, restaurants and hotels it's customary to tell your neighbor what you have seen that is good.

I can't find any review articles done by newspapers on her show, so if you stumbled on this by #edfringe she was great.  She also deserves a later time slot, although it worked perfect for me because I don't think I would have seen her if it hadn't been so early.

The fringe is so busy that I honestly forgot to eat, because I was too busy rushing to my next show or figuring out what to see next.  I did manage to grab a chicken sandwich and eat on the run to Fall Girl, which was showing in the Gilded Ballroom.  The venues for these things were incredible - works of art themselves.  I paid for Fall Girl...

Fall Girl is more like a musical than a comedy show.  It follows one girl who is naïve to the extreme and 3 others rotating characters tricking her into different things.  It has heart and some funny moments.  I liked it - it wasn't better than Ellie (free) but still a good pick.

After that, I paid for a quick ticket to Ria Lina:

who did an awesome stand up show about her year of home schooling her kids in central London.  She made fun of Americans a little more than I liked, but her nerdy jokes, especially a full 5 minute joke using exclusively math terms was comic genius.  I'm glad I paid for her.  As good as Ellie but for different reasons.

I then thought it would be a good idea to broaden my horizons a bit and go for an a capella show:

 

So this group is from Oxford, which I have an affinity from having 2 friends who went to uni there (I'm an Oxford girl obviously). The group was good, but I'm not sure they were as good as Apotheosis from A&M.  It was different though - mixed group.  The girls could really sing...I honestly wish I could remember everything they sang, but the best I remember is Landslide and some Stevie Wonder.  I paid for this ticket - it was worth it.

I had time before that show to enjoy my new favorite drink, cider.  How did I not know about that in the states?  I just started on a kick of cider - Strongbow is available a lot of places in the UK, so I sipped a cider and planned out post Alternotives.  I'm sure drinking cider has some sort of connotations (slutty or what not) but long hair don't care.

I rushed out of that show to a free show on the Royal Mile:

 

Stuart Mitchell was a packed show just like Ellie Taylor.  He was hilarious - Scottish guy who lost the tips of his fingers on one hand when he was a boy to a sewer lid cover.  Don't ask - he tells.  It's very classic self effacing humor.  He did a compilation show earlier in the day with 15 minutes of his longer show and people followed him to see it.  I chuckled a lot.  Equally as good as Ellie and Ria.

 

After that, I went to see a show that I didn't initially intend on seeing, but then a woman near the venue talked me into it by saying how great it was.  Turns out it was the actress's mother; the actress was definitely a university student actress.  I paid for this show; I could have done without it.  It wasn't bad, but I just didn't get some of the jokes and the audience was super small (like maybe 8 people, including her parents and brother).

 

 

It's essentially a sketch comedy show with one girl playing all the characters about a university student actress who daylights as a waitress.  It was just ok - moral of the story is be skeptical when an actress's mom sells the show. 

 

I made the mistake then of not going for dinner. Big fail, because next it was off to the Tattoo, which deserves a separate post.



Pure bliss - Edinburgh Part 1

Bare with me, this is going to be a big part series of posts.  I have too many pictures, videos and stories to tell from this trip.

A friend, L, clued me in a few months ago about the Edinburgh Military Tattoo festival that happens in August.  To be honest, I had never heard of it, but when I watched some pieces on youtube, I thought it might be cool to see.  I also read in RS about something called the Fringe festival, which just happened to overlap, so I thought if nothing else, I can see that for one day and then maybe do a day trip out of Edinburgh on the other.  I booked the trip at the beginning of March and thought 2 full days was plenty since I've been there before (refer to the coldest weekend of my life here).  I was really looking forward to a warm few days in a beautiful city....little did I know that it would turn into my best solo trip to date (only topped by amazing weekend trips with friends (here), (here) and (here)).

I flew EasyJet late on Tuesday night, which of course was delayed.  Lately, just going to the airport means a delay for me.  I'm not sure how I got into that rut, but I'd like to get out very soon!

After landing, it was straight to the bus to a cab to the hotel.  I stayed at the Abbey Hotel on Royal Terrace, which was more like a bed and breakfast - small number of rooms, great full breakfast in the morning and excellent staff.  I could not have asked for a better experience.

In the morning after a fabulous real breakfast with eggs, bacon and toast (the Dutch are epically bad at breakfast), the hotel desk manager was nice enough to clue me in on how the Fringe works.  He gave me this book, with every page having at least 10 different shows to see:

Essentially, this is a massive catalogue of comedy, theatre, films, musicals, music acts, spoken word, and children's shows going on everyday through a three week period.  It's heaven.  I had flipped through an online pdf before the trip, taking snapshots of shows I thought sounded good, but until you get the physical copy in your hands, you just don't understand the sheer volume of things to see. My copy is well worn and loved.

So I sat for a bit flipping through and planning out the day.  I wish I had been a bit more organized before coming over for the shows, but what I learned later on was that just walking the streets nets you flyers for shows you would never think to see and are actually really good.  I also learned that there is a job called a flyerer.  Job description:  Must be hungry college student who is using the money on beer and seeing shows, in that order.

Anyways, I have a huge love for the arts, particularly if they make you laugh...there is no better medicine than a good chuckle, so I focused on stand up and sketch comedy.  I would say that I had about a 60% success rate with shows, which I think was pretty good given all the options.

I started off by heading to the Tattoo office to get my tickets for the evenings at the castle.  If you ever decide to go to the Tattoo, book way in advance and get seats in section 7.  Best view by far.  I went to the Fringe box office where a very patient volunteer helped me for 30 minutes buy tickets for some of the shows that had a price (did I mention that a lot of them were free?!?!).

What happens after that deserves a new post....

Pride Amsterdam

Two weekends ago, I had the best people watching weekend I've ever had!  Each year, Pride - Amsterdam is one of the biggest parades in the world, all held on the water.  The floats were amazing, the people watching was even better and add a Heineken to the mix and life is good.

I was totally soaked when it was over - got caught in a huge thunderstorm in the middle of Amsterdam.  Rain in the Netherlands is cold!

I got there a little late, but got very lucky when two people in front of me to watch left and I got a front row standing spot.  The crowd was at least 6 people deep in most spots along the canals, plus people in party boats along the edges.  The pictures below don't really do it justice - at least 4 of the 5 senses were buzzing all the time.


Colorful float recognizing the plight of people in the Middle East, Uganda, etc who can face the death penalty or jail:

These boats probably held 100 people each.  They were huge floats:

The US boat; Liberty and Justice for all:

 

 

This guy below did his own little boat, covered in flowers (very Dutch):



 

 

 

Post NL boat (postal service):

 



PwC, Shell, IBM amongst others boat:

 



 Police boat:

 

 

 

Sports boat (I feel like I'm naming spice girls here):



 

 

 Working at the carwash boat (not to be confused with the It's raining men boats):

 

 

Army boat:

 

 

 

Massive amounts of confetti in the air, on the streets and in the canals:

 

 



Ode to Holland

Following the epic weekend of running with the bulls, not long after that, MH17 happened.  Now that it's mid August, the world media (read: UK and US) have generally stopped talking about the tragedy, which to the Dutch was of epic proportions.  The news here is published almost exclusively in Dutch, so it's really hard to get a read on what was being reported, the mood, etc, but in general, stifled outrage and public morning was what I saw, which I respect.  A friend of mine from Texas, K, wrote it best, which I shared with some of my Dutch friends: (written on the Thursday that bodies finally started to arrive in the NL)

"For nearly a week we have watched the turning of events after the horrible Malaysia Airline MH17 tragedy.  We have been shown the wheat fields and sunflower fields of Ukraine, knowing that scattered in those fields was an airplane that was blown to bits in the sky.  And we have known that 295 people - moms, dads, kids, diplomats, doctors, students, pilots, flight attendants, grandparents - lost their lives that day, and their bodies were exposed, untended, and treated without respect.  And we all grieved, not just for the loss of lives, but for the negligent treatment given to those bodies who housed the lives.
 But today - today, at last - Holland showed us how it should have been done.  The military honor guards, the respectful integrity, and the love of the Dutch people came to the forefront and made us all human again.  As we watched the procession on our newscasts, we saw the Dutch people stand together along the roadsides, in the towns and cities; we saw entire highways absolutely still, except for the convey carrying the bodies.  We saw what we needed to see - and I thank you for caring, Good People.  Today I was Dutch, today most of the world was Dutch, because the people of the Netherlands showed the respect, integrity, and compassion we have all been longing to show." 

What happened to those people is unimaginable.  I flew that same route in March, opposite direction, on Malaysian Air, with probably just as much conflict going on then in eastern Ukraine.  Here by the grace of God go I.  It seems like everyone here knew someone who knew someone on the flight.  With only 16 million people and 200 dead, you are bound to know someone.  The pictures of children's toys and passports strewn in fields are heart wrenching.  And it felt like a nightmare you couldn't wake up from - it just kept getting worse.  Not only were these people shot out of the air, they were then looted, left to lie in the open and not properly taken care of.  Pure evil reigned.  Why we have stopped talking about this is a mystery to me - the public perception should continue to be one of outrage.  Sanctions are one thing; tangible action to prevent weapons of war from reaching untrained rebels is another.  It must stop in all parts of the world or no one will ever feel safe flying long haul again.

 

That weekend after the bodies started to come back, I spent it celebrating what it means to be Dutch (in my mind at least), which means bicycles, windmills and boats.  A friend invited me on a boat to see Leiden and out to the surrounding lakes.  Strangely enough, I'd never been to Leiden even though only 20 minutes from the Hague.  Highly recommend it.

 

Beautiful windmill and bicycles in town:

Centre of town, boats, canals and buildings:

 

 Out on the boat, with the other boats' masts towering over us:

Beautiful buildings in Leiden:

Dutch flags all over the water and sail boats on the lake:

Best sailboat shot:

Artsy windmill shot through the farms around the lake:

Of course, celebrating being Dutch means a tall boy Heineken.