Party Time in Edinburgh

Greetings, Stuffie Friends!

We’ve had another fabulous vacation! Well, at least some of us… a few friends decided to remain in Ireland with some friends. The three of us didn’t want to miss a visit to Scottie’s country of origin. We wasted no time trying to find some of his relatives. First, we checked out the downtown.

We learned the Fringe Festival is a month long. It features all kinds of artists and performers. We were not disappointed with the street performers and quality of music.

There were many people wearing fun outfits. We were especially surprised to find two outer space people who attracted a lot of attention. Dan said they were wearing costumes from some important movie called Star Wars . After watching their re-enactment, we decided to definitely put that on our viewing list back home!

And, of course, every self-respecting festival has terrific food. It didn’t take a lot to convince Dan to find a good restaurant. We headed for lunch at a pub near a special place called “3 Bridges”.

It was right by the harbor. You could practically watch them catch the fish you were about to eat.

By the way, do you know what a Kraken’s favorite meal is? (Fish and Ships). Ours were delicious!

And Scottie had to sneak a taste of Marial’s special cider! We couldn’t watch…

We had already decided to save room for dessert before we ordered food. Thank goodness! This ice cream was pretty tasty.

Later, we went to an evening performance called a “tattoo”. We were a bit confused about why we were going. We thought it involved getting tattoos, which wouldn’t be very much fun on our fur. Also, it seemed strange that Dan and Marial were excited for it….? When we got to the location, it seemed even weirder. Why were all these people gathered to watch us?

And then the lights went down. At this point, we started to suspect we didn’t have a clue what was going on.

When it started, we found out it’s actually the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Lots of different bands and dancers perform. It takes place in the promenade entering the centuries-old Edinburgh Castle.

We really like the pipers. Scottie said his relatives play, but we are doubtful. Can squirrels can play those pipes? There’s a lot of breath involved. We were a bit embarrassed when Scottie started to dance the Scottish jig with the dancers - but the crowd loved it!

We also met a couple of Scottish sailors who were impressed with our coming such a long distance until they learned it was a homecoming for Scottie. We didn’t understand some of the conversation when Scottie regressed to his native language.

Turns out, they were mostly catching up on neighborhood news. The sailors did recommend a wonderful place to stay nearby. They said it would be quite welcoming & the perfect spot for us.

Now, that’s what we call Stuffie hospitality! We had a happy time exchanging stories with our hosts. We asked them about Scottie’s relatives. They explained many locals head out of town to avoid the big festival crowds. Maybe we’ll catch up with them later.

Can’t wait to see what else Scotland has to offer. We’ll keep you posted.

-Scottie , Flambé, Gràineag