Monday, 30th
Today was going to be a long and exciting day. Today we were going to Edinburgh and incidentally the Fringe was also on. Fringe is the worlds biggest arts festival held since 1947. It takes place during 3 weeks in august, every year. The events range from performing arts, drama, music, dance etc. The thought of witnessing live performances spread across the nook and corners of the city seemed something magical.
After a simple breakfast of toast and tea, David dropped us to the bus stop at Angus and offered us to pick up, late at night much against our protests that we will manage on our own, the way home.
As G and I waited for the bus, we stuffed our day packs with wafers for the journey. The bus was quite full and we started for our destination. The two hours to reach Edinburgh, we crossed the new bridge over the river Tay. The earlier bridge was blown away, with a train on route, sometime in the 16th century. The not so little stumps from the broken bridge still protrude from the river. It looks desolate and eerie.
The weather was awesome. Nice warm sunshine with gentle breeze greeted us at Edinburgh. As G had already suspected, the place was bursting at its seams with people. From the information booths to the city center, there were people and more people in colorful dresses. We managed to find out some information about the city from the information booth and started on our walk towards the Edinburgh castle. Most crowd we realised were moving towards the castle. This castle rises about 300 feet above the city and is build on volcanic rock as its base. As we climbed the stairs and the top of the castle, a panoramic view of the city greeted us. We were also witness to an event which has been in practice since 1684. At exactly 1 o clock a canon goes of. The idea then was to sound of ships in the distance, if they lost their way in fog. The practice has continued ever since.
In the courtyard of the castle, there was a museum, which housed the crowns, sceptre and the swords. As we were observing the display, suddenly a gentleman dressed up as Sir Walter Scott appeared amongst the crowd and started giving a small introduction about himself and the life during the times he grew up in. This was the most charming thing that I had witnessed and we wondered how exciting it would be if a history would come alive at Taj Mahal, or the Red Fort back home. A person dressed up as Jahangir giving a small interactive talk.
Happy with the thrills, we walked out of the castle and into the streets lined with jugglers, revelers, comedians, artists, musicians, people dressed up giant cigarettes and condoms (creating awareness about AIDS and ill effects of smoking). wow it was a one big festival!!! There was this magician who tied himself up with a lock and key, planning to escape. We stopped to see the fun, but then we dragged our feet ahead as so much fun awaited us. Suddenly a group of casually dressed people (who we assumed were tourists), just spread out and started a theater on the streets, right there. Amazing. As we crossed the street, we realised a group of percussionists were using everyday objects and making melodies. A tall guy was using a pair of sticks on the lamp post, another fellow was on the bonnet of the car, ha ha there was on the waste bin.
So hooked we were, and there was so much to do, we started behaving like little school children and seriously thought of staying back for the night. The next thing we wanted to do was the witch tour. Which was a rip off, but I think it would have been fun if there were a few more people in the tour. No wonder they all stayed away.
The girl from Australia, was studying in the local university and had taken up this job of a guide for the witch tour. She tried her best to make the right sounds and spook us but then.. The whiskey at the end of the tour did help a bit. She claimed that Edinburgh had the concept of multistory buildings long long ago. The rich stayed at the lower floor and the poor went up the stairs. These buildings made of wood and other materials, used to sway when came a storm. And when the city fell and was seized by plague, the rich made way out of the city through a network of underground tunnels, after which the poor hid themselves in this tunnels. Because of lack of space, people started piling on top of each other and eventually death became their friend. We were in one such dark, damp room below the ground when she was telling us the stories. It was eerie, ok! She claimed of ghosts of cobblers and little girls and shadows of cats, but nothing we saw. She also led us to a place where we could hear the water but couldn't see because it was so dark like a moonless night. She spoke of Wicca and rituals. It was broad daylight and warm outside but the belly were we were was charcoal black. The whiskey did help, like I mentioned.
All this had made us hungry, and we walked towards the city center. We crossed didgeridoo players, and a another group of five. Three men on bagpipes playing the most awesome music and two girls in gypsy dresses dancing and playing with a set of lovely instruments, names of which I don't know. We had a nice hot lunch of jacket potatoes, egg and mayo sandwich and a bacon roll.
We strolled towards the observatory, where stood a half built Greek Pantheon kind of structure on Calton hill. After Napoleons defeat in waterloo, this structure took shape in 1816. But the funds quickly dried up and the monument which was supposed to house the parliament was left unfinished. This now is dubbed as "shame of Edinburgh"
It was quiet at the top of hill and it was so unbelievable that the festivities that we were part of was only a few minutes away. Quiet that you could hear the sound of silence. The slopes were covered with soft green grass, we sat there for a while, climbed up the structure, dangled our feet and just stared at the wide blue skies and wondered. There was also the original clock tower in the vicinity. The one that was used before the canon. We brushed our backs and walked down. While G took the steps, I ran down the hill and letting the view of the city from the hill, go past in a blur. After the run I sat for a while to catch up on my breath. Old bones.
We walked past the parliament, Jacobs ladder (a series of steps to the top of the Calton hill) and the graveyard and reached the city center. The bagpipes were still playing, and now the fire eaters and jugglers took their positions against the setting dusk.
G was feeling sick, (we blamed the food) and took the bus to Perth. We messgaed David of our departure and scheduled arrival at Angus. We were 5 minutes earlier than the scheduled time and David had not arrived yet. Punctuality rules, and in 5 minutes David came with a worried look because of G's condition.
We drove back in silence and in anticipation because the next day we were to leave for London in the evening. We drove through deserted roads and under a brilliantly star lit sky. David and We exchanged information about the festival and Edinburgh.
Ann was waiting for us, worried. G was feeling slightly better, but after taking medicines, we quickly went to sleep.
Today was going to be a long and exciting day. Today we were going to Edinburgh and incidentally the Fringe was also on. Fringe is the worlds biggest arts festival held since 1947. It takes place during 3 weeks in august, every year. The events range from performing arts, drama, music, dance etc. The thought of witnessing live performances spread across the nook and corners of the city seemed something magical.
After a simple breakfast of toast and tea, David dropped us to the bus stop at Angus and offered us to pick up, late at night much against our protests that we will manage on our own, the way home.
As G and I waited for the bus, we stuffed our day packs with wafers for the journey. The bus was quite full and we started for our destination. The two hours to reach Edinburgh, we crossed the new bridge over the river Tay. The earlier bridge was blown away, with a train on route, sometime in the 16th century. The not so little stumps from the broken bridge still protrude from the river. It looks desolate and eerie.
The weather was awesome. Nice warm sunshine with gentle breeze greeted us at Edinburgh. As G had already suspected, the place was bursting at its seams with people. From the information booths to the city center, there were people and more people in colorful dresses. We managed to find out some information about the city from the information booth and started on our walk towards the Edinburgh castle. Most crowd we realised were moving towards the castle. This castle rises about 300 feet above the city and is build on volcanic rock as its base. As we climbed the stairs and the top of the castle, a panoramic view of the city greeted us. We were also witness to an event which has been in practice since 1684. At exactly 1 o clock a canon goes of. The idea then was to sound of ships in the distance, if they lost their way in fog. The practice has continued ever since.
In the courtyard of the castle, there was a museum, which housed the crowns, sceptre and the swords. As we were observing the display, suddenly a gentleman dressed up as Sir Walter Scott appeared amongst the crowd and started giving a small introduction about himself and the life during the times he grew up in. This was the most charming thing that I had witnessed and we wondered how exciting it would be if a history would come alive at Taj Mahal, or the Red Fort back home. A person dressed up as Jahangir giving a small interactive talk.
Happy with the thrills, we walked out of the castle and into the streets lined with jugglers, revelers, comedians, artists, musicians, people dressed up giant cigarettes and condoms (creating awareness about AIDS and ill effects of smoking). wow it was a one big festival!!! There was this magician who tied himself up with a lock and key, planning to escape. We stopped to see the fun, but then we dragged our feet ahead as so much fun awaited us. Suddenly a group of casually dressed people (who we assumed were tourists), just spread out and started a theater on the streets, right there. Amazing. As we crossed the street, we realised a group of percussionists were using everyday objects and making melodies. A tall guy was using a pair of sticks on the lamp post, another fellow was on the bonnet of the car, ha ha there was on the waste bin.
So hooked we were, and there was so much to do, we started behaving like little school children and seriously thought of staying back for the night. The next thing we wanted to do was the witch tour. Which was a rip off, but I think it would have been fun if there were a few more people in the tour. No wonder they all stayed away.
The girl from Australia, was studying in the local university and had taken up this job of a guide for the witch tour. She tried her best to make the right sounds and spook us but then.. The whiskey at the end of the tour did help a bit. She claimed that Edinburgh had the concept of multistory buildings long long ago. The rich stayed at the lower floor and the poor went up the stairs. These buildings made of wood and other materials, used to sway when came a storm. And when the city fell and was seized by plague, the rich made way out of the city through a network of underground tunnels, after which the poor hid themselves in this tunnels. Because of lack of space, people started piling on top of each other and eventually death became their friend. We were in one such dark, damp room below the ground when she was telling us the stories. It was eerie, ok! She claimed of ghosts of cobblers and little girls and shadows of cats, but nothing we saw. She also led us to a place where we could hear the water but couldn't see because it was so dark like a moonless night. She spoke of Wicca and rituals. It was broad daylight and warm outside but the belly were we were was charcoal black. The whiskey did help, like I mentioned.
All this had made us hungry, and we walked towards the city center. We crossed didgeridoo players, and a another group of five. Three men on bagpipes playing the most awesome music and two girls in gypsy dresses dancing and playing with a set of lovely instruments, names of which I don't know. We had a nice hot lunch of jacket potatoes, egg and mayo sandwich and a bacon roll.
We strolled towards the observatory, where stood a half built Greek Pantheon kind of structure on Calton hill. After Napoleons defeat in waterloo, this structure took shape in 1816. But the funds quickly dried up and the monument which was supposed to house the parliament was left unfinished. This now is dubbed as "shame of Edinburgh"
It was quiet at the top of hill and it was so unbelievable that the festivities that we were part of was only a few minutes away. Quiet that you could hear the sound of silence. The slopes were covered with soft green grass, we sat there for a while, climbed up the structure, dangled our feet and just stared at the wide blue skies and wondered. There was also the original clock tower in the vicinity. The one that was used before the canon. We brushed our backs and walked down. While G took the steps, I ran down the hill and letting the view of the city from the hill, go past in a blur. After the run I sat for a while to catch up on my breath. Old bones.
We walked past the parliament, Jacobs ladder (a series of steps to the top of the Calton hill) and the graveyard and reached the city center. The bagpipes were still playing, and now the fire eaters and jugglers took their positions against the setting dusk.
G was feeling sick, (we blamed the food) and took the bus to Perth. We messgaed David of our departure and scheduled arrival at Angus. We were 5 minutes earlier than the scheduled time and David had not arrived yet. Punctuality rules, and in 5 minutes David came with a worried look because of G's condition.
We drove back in silence and in anticipation because the next day we were to leave for London in the evening. We drove through deserted roads and under a brilliantly star lit sky. David and We exchanged information about the festival and Edinburgh.
Ann was waiting for us, worried. G was feeling slightly better, but after taking medicines, we quickly went to sleep.
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