The Grand Tour: The Main Event-The Tattoo

After a very early supper we met the buses that were to take a large part of the ship to the Tattoo. The bus could only take us to the bottom of the hill of which Edinburgh Castle is perched on top of (I think it’s actually an extinct volcano). From there one must walk, uphill, over cobblestone streets. Once outside of Edinburgh Castle we queued, sort of, in a very tight, squished together mass of people. The doors finally opened, and we slowly made our way in.

Husband had a bit of an adventure, when for some unexplained reason he began to bleed from his ear. We stopped at the medic station and found he had a scab just inside the ear that he must had rubbed, and the scab came off. Causing it to bleed, in other words, not serious. The medics were very nice (And funny!), patched him up, and sent us on our way.

The Tattoo started at 9 PM on the dot. Mere words cannot describe what my eyes beheld, or the emotions I felt. I will just say the sight of Edinburgh Castle at night, with floodlights illuminating the façade, and bonfires in caldrons along the ramparts was impressive, and when the gate opened up, and 150 or so pipers and drummers in kilts came marching out, music playing, flags waving, I felt like I had died and gone to Heaven. It is truly an impressive show. The funny thing was, my husband had grumbled about going, and had an unpleasant shock when I told him how much the tickets were, but after, he was impressed, and stated it was worth the cost.

When the show was over I was worried about finding our bus in the dark, the mass confusion of the twists and turns of Edinburgh’s streets, and the hordes of people, but it was actually quite easy. The tour company had people on every corner to point us in the right direction.

We didn’t get back to the ship until after midnight, but they had the buffet opened for a light supper.

The following day was our second sea day, which once again we enjoyed beautiful weather, so lovely for relaxing on a deck chair.