Embra

This, I have it on the authority of Iain Banks, is the proper way to pronounce Edinburgh. 9 years later, we finally made good on our promise to return to the festival, this time with Tom and Tristan, Kim and Maya, and Ronn and Brendan joining us. We loved it every bit as much the second time, and have vowed to return sooner rather than later.

The Edinburgh Arts Festival began in 1947 as a way for the UK to show that it had recovered as a cultural center after the war. Several acts did not make it into the official festival program that first year but undeterred, they performed anyway, forming the first Fringe Festival. The official festival is still going strong, but the Fringe, oh, the Fringe has gone absolutely mad! According to the Fringe website, "Fringe 2008 features 31,320 performances of 2,088 shows in 247 venues." Dang, that's a whole lotta theater and music.



Here are a few of the characters we encountered just wandering around the top half of the Royal Mile.

An opera singer plies her trade


A faun. I almost gave him money, but when a little boy dropped a coin in his hat just before me, the faun sprang to life and chased the boy around!


As you can see, taking pictures without a donation is frowned upon:


I took a picture of these guys in the phone booth:

When they spotted me, one of them chased me down!


Here are some of the members of the cast of the musical that we saw (and I liked!!), The Butler Did It?!


These folks were drumming up publicity for their production of The Graduate. The gal in the passenger seat is in full wedding attire.


Crazy fiddlers

Hawking a show called Aluminum