Edinburgh Military Tattoo, 2009

One of the tougher tickets for the Edinburgh Festival is the grand finale of the Military Tattoo. The tattoo, in case you didn't know, is a military band thing. In Scotland, that means drum and bagpipe marching bands, massed. The Tattoo, which supports veterans and their families, has been a favorite since 1947. Somehow, Vicki got tickets, months ago, and Saturday night we lined up with thousands of others to file into the stadium--actually, the grounds of the ancient castle--to see one of the more stirring events you can see anywhere. It goes on for a couple hours. Fortunately, the Edinburgh buses run all night, so we were back to Mortonhall by 3AM.

Backdrop of Tattoo, Edinburgh Castle

Massed bagpipe bands

There were other bands, this one from Tonga

And this one from Xian, China. I wondered how many Scots and others at the 
Tattoo knew of Xian, China's 4th largest city, with a population about twice 
that of Scotland

The drum corps from Basel nearly stole the show

More massed bands at the end

Finale: the Lone Piper on the Battlements

And then, of course, the Fireworks