Let me begin by saying that the kids got their first taste of the stereotypical Scottish weather today - non-stop drizzle to rain to drizzle until about 9pm.  Despite the rather wet conditions, we had a great time.

After breakfast this morning, we all took the city bus to the Royal Mile.  After a brief stop to exchange money the kids all went with Mr. K to Edinburgh Castle while I went to the Fringe Box Office to buy our performance tickets for the rest of our trip.  I was the second person in line - it took 1 hour and 50 minutes for the entire order to go through (17 people to 19 shows kinda slowed down the computer - I think I may have broken the record for longest transaction) I made it to St. Giles Cathedral just in time to reunite with the group as they finished the Castle.  (Thank you to Russell for sharing his photos from the Castle with me)

We grabbed a quick bite at Gregg's (a chain of sandwich shops we have frequented on every trip) as we walked to our first show - A Midsummer Night's Dream - The Rock Musical on the top floor of The C Venue.  It turned out to be a production by a youth group and they were very gracious after the performance, coming over to thank us for bringing the group and they made plans with the kids to hopefully return the favor at our 3rd show.

We then hoofed it over to Pleasance Courtyard - and saw The Greatest Liar in All The World at The Beside Venue. It was a very interesting sequel to Pinocchio that used a fair amount of mine, clowning, puppetry & shadow puppetry, in a cabaret style to tell the story.  

We then took the bus back, had time to get a little drier and then went off to dinner here at Pollock.  After dinner, back on the city bus to see Circa: Beyond at Underbelly Bistro Square - a really interesting group of acrobats with a quirky sense of humor: cue the oversized mascot costume Easter bunny heads.  They did very creative takes on some impressive physical feats - i.e. an intense bit of body stacking while one member had to solve a rubix cube (they did) - a complex balancing routine done with a piece of paper to "Total Eclipse of the Heart", intense trapeze work, and a finale set to the Sex Pistol's cover of "My Way" - all played to a packed house.  Plus we had great seats to boot.

After that we walked about a whole 100 yards to the Gilded Balloon to see Axis of Awesome, a rock comedy group most know for their internet videos (over 60 million hits) but also cd's, dvd's and an up coming web series. 

An incredibly busy day of true Fringe participation!

We got up dark and early to be ready to load our luggage into the trucks at 5:00 this morning. We had breakfast at Bankside, then got on the bus to King's Cross Station for the charter train. We actually left a bit early for the train because the police were concerned about the large number of busses blocking the traffic outside of Bankside. (sorry it's blurry - photos at sunrise are apparently tricky)

We got about 20 min to explore Kings Cross Station - including platform 9 3/4. We then boarded the train for the 7 hour journey to Scotland. 

We were met outside of the city by more guides, busses, and, of course, a traditional Scottish Piper.

We drove around the city for a bit and then got off the bus near Edinburgh Castle.  From there we began a walking tour of the area around the Royal Mile, some of the closes, and down to Prince's Street.

We had a momentary scare when we checked in at Pollock because a few of our set pieces were missing from our luggage.  But the AHSTF staff helped us run around and find them.  While I attended the director's meeting with Mr. K, the kids re-assembled and re-organized our show into it's proper order. Then we did a quick speed-through of the play to get ready for our tech rehearsal the day after tomorrow.

A long & exhausting (at least for this old person) - but very good day.

How I kept busy during the train ride to Edinburgh - here are highlights from days 1-3.

Tonight we ate at a nice Italian place right around the corner from Bankside.  We then took The Tube over to Piccadilly Circus to see The 39 Steps - Hilarious. 4 actors play around 150 roles with almost no set and recreate a spoof of the Hitchcock movie.  We got back a little early and all went to get ready for our departure in the morning.  The luggage gets taken at 5AM and then we get on the train at Kings Cross to Edinburgh.

We got up bright and early this morning and after breakfast here at Bankside, walked across London Bridge to The Tower of London.  

We tried to see it all.  The Crown Jewels, The Bloody Tower, The White Tower, and then some.

We then went to The Globe where we got a quick tour of the theatre - they had to be brief because Antony and Cleopatra was about to begin a performance. We then went across the way to their education building where 13 of us took an acting class with a Globe company member (who was also our guide) Russell and Michael had gone separately this AM with other students from 6 schools to a workshop with a scenic designer from the National Theatre where they had to quickly create a concept for Frankenstein.  After a quick visit to the Globe gift shop, we all went to the Tate where we got to see some amazing work by Picasso, Miro, Rothko, Kandinsky, and many more - along with a few pieces that some of us had some good criticism of.

Now, a little rest time before we go to dinner and take The Tube to see The 39 Steps at The Criterion Theatre.

Tomorrow we pack up at 5am and head for Scotland!

We had a great time on the London Eye.  We walked up the Jubilee Walkway from Bankside up the Thames all the way to the London Eye.  There was a huge festival going on as well as tons of street performers and vendors. We'll have to wait for pics from one of the kids since I left my memory card behind - but we were one of the final 6 cars on the wheel tonight so we got a wonderful lit up panorama at dusk. 

What a easy flight. After the initial delay all went very smoothly and we even arrived a tad early.  We ended up having to check a large amount of our carry-ons because the first plane was so small, but all arrived - and mostly in tact.

We had a great guide that took us to Buckingham Palace...

Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, Covent Garden, Tower Bridge and much more!

Off to dinner in a little bit and then on to the London Eye!

We're leaving today, first to London, then on to Edinburgh. I'll be updating this periodically as we go when we have internet access so all can see what we have been up to.  Stay tuned.