Edinburgh Festival (14-15 August)
Aug. 19th, 2010 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camrogers(NOTE: Tried posting this last night. Semagic freaked and the formatting was all over the place. So the text was written last night my time. Around 10:30pm. Mentioned as much for my own future reference as your current one.)
So I got a 10am train. Next trip I'm definitely doing this more often. It's a great way to see a country. Got a 'quiet carriage', nestled in and alternated between watching the countryside roll by and watching eps of Generation Kill. Christ, windows just rattled from low-flying military jet.
So I got off at Waverley station, which is smack in the middle of Edin. Walked out into cool, crisp sunlight. What I said before about feeling like you're in a model city really hit home. I'm not sure I can do justice to that first experience of realising the kind of place you've just emerged into.
Anyway, Sevare and Bejii met me and took me for pints while we waited for Nattie's train to get in. Tried some of the local stuff. It was pretty good. Then when they went to meet her I went and got a weekly bus ticket (which I've never had to use), and tried to sort out my cash shortage at Lloyds. No luck. We met up on the street. Nattie's cool. I think the four of us made good company. Meeting up with them on Friday to go and see 'The Incident'. It sold out at the Melbourne Fest, Nattie knows the guys doing it, so we signed on.
Anyway, we wound up in a pub, got a pint, and then went walking.
This theatre group had traveled in from London. heir production was based on the story of one of the kids. The white guy is their director. He knew the kid for a few years. Kid's got talent as a manga artist. Three years into his friendship he learned the kid had been sold into domestic slavery in London. Raised for 12 years then booted out at 18 with nothing. So the troupe was in Edinburgh telling the story onstage.
Eventually we got back to Sev's and Benjii's. This is the view from their kitchen window.
That's Edin Castle, centre background. Good view for the fireworks later that night.
View of the castle from between two buildings in the Grassmarket area where I'm staying.
But this is what I see when I leave here, turn right and walk one block. This is right on the corner of the actual Grassmarket/old gallows area. The sight never ceases to give me pause. pause. It's almost as if a city without a fortress just isn't trying, you know?
This is the other end of the Grassmarket looking left. Notice the umbrellas above roof height? That's another street. It's otherworldly, the layout of this place, at night. Jenny Kermode tells me it's been said the city could be designed by MC Escher. Not too much of a stretch sometimes. Especially if you've ever been in a rush and discovered the shortcomings of a map that only deals in two dimensions.
Wish to God I had time to get to Mary King's Close. Unfortunately some ghost tour outfit has rights to charge people admission, and I don't have time to do the whole dance with getting it organised and going.
One of the buildings on the Cowgate stretch.
Arthur's Seat. This'd be the day after I arrived and we were headed to the Foodie Fest. S&B put me up at their place. The air mattress was comfy for an hour, and then it deflated. Just me and the floorboards. Nonetheless slept like a drunk log. Simultaneously there's the Comedy Fest, Fringe Fest, Foodie Fest, Book Fest and three other Fests which escape me. I'm surprised the locals haven't completely lost their shit.
Edinburgh, amidst all the olde worlde stuff, is a building that looks like a Footscray TAFE... or possibly apartments for yuppies who don't know better. It looks like an art student panicked. It looks like a mistake. It is the Scottish Parliament.
Balsamic vinegar tasting.
Smoked fish. Haddock, I'm guessing.
I leave this as an exercise for the reader.
Taking a breather. It was pretty hot and the UV was sharp. Sev, Natty.
Walking back. I wound up grabbing a bottle of St. Germain elderberry liqueur. I knew it was a mistake tasting it. But wow. Really good. During the day we laughed a lot, ate venison burgers, and basically soaked it up.
Where the Queen stays when she's in the area.
Parliament. Not an IKEA.
Another entrance to the Queen's Edinburgh digs.
Kids on the military graveyard wall across from Parliament.
Free tickets to Japanese Non-Verbal Comedy. I had to miss it, but apparently it was great. I can hear the military band in the castle from here. All brass and the occasionaly explosion and the roar of the crowd. That Tattoo is another thing that's on right now, every night of the week.
Pathos! Not just the least popular of the Musketeers!
The nice thing about the G11 is that you can use it from almost any angle or position, which means you can often get shots of people without them becoming aware that you're doing it. Makes for some decent photos sometimes. Kinda like this one. My faves are still probably the African-American woman at Coney Island.
Had time to burn before a show so wandered down George Street toward various towers and monuments. Discovered the cemetary was still open, so I wandered in. The place is a shambles, but it was a great vantage point to get a shot of the Edinburgh skyline at dusk.
Photos from the first two days of my visit to Edinburgh for the 2010 comedy festival.
Notetaking has suffered I'm afraid. The 2-inch buffer's back and it took me two days to realise. Doesnt stop me being utterly floored by the beauty of this town, though. If someone offered me a ticket to anywhere in the world it'd be a flip between Iceland and Edin and I think Edin might win.
Anyway, let's see what I can recreate from a photographic aide de memoire.
So I got a 10am train. Next trip I'm definitely doing this more often. It's a great way to see a country. Got a 'quiet carriage', nestled in and alternated between watching the countryside roll by and watching eps of Generation Kill. Christ, windows just rattled from low-flying military jet.
So I got off at Waverley station, which is smack in the middle of Edin. Walked out into cool, crisp sunlight. What I said before about feeling like you're in a model city really hit home. I'm not sure I can do justice to that first experience of realising the kind of place you've just emerged into.
Anyway, Sevare and Bejii met me and took me for pints while we waited for Nattie's train to get in. Tried some of the local stuff. It was pretty good. Then when they went to meet her I went and got a weekly bus ticket (which I've never had to use), and tried to sort out my cash shortage at Lloyds. No luck. We met up on the street. Nattie's cool. I think the four of us made good company. Meeting up with them on Friday to go and see 'The Incident'. It sold out at the Melbourne Fest, Nattie knows the guys doing it, so we signed on.
Anyway, we wound up in a pub, got a pint, and then went walking.
This theatre group had traveled in from London. heir production was based on the story of one of the kids. The white guy is their director. He knew the kid for a few years. Kid's got talent as a manga artist. Three years into his friendship he learned the kid had been sold into domestic slavery in London. Raised for 12 years then booted out at 18 with nothing. So the troupe was in Edinburgh telling the story onstage.
Eventually we got back to Sev's and Benjii's. This is the view from their kitchen window.
That's Edin Castle, centre background. Good view for the fireworks later that night.
View of the castle from between two buildings in the Grassmarket area where I'm staying.
But this is what I see when I leave here, turn right and walk one block. This is right on the corner of the actual Grassmarket/old gallows area. The sight never ceases to give me pause. pause. It's almost as if a city without a fortress just isn't trying, you know?
This is the other end of the Grassmarket looking left. Notice the umbrellas above roof height? That's another street. It's otherworldly, the layout of this place, at night. Jenny Kermode tells me it's been said the city could be designed by MC Escher. Not too much of a stretch sometimes. Especially if you've ever been in a rush and discovered the shortcomings of a map that only deals in two dimensions.
Wish to God I had time to get to Mary King's Close. Unfortunately some ghost tour outfit has rights to charge people admission, and I don't have time to do the whole dance with getting it organised and going.
One of the buildings on the Cowgate stretch.
Arthur's Seat. This'd be the day after I arrived and we were headed to the Foodie Fest. S&B put me up at their place. The air mattress was comfy for an hour, and then it deflated. Just me and the floorboards. Nonetheless slept like a drunk log. Simultaneously there's the Comedy Fest, Fringe Fest, Foodie Fest, Book Fest and three other Fests which escape me. I'm surprised the locals haven't completely lost their shit.
Edinburgh, amidst all the olde worlde stuff, is a building that looks like a Footscray TAFE... or possibly apartments for yuppies who don't know better. It looks like an art student panicked. It looks like a mistake. It is the Scottish Parliament.
Balsamic vinegar tasting.
Smoked fish. Haddock, I'm guessing.
I leave this as an exercise for the reader.
Taking a breather. It was pretty hot and the UV was sharp. Sev, Natty.
Walking back. I wound up grabbing a bottle of St. Germain elderberry liqueur. I knew it was a mistake tasting it. But wow. Really good. During the day we laughed a lot, ate venison burgers, and basically soaked it up.
Where the Queen stays when she's in the area.
Parliament. Not an IKEA.
Another entrance to the Queen's Edinburgh digs.
Kids on the military graveyard wall across from Parliament.
Free tickets to Japanese Non-Verbal Comedy. I had to miss it, but apparently it was great. I can hear the military band in the castle from here. All brass and the occasionaly explosion and the roar of the crowd. That Tattoo is another thing that's on right now, every night of the week.
Pathos! Not just the least popular of the Musketeers!
The nice thing about the G11 is that you can use it from almost any angle or position, which means you can often get shots of people without them becoming aware that you're doing it. Makes for some decent photos sometimes. Kinda like this one. My faves are still probably the African-American woman at Coney Island.
Had time to burn before a show so wandered down George Street toward various towers and monuments. Discovered the cemetary was still open, so I wandered in. The place is a shambles, but it was a great vantage point to get a shot of the Edinburgh skyline at dusk.
