Interlude: The Madness Has Begun

I'm about two weeks behind with the blog, and may get further behind since we're now in a flat in Edinburgh until August 13th. After putting Le Duc in storage, we arrived in the Festival City August 2nd, just as the Festival and Fringe were getting underway. It's our 3rd Edinburgh Festival and Fringe, but this time will be best, since we're living 15 minutes' walk from the Royal Mile--not camping out in the hustings--and will be here for far longer than than our previous 3-4 day visits. We've already been to two musical comedies, one on Brexit (!)(we'll see Trump: The Musical Thursday night), and Legally Blonde today. And the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Monday night. Then we'll get really busy. The whole affair is the world's largest conglomeration of festivals. The Fringe guide alone is about 450 pages, divided among Cabaret and variety, Children's shows, Comedy, Dance, Events, Exhibitions, Music, Musicals and opera, Spoken word, and Theatre; plus all the craziness that goes on with the hundreds of street performers. There are as many as 20 acts listed per page in the guide, many running the entirety of the month-long Fringe. Do the math and you'll see that there is a dizzying array of things to choose from, much, if not most of it, controversial, avant-garde, or experimental. And then there are the many Edinburgh Festival festivals. The book festival, largest and longest such in the world, runs August 10th-26th, and includes hundreds of writers and scholars. Its guide runs a mere 150 pages. Just walking among the excited masses in Old Edinburgh is electrifying enough. About three million visitors are expected this month. Anyhow, if the blog is delayed or seems a bit giddy, you'll know why!

Looking in the direction of Holyrood Palace, Saturday afternoon