Little of This, Little of That

Summer in Edinburgh went by way too quickly for my liking.  I think it had a lot to do with being chained to the library for most of it for the completion of my dissertation, but whatevskis.  I want that time back!  Sooo many awesome things to see and do!

This is Circus Lane.  I want to live here.  Not only is it
quaint and gorgeous, but it's called CIRCUS LANE.  

But the flat with the bright green door is ours, so really I can't
complain too much!  Plus, people take their dogs for walks
in this little greenspace here, so it's always entertaining.

When we moved in the people below us had cats.  Naturally, I obsessed over
cooing at these cats, who just looked at me like I was dropped at birth.  So cute!

There are two or three from the flat below (the multicolour above,
the fat orange/white one below and a smaller orange one), then this
grey guy, who I think lives one door over, and a black
and white that is from one door over on the other side.

This photo does not give decent perspective re: the rotundness of
this orange/white cat.

This is the cute little orange one. He was spooked very easily.

During the Olympics, if a Team GB member won a gold medal,
a post box from their home town was painted gold.
This is Sir Chris Hoy's golden post box
at Princes Street and Hanover Street.

With sunny days rather few and far between, people took advantage
and lazed around whatever greens they could find.  This is Princes Street Gardens,
which used to be a teeming cesspool of human waste and dead bodies.
Prolly why the grass is so green and lush now.

And then there was Festival season! Where there are something like 15 festivals
 crammed into 30 days and the population of the city doubles.  This is part of
the setup at Edinburgh University's Main Library.  The part you can't
see in behind is the massive square filled with tents, stages, bars,
picnic tables, and hundreds of people.  Yep, had to walk through this to get to
my dissertation misery for 17 days.  Good times.

This is the pop up bar set just outside the main door to the library.
 Convenient for those wishing to drown their thesis/sorrows.

Up a ways at Teviot, another key university student building was this
 lovely beer garden with its faux castle walls and medieval charms.
Absolutely gorgeous inside, and of course I forgot to take snaps...

One of the poster walls outside of the Udder Belly fringe venue.
 I really don't know how people selected shows to see since there
were sooooo many posters.  There were walls like this set up
EVERYWHERE and they were all covered in posters.
Plus, you could not escape the handbill people.  It was impossible!

Supercool fringe venue at greyfriars.

During the daytime there were roving bands and troupes of
performers drumming up business for their shows.  These people were all
dressed up as crows and were flapping around in their
garbage bag wings cawing at passers by.

They straight up closed George Street and created this beautiful beer garden.
At night it was all lit up with white twinkle lights and there was a stage
at one end with rad flapper style performers.

There's this massive TV permanently set to a BBC channel at Festival Square,
so the city turned the square into an Olympics-watching space.  They
provided beanbag chairs and fold up chairs for people to just chill
and watch whichever sports were being broadcast at no charge.  I took this
photo at lunchtime, so there's lots of office people munching
on their lunches in the sun here.

Plus, the BBC was big into getting people involved in the Olympics sports.
Online for every sport there was a search engine for you to type
in your post code to find out where the nearest place was for you to
go and try that sport, which I thought was great.  Here, Triathlon Scotland
set up a mini triathlon space with stationary bikes, treadmills
and one of those pools where you swim into the current.  If you wanted to,
 a volunteer would tell you about triathlon and help you learn about the sport.
It was pretty cool.

One fine weekend, we rounded up our Swiss friend Martin and headed
to the Foodies Festival at Inverleith Park.

Yes! Food!

Old fashioned fish smoking!  It smelled sooooo yummmmmy.

Turkish hut - yes please!  

This was the cookery education tent where master chefs would bestow their art upon
we plebeians.  We didn't really pay attention, lol.

Martin was a real fan of the oyster tent.
I just took photos and gagged.

It was a really sweet and chilled out setup.  There were these awesome
lounge chairs everywhere, in addition to regular tables and chairs,
and this supercool sand box for the kidlets.
Not gonna lie, I wanted to play with the sand too.

Live music too.  It was a big venue, so the sound from
one area didn't mix with the others.

Beauty view of the Castle from Inverleith.

People chillin.  Enjoying the weather and a few beers.

Oh, and handcrafted cheese.  Droooooooooool.

And handcrafted candy!!  

Plus, BEER!

Water buffalo burgers!

Did I mention beer? And perhaps some whisky?

I decided to try out the artisan deck furniture.
It was quite comfortable.

Unlike this squiggly thing.

Of course we had to go to the Canadian comedy show :).
It was pretty good.  They're pro at dealing with hecklers.

We also went to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo!

Say what you will about bagpipes, but pips and drums together are fabulous.

Particularly when they do cool marching formations.

These dudes were AMAZING.  The most captivating drum corps I have ever seen.

There were a few different fireworks displays as well.

What country are we in? Oh riiiiiight, SCOTLAND!

The next day we helped our friends Becky and Andrew with some painting.
Puppysitting was part of the deal :).

This is Buddy the black lab.  Ugh, seriously.  Can he get ANY cuter?

The fringe shows playing at *one* of the venues - The Pleasance

The beer garden courtyard at the Pleasance.  So. Much. Fun.

Night time shot of the beer garden on George Street for the Assembly Rooms venues.

Gorgeous pop up bar.

Some of the shows playing at the Assembly Rooms.

This is the supercool flapper tent.  You couldn't see in from
outside, but the music was amazing.  You
couldn't help but awkwardly jive along...

On a particularly rainy day, my friends Nikolay, Polina and I trucked up to
 Lauriston Castle, which is a big manor home on the edge of the city.

Beautiful sea view.

Me showcasing the home with soggy feet.

Cool courtyard.

Supercute greenhouse that's been turned into a tea house.
I could spend forever in there reading books...  SO FUN!

The home in another view.

Purdy flowers.

Me.

In a break in the rain Polina and I got in a lady hug!

So yeah.  We've been having a really fun time these past few months, and I'll continue the fill-in on the summer soon!  Stay tuned! :D.