One of the reasons why I came to the UK so far in advance, a whole month before school started, is because I wanted to catch the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The atmosphere in Edinburgh during the Fringe is incredible!!! There's so much to see - street theatre performances, music buskers, moving-statue-painted-people, and pretty much every theatre is showing something or putting on some sort of show.
Of course, throwing in a few streetside shops and fleas along the way never hurt anyone :)
The prices for shows during the Fringe are incredibly affordable - I paid an average of £9 a ticket to watch Sondheim's Company, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Montmorency, and a theatre adaptation of 1984. That's about SGD20 a ticket for fabulous and quality productions, compared against about SGD60 for shows back home! It was a complete spam-shows-while-you-can situation haha.
The theatre adaptation of 1984 was incredible. So much tension in the theatre, extremely powerful. FIVE STARS just for having such heartfelt acting.
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I have to say though, one show I was less than impressed with was Montmorency. To be fair, I hadn't done any research on this show - I just got handed a flyer while walking down the Royal Mile and it seemed interesting so I decided to check it out. I guess I should've known better when the theatre was less than 1/3 full when I walked into it... :x Still though it's good that I got to see both the good and bad sides of the Fringe! Always good to have a comparison, innit?
One street performer for me really stood out - a guy named Adam Kadabra who plays guitar in a style called lap-tapping. The sounds he creates from that instrument, oh my gosh it's like he has an entire orchestra in that one instrument! Simply incredible. I would have bought his CD if I had enough money on me, but there's always iTunes. Really one of the best and most memorable street performers from the Fringe.
Totally not a plug! I promise!
The City of Edinburgh has a population of under 500,000 people! I was really surprised when I found out the population was so small - it's the 7th largest financial centre in Europe, so I guess the Scots must be really careful with their money ;) Ha ha. It's also very much a student town, since the University of Edinburgh pretty much occupies the centre of the city.
The Edinburgh Castle looks over the city, built on top of an extinct volcano! During the Military Tattoo the castle is lit by beautiful lights at night. The Castle is the venue for the Tattoo, and the Tattoo in turn is a performance-gathering of several bagpipe bands from worldwide.
I'm gonna be honest - pretty much all I did in Edinburgh was watch shows and walk down Princes Street... I haven't done very many proper tourist things like going to attractions in Edinburgh, but no matter I'll have a whole year to do that!
One of the things I find particularly enchanting about Edinburgh are the people. Scots have the cutest accent ever! They're also very friendly and make an effort to try to help no matter what the situation. The funniest thing happened to me when I was buying something from Sainsbury's - the cashier told me that I could buy the same thing a few doors down for much cheaper than what Sainsbury's was selling them for, and sent me off down the street to save a few quid! That was super funny.
Edinburgh is also known as 'Auld Reekie.'
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The Vaults. Image credits to Google - I haven't got the guts to go down myself yet![/caption]
It's supposedly the most haunted city in all of Europe, and the vaults are supposedly reeking with ghosts (Auld Reekie!) and lots of paranormal activity. I'm trying not to think too much about all of that, personally... :x Maybe next time when I've made a bunch of friends from school who are crazy enough to go with me lol.
Edinburgh has been home to so many brilliant writers and thinkers! David Hume, philosopher; Adam Smith, economist... I'm just interested in its being home to JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books! I'm a HUGE fan of Harry Potter. It was such a big part of my childhood. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I found this...
One of the places where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter! OMG SO INCREDIBLE. There's a Harry Potter society at the University of Edinburgh, so you know what club I'm going to be joining when school starts... ;)
There's also a story about a famous loyal dog, Greyfriars Bobby, who laid at the grave of his master in the Greyfriars Kirkyard cemetery after his master's death every day until his master died. There's even a statue to commemorate Greyfriars Bobby!
Since we lived in a proper apartment in Edinburgh complete with fridge microwave and dishwasher, my folks and I bought a lot of ready-made Tesco meals and soups to save on money. Like London, eating out gets expensive; buying ready-made meals was only about £3 a person, much more affordable!
Unfortunately for some reason the heaters in our apartment were complete goners and refused to work properly, so the folks and I were shivering at night when it got cold -_-"
On the occasions we ate out, though, one of the best meals I've had so far is one at the Mussel Inn.
This place is FANTASTIC! The prices are very reasonable and the food is fabulous. We had a half-kilo of natural mussels, meaning cooked in their own juice without any extra seasonings, and a few other foods besides (of courses the mussels were the most memorable, Mussel Inn duh) and they were amazing. So good and incredibly delicious!
I've never been a huge fan of mussels, but I can say with confidence that the Mussel Inn has pretty much changed my opinion of them. It's owned by mussel farmers apparently, so it's pretty much from the farm straight to your plate. The mussels come from farms in all parts of Scotland, too.
There's always a queue here round mealtimes, so come at an off-peak hour to try the food if you aren't a fan of having to wait - not so fun if you're hungry and cold in the drizzling rain!
Mussel Inn
61-65 Rose Street
Edinburgh EH2 2NH
Telephone: 0131 225 5979
I also went to the Dynamic Earth exhibition, housed underground with only the topmost level in a pavilion. I really enjoyed it!
Although it seems like just another regular natural history museum, I think Dynamic Earth stands out for being a lot more immersive than your average museum. As you enter, you have to step into a time machine that takes you 5,000,000,000 (count that! Nine zeros - five billion!) years ago to when the Earth was forming, and then you journey through the volcanic formation of the tectonic plates and the ice age and phases of the earth's formation, through the different biospheres of the earth today - deep ocean, polar, temperate, rainforest, and so on.
At the end of it all there's a simulation ride (can you tell I love rides and shows? Haha!) taking you on a flying craft that takes you around the world's biospheres. That concludes the journey through Dynamic Earth, and the shop at the end isn't half bad either - I walked away with a whole bag full of (very pretty) gemstones each for only about £1.20 a stone! Very inexpensive and absolutely terrible for my wallet. Ha ha.
Our Dynamic Earth
112 Holyrood Road
Edinburgh, EH8 8AS
http://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/
Tickets
Adult £11.50
Children (3-15) £7.50
Concession £9.75
Under 3's Free
There's really a whole lot to do in Edinburgh. I've been in Edinburgh for about a week, so I've visited the Royal Mile and Princes Street, but like I said I spent most of my time watching shows at the Fringe... So expect more posts about this place as I discover more of it!
TIPS
- Accommodation in Edinburgh is incredibly packed in August because of the crowds that descend upon it for the festivals. Don't wait to the last minute to get a room - they're often booked out months in advance! I rented an empty flat belonging to one of the Singaporean students at the University of Edinburgh (left vacant for summer when students have all gone home) - reasonably priced and pretty near the city centre. Keep your eyes peeled for alternatives!
- It gets cold up north - Edinburgh is roughly the same latitude as the lowest parts of Sweden. Even in summer the temperatures can get to 12 degrees Celcius! Don't skimp on warm clothing unless you're a cold warrior... I come from a tropical country so the cold was very different for me.
Cheryl Keit xx
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