A benefit to going to Scotland when I did is that I got to be there during the Fringe festival. (I’m probably the only person in the country who went to Fringe by accident.) On the downside, I couldn’t stay anywhere near Edinburgh. I ended up in Kirkcaldy, an hour out of Edinburgh by train and bus. Oh well. It was a lovely ride, both from London to Edinburgh and from Edinburgh to God-Knows-Where. Turns out, if you have a validated Eurail pass, you can just jump on. 🙂
My dear friend Arlene Patterson and her daughter Fiona were in Edinburgh playing fiddle for the Edinburgh Tattoo. I got to have lunch with Arlene – it’s so great to catch up with friends on the other side of the world!
I was so fortunate to be able to have a lesson in person from my Skype teacher, Gregor Borland, who lives in Edinburgh. We went through the air I played for the US National Scottish Fiddle Championships, and as you can see, it was a valuable lesson. Check out the video!
Wandering around after my lesson with my fiddle on my back, I was approached by an elderly woman who insisted I come play with one of the buskers who was there for the Fringe. We played a little bit, and then my fiddle was borrowed by a young lad for a tune – it was his 21st birthday, how could I say no?
Finally, up to the Royal Mile! First stop, Whiskey Experience. Turns out the tour should be booked ahead of time (which is why I missed out on it on my last-minute adventure), but you can stagger up to the tasting table with no notice whatsoever.
I also loved the city’s support of street performing. It was so cool to see performers of all types, all over the place!
Click here for a video of these cool violinists!
All of the hubbub surrounding the Fringe made it easy to find something to do that evening, if the sheer number of choices was a bit overwhelming. I finally settled on an hour-long one-man show by someone who did a stellar impersonation of Trump -in stockings and high heels, of course (not pictured).
The show could have been a spectacular 30-minute show, or even a great 45-minute show, but because it was an hour (and lagged significantly near the end), we’ll leave it as just having been “pretty good.” Spoiler: it ends with Trump pushing “the button” in front of a homemade fangirl poster of Kim Jon-un.
It was all very weird. Still, I’m glad I went, and there was plenty of time left to back to Kirkcaldy that evening.
