Edinburgh

The main street in Edinburgh is called Princes Street, but I must admit I don’t remember the name of this building. On one side of the street are the department stores, and on the other side is a park that drops into a deep ravine, then raises steeply up a high hill, crowned by the Edinburgh castle, which overlooks the city.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which celebrates over 50 years of music and spectacle, is set against the world famous backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. The great oak gates of Edinburgh Castle open, and the music of hundreds of pipes and drums is heard through the night sky. The Tattoo is a whirling and colorful kaleidoscope of music, dance and display. For the finale, all 1000 or so performers gather on the Castle Esplanade, and the Tattoo audience joins in a great chorus of singing, cheering, and applause, before the singing of the Evening Hymn, the sounding of the Last Post and the lowering of the flags on the Castle.

We toured the Holyrood House, where the Queen of England spends part of each year. It’s beautifully kept, and has been refurbished. They told all kinds of stories as they took us through the place. There are secret passageways between some of the rooms, and they told stories that this one killed that one, another slept with someone’s somebody, and all those kind of things.