16 - 18 August: Edinburgh Military Tattoo

This summer we spent five fantastic weeks in Norway. I can't remember a warmer, sunnier summer in all the 40 summers I've spent outside Fredrikstad (though of course the summers of my childhood were always warm and sunny, or so it seems).

The sun and the heat sure did us a lot of good, after having gone through the coldest spring I've ever experienced. Before we left for Norway in the beginning of July, I had worn my shorts for approx 4 hours, most of the time I even had to wear a denim- or leather jacket.

When we returned to Scotland in the middle of August, it turned out Scotland had had one of its best summers too and it was still nice and warm when we arrived.

A family weekend in Edinburgh

The boys and I caught the train to Edinburgh Friday morning, where we met up with my husband who had spent the past week in the United States and flew in that same day. We had pre-booked a family room at the apartment hotel My Edinburgh Life and it turned out to be a very nice room.

The hotel was situated only a couple of minutes walk from Haymarket train station and within walking distance of the main Edinburgh tourist attractions. I was a little worried there would be a lot of noise being located so close to the train station, but we did not hear a thing when we were in our room. This is definitely a hotel we would like to stay in next time we visit Edinburgh.

The worst haircut ever?

We arrived an hour before my husband, so we spent some time exploring the Haymarket area. The boys were both in desperate need of a haircut, so when we walked past a salon I decided they might as well do it while we were waiting anyway. I also ended up with a haircut and refreshed highlights.

Unfortunately it was not until later that evening that I realised how bad the haircuts were. My youngest son and my own haircuts were bad, but they were nothing compared to the disaster that had struck my oldest son.

I've given a few haircuts in the past 15 years and even without training none of my victims have received such an uneven haircut. We didn't bother going back to complain, but when we got back home I got out my kitchen scissors and evened it out as best as I could. Not the best scissors, but the result was still an improvement.

Great paintings at The National Scottish Gallery

Saturday morning we strolled from our hotel and over to the National Scottish Gallery. In the Scottish part of the collection, my favourites were the beautiful landscape paintings. The combination of a varied and dramatic landscape and often rough weather, offers great motifs for landscape painters.

Having read a lot of Scottish history, I really enjoyed the historical paintings, including 'The Return of Mary Queen of Scots to Edinburgh' by James Drummond. There were many other great paintings too, so even though we tried to be quick, it still took a while. I was very grateful for the patience our boys showed while their parents enjoyed fascinating paintings and magnificent statues.

'A bit of everything Scottish' at The National Museum of Scotland

Our next stop was The National Museum of Scotland, which was a mixture of 'everything Scottish'.

The museum covers a very wide range of topics, for example 'The Natural World', 'World Cultures',  'Discoveries' and 'Science and Technology'. The result was that a lot of topics were covered very briefly and the visit didn't give me much, though our boys really enjoyed the 'Science and Technology' part of the museum.

We browsed through most of the museum, but soon decided to spend our time on other attractions instead.

A guided tour of Edinburgh Castle

Saturday had offered some rain, but by the time we left The National Museum of Scotland, the sun had come out and we had a nice stroll over to Edinburgh Castle.

We got our tickets and then relaxed in the sun for almost half an hour, before joining a guided tour of the castle. The guide gave us an interesting tour which covered all the major sights of the castle, seen from the outside. After taking a closer look at the Crown Jewels, The Scottish National War Memorial, The Great Hall and St Margaret's Chapel, we decided to have dinner and then head back to the hotel to relax a bit before the Military Tattoo. And now I discovered that my phone was missing...

Losing my smartphone was really stressful so I had to concentrate really hard to find out when I last had my phone. Eventually I realised I probably left my phone in the Boots shop I entered that morning around 10:00. When we eventually got to the shop it was 18:30 and the shop was closed. There was nothing I could do but come back next morning at 10:30, when the store opened again.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Before buying the tickets for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, I had been advised by the organisers that the best show was the last show on Saturday night.

The show started at 22:30 with marching pipers, setting the atmosphere for a great show. The opening number was followed by an entertaining performance by The Imps Motorcycle Display Team. The video I linked to gives you an impression of the precision driving and acrobatics performed on motorcycle by this team of young motorcyclists.

Great precision from New Zealand

The rest of the tattoo included performances by teams from Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Mexico and Scotland.

As you can imagine, the performances were very different and I enjoyed all of them, but the team from New Zealand left the strongest impression. The team had extremely sharp timing and they also had some rather funny bits - I have added a link to a YouTube-video from the show so you can get an impression.

The Wild Mountain Thyme

However, what I enjoyed the most was the combined piping and singing of 'The Wild Mountain Thyme' - it was so beautiful it almost made me cry (and it still does when I listen to it).

I know a lot of you don't care much for piping but to me there is nothing more Scottish and beautiful than piping bands performing in Scotland. If you're curious about the song but don't want to listen to the piping, you can listen to a version performed by the Scottish folk duo The Corries, though this version doesn't bring out the same strong emotions in me.

Light shows and fireworks

During the tattoo, the wall of the castle was used as a background for beautiful light shows that accompanied the different performances. I have added a few examples throughout this blog post to give you an impression of the diversity of the light shows.

The big finale was the fireworks at midnight, followed by the lone piper playing from the wall of the castle. The tattoo was rounded up by everyone singing 'God save the Queen' and 'Auld Lang Syne', before the performers all marched out.


By the time we were back at our hotel and everyone was in bed, it was 01:30 in the morning. The boys were extremely tired by then, but also very pleased with the show.

Lost and found

I didn't sleep very well that night, not knowing where my mobile phone was and whether I'd be able to get it back.

We let the boys sleep as long as possible and then headed off to the Boots shop where I believed I had left my phone. We got there just after opening time and my relief was immense when the lady behind the counter confirmed that they had my phone in their safe.

I had to come back half an hour later to pick it up because there was not enough staff for her to leave the counter at the moment. I didn't mind much, as long as I knew I would get my phone back I was happy as could be.

After I had picked up my phone we took a stroll down Princess street, the main shopping street in Edinburgh, before getting on the train back to Aberdeen.