The Philosopher's Stone

Hello,

We have returned to Black Clauchrie House after a weekend away to Edinburgh and the beginning of the Fringe Festival.  We had an amazing time going to shows, watching live music and enjoying a few 'points' in the sunshine; all while surrounded by the most beautiful city in Britain.

We managed to go to nine shows in the three evenings we had. Six of them were free shows but all were very entertaining.  Some of the highlights were the Wellington Ukelele Orchestra (I know, half way round the world and we go to something from Wellington), Shakespear's Much Ado About Nothing (with the additional comedy technique of one very drunk cast member, it was Claudio for those interested, which was hilarious) and a comedy music show by Rachel Parris. We also saw a magical/gameshow/comedy show called Piff the Magic Dragon and a rather intense one-man play by an alcoholic, homosexual, american man (just about sums it) who wrote a musical called Desperately Seeking Susan which flopped on broadway a few years back.

We also managed to squeeze in a bit of site seeing. We went to the Scottish Parliament buildings and chanced upon the Press Photography Competition as an added bonus. 

We had our One Day moment up on Arthur's Seat (with about 50 other people).

There were huge crowds along the Royal Mile where all the festival buskers are playing and performing.

Edinburgh Castle

While in Edinburgh we also had our first taste of couch surfing.  A very nice Italian called Paolo let us sleep on his flat's couch for three nights which saved us a lot of money.  He is doing a Phd in Artificial Intelligence (again, summage) and lived in New Zealand for the whole of last year coincidently.  His flatmates were actually quite cool and we ended up going to a few shows with them and hanging out a bit which was fun.

So now we are back at the country house for another 10 days. There is a wedding here on Saturday so it's all a bit hectic right now.