Day 11 Edinburgh, Scotland & Tatoo

First thing today, I tried again to get tix to the Tatoo. I waited in line before it opened and read for almost an hour, but no tix. The Tatoo brings together drum & bugle corps and bagpipe bands not only from Scotland, but all over the world. It's performed in front of Edinburgh Castle, and it's the biggest show in Scotland. They were sold out online for months. I went back twice more before finally snagging a returned seat an hour before the show!

Drizzling rain dampened the city as I walked everywhere. It's not really that cold because there's little wind.
I started at Edinburgh Castle up on the rock.

There was a short tour, and the guide was dressed in a kilt.

He asked, "How do you like our Scottish summers?" I would not call this summer, but it is

August!

I enjoyed my tour of Edinburgh Castle. I saw their crown jewels and prisoner of war jails and the castle dog cemetary for the soldier's dogs. Twenty are buried there. I saw the room where Mary Queen of Scots had her baby. He later became James VI of Scotland at the age of 2 and 35 years later also James I of England, under a united Britain.

Guess what! After I finished writing to you yesterday from a computer in this little pub, I noticed all these newspaper articles on the wall about J. K. Rowling. She's the author who wrote the Harry Potter books. This is one of the 2 main coffeshops where she'd sit and write; single mom with a baby in the pram, escaping from the cold in her flat and nursing one coffee for the whole afternoon. Now there's a little line of print on the windwo that says "Birthplace of Harry Potter." I thought it was pretty cool. She actually finished the last novel in the most expensive hotel in town.

The Fringe Festival goes on at the same time as the Tatoo. There are hundreds of street performers and shows to see all over the city. Lots of it is raucous good fun.

I also visited Greyfriars, where the little black Scottish terrier, Greyfriars Bobby, sat on his masters' grave every day for years. The town council (?) kind of adopted him. He only left every day to get fed every day at 1:00 when the bell went off. (Town timepiece.)

After the castle this morning, I kind of browsed my way down the Royal Mile. My goal was Holyrood Palace at the bottom of the hill. I barely made it before they cut off admissions at 4:30. It's an old castle where today's queeen comes for a week every year and holds a huge garden party with 8000 visitors.

The best part is out back, in the gardens around a ruined Abbey. It was destroyed when Scotland went Protestant, hundreds of years ago.

I stopped into all kinds of interesting places. One was an old city mansion, now a memorial to writers Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. It had a cool library/balcony looking down into the main room. It also had red walls. I liked it. I've noticed quite a few red walls in Scotland. I guess it hel[ps to combat the dreary gray weather.
Another place I visited was the (supposed) home of Protestant preacher John Knox. Knox was a big enemy of colorful and Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary was really quite a character. Scotland had gone Protestant, and Knox and many other Scots were affronted by her fancy French ways (trying to turn Scotland into Versailles) besides her numerous affairs. She actually fled to England to get protection from her cousin Elizabeth, but alas, she was imprisoned for the last 19 years of her life. She became queen of Scotland at the age of 5 days, and was shipped off to France to be raised in the French court by her mother's family. At 15 she married the Dauphin of France. Around here they say that makes her the queen of France. Her French prince died about 2 years later, so she came home to Scotland a widow at the age of 18. She married another royal, but he killed her private secretary (male) out of jealousy just before she bore a son. James was taken from her by those wanting power. There were those who thought she should also be queen of England, so after 19 years Elizabeth had her executed to solve the problem permanently.