Scotland the brave

We ventured up to Edinburgh this weekend. Last time we went to Edinburgh it was the middle of winter and it bucketed down with rain. This time it was summer and.... it bucketed down with rain. Seriously. Two of the days were lovely and sunny, but Saturday was rain like you had never seen before.

The reason for the trip was to head up for the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, that includes the comedy festival. Phuc was flying in beforehand and the three of us were going to fly up to Edinburgh together. Just as Phuc was getting her documents in order the night before she realised that she didn't have a flight booking for Edinburgh. We rang British Airways to see if she was on the flight. She wasn't. Fortunately that didn't hamper our plans and Phuc managed to secure a seat on the train to get up to Edinburgh instead.

We were fortunate to watch a little bit of the Olympics opening ceremony when we got there. I was so rapt to listen to the Scottish commentary of the ceremony. I LOVED the Aussie outfits - so good to see them ditch the green and gold for once! It made us very proud to see James Tomkins carrying the flag - what a good choice. Didn't realise that Australia was so bloody late in the Chinese alphabet though!!

Friday afternoon and evening was spent touring the town and watching all the street performers, who were excellent. Phuc watched some acrobats, one of whom she has decided will be her future husband (must have been something to do with him stripping down to his jocks at the end of the show). We had a traditional Scottish dinner of fish and chips and shared the Scottish classic - the deep fried Mars Bar. Yum.

We were asked by a lovely shopkeeper if we were in Edinburgh for the Military Tattoo. We said we weren't, though we would have liked to have gone (tickets sell out months before). She told us that if you line up at the box office on the morning of the show, you can buy cancelled tickets. We took her up on her suggestion the following morning and sure enough, we went to the Tattoo on Saturday night and had fantastic seats.

What an amazing show. It was absolutely fantastic. It featured marching bands and pipers from across the world. Even the 'Rats of Tobruk' were featured (which got a little 'woo!' from me). The best performers would have to be the Norwegians, though it frightened the crap out of me when their guns went off. The show even had a protestor run like buggery across the stage and everyone cheered when he was rugby tackled to the ground (not before a security guard spectactularly landed on his bum trying to chase the guy as the ground was so slippery).

To get into the Tattoo, we had to line up in the longest queue I had ever seen in my life. On the way to the queue, the heavens opened. We ended up buying throwaway ponchos as our raincoats and umbrellas weren't doing the trick. We then walked about a kilometre to the end of the queue and waited in the rain. As soon as we got into the (open air) stadium, which is in front of the castle, the rain stopped and held off for the entire show.

After the show we met up with Phuc as we were about to see our one and only comedy show. The show started at midnight, so we all had a nanna nap in the afternoon to gear ourselves up for it. We were seeing Adam Hills and Jason Byrne, who were performing together. We got to the gig pretty early and we climbed the flight of stairs into the venue. Ian and Phuc were walking ahead and as I got to the top of the stairs, I realised Adam Hills was right behind me. I said 'Hi Adam!' and he said hi (it's not like I am a complete nutter, I have met him before, so it was totally legitimate for me to say hello, he he).

Ian and Phuc hadn't heard me, but realised I was talking to someone and asked me who it was. Neither of them recognised him as he was very unshaven. I would have recognised him anywhere.

The show was absolutely fantastic. I would have said the audience was made up of an equal measure of Irish (supporting Jason), Aussies, Scots and Brits. Jason did a fantastic impersonation of an English person, where he bent over and talked out of his bumhole. Absolute gold. Though most of Jason's impressions were of Aussies, which nearly had us in tears it was so funny. Adam, as always, was brilliant (as if you are going to get an impartial review on here!). Seriously though, do yourselves a favour and see Jason Byrne next time he is in town. Very, very, very funny guy.

After the show it was a nightmare trying to get a taxi, so we didn't get back to the hotel until 3am and we were shattered. Sunday was spent very low key as we were extremely tired. Pottering about in the sunshine was pretty much the height of our activity as we farewelled Scotland. Phuc then had to head off as she was catching a plane to Greece. As our flight was domestic, we headed out a bit later, only to catch up with her at the airport again and spend the last hour or so together.

We realised it will be another 2 months before we see each other again, because as luck will have it, Phuc is in Spain the same time we are, so will be able to catch up with us there for my birthday.