Carolyn's Various Travels: Day 5 - Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh

We got packed up and headed to Kings Cross station to catch our train to Edinburgh. No matter how much I travel by train, it still leaves me a little unsettled. I like to get places early to be able to scope things out and make sure I'm in the right place, etc. but it is pointless to arrive more than about 15 mins before your scheduled departure because they won't post which track your train is boarding from. I know this but we still arrived a bit early and stood impatiently staring at the departure board for a while before our track was finally posted (and a huge crowd of people around us all surged toward that track - I guess most were headed to Edinburgh too). The train was quite full with a few people sitting on luggage in the entry doors. I was glad we had a reservation. The train was also weirdly quiet for having so many people on board. Charlene and I didn't end up talking to each other much because it felt like the others at the table with us were part of our conversation even though they discreetly pretended not to be listening.

After we got settled our our AirBnb, we headed down the street to a local restaurant for dinner. I was eager for some haggis, neeps and tatties (mashed turnips and potatos). It was delicious! We walked to the old town just as the sun was setting - always a beautiful sight!

St. Giles in the distance

Kings Cross Station in London

Our AirBnb was about 6 blocks from the train station in the New Town. It was an 'old fashioned' AirBnb with the owner in residence. She was an polite and engaging woman who let out 2 rooms regularly. We enjoyed visiting with her several times during our visit. The decor ran toward super-floral with every surface covered with either flowers or framed photos. Not my cup of tea, but very comfortable and homey. I asked her about her experiences as a host with people in her home (since we have considered doing this in the future). She had had very positive experiences and I found that encouraging.

The event that drew us to Edinburgh was the Royal Military Tattoo. Charlene had seen it before, but it was a first for me. It was amazing! 90 minutes of marching bands, Scottish dancers, bagpipes and others. I was astounded at how many people were crammed into the seats (and it was terrifying to see how far the upper sets extended over the cliff).

We had very close seats (row C) in a middle section, although I'm not sure there was a bad seat in the whole space. The VIP seating was a the end facing the castle, but I was happy with my seat. There was not a lot of pomp beforehand, but a British commander in NATO was recognized, which was kind of cool. Given the tensions within NATO with the US right now, I wasn't sure what to expect with that recognition.

The show started at 9:30 just as the sun was setting. The castle would be used as a projection screen for some nice lighting effects. The projectors were at the far end of the courtyard and must have been extremely powerful.

One of the groups that performed was the Ukranian naval band. The yellow and blue corresponded.

There were several groups from the US, including a fife and drum corps.

Here the castle was a moon and cloud-scape

There were not many women in the performing groups, but this one caught my eye. Before the show started, there were some performers from each group wandering around and posing for pictures with people.

Such amazing costumes. I loved the different tartans of the different Scottish groups.

Brass band (British)

The Grand Marshall (?) of the Ukrainian band. It was hard to think about the fact that their country is at war and they are performing for us. It was really hard to even recognize that the war is happening as we go about our daily (and vacationing) lives. I really felt for them and was so glad they were invited to perform (and able to attend).

Ukrainian dancers

I had noticed these uniforms before the show started, but was surprised to find they were Polish!

You can see the three long horns (alpine horns?) in this picture. Notes are made totally by embourchure, with no valves or anything. They had a totally mellow sound that was neat.