Diamond Jubilee Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

We got off the ship today (Saturday) in Greenock and boarded a 33 passenger mini-bus to Edinburgh for the 60th Military Tattoo held each summer at Edinburgh Castle.  This was a long awaited for event!  Charlie with Great Scot Tours was our driver for the day.

First view of Edinburgh Castle as we drove into the city.

Edinburgh is a huge city and while we were there, not only was the Tattoo taking place but there was also a Literary Festival and a Fringe Festival which made for huge crowds!  Lots of street performers and strange looking people in face paint and weird costumes.

The bus dropped us off near the Castle and we spent most of our day walking a very small part of the "Royal Mile" and looking in shops. I found the one thing I could not go home without....a size 5 red plaid kilt for a special little boy:-)

 

We had a really good lunch at Vittoria's, an Italian Restaurant Joy recommended.  Her family had been to Edinburgh before the cruise and scoped everything out for us!   Tom, Virginia and Holly joined us.  We all tried Irn Bru, recommeded by Shogun from our Cruise Critic board.  I had a salad with grilled goat cheese and balsamic vinegar reduction and Al had a sundried tomato and arugula pizza  -- they were both wonderful! 

Loved the bagpipes!

Inside Edinburgh Castle

View of Edinburgh from the castle

Edinburgh Castle

View of the stands where we would see the Military Tattoo (from the castle).  Our seats were right in the center section 5 rows up.  We had a bird's eye view of everything!

View of castle walking to meet our bus

Inside the "Royal Apartments" in the castle

We donned our rainsuits and joined the queue to get into the Tattoo.  We had fantastic seats in the East section and such a wonderful of all the performances thanks to Don and Sandy Craig who managed to secure the tickets online months ago -- quite a feat!  The Citidel was there and of course all the Americans cheered them on.   I took mostly video of the performances so that will be a nice reminder of this very special evening. 

I am updating this blog around middle of the day on Sunday, a sea day.  The ship is rocking and rolling through the whitecaps so it is an interesting ride.  Would be nice to be in bed and get rocked to sleep.  Tonight is our second formal night and we have dinner reservations with some CC friends for 5:30 pm.  We got back late from Edinburgh last night and slept in this morning.  Skipping lunch so I can squeeze into my dress for tonight :-)

Tomorrow...Invergordon and another fun tour ouf the beautiful Scotish countryside, including Culloden Battlefield and Cawdor Castle.  Wilmington, NC seems very far away right now....