It's a city rather than a movie or TV series has inspired me to return to my blog after a month's time. We spent a week in Dublin and a week in Edinburgh. Both parts of the trip were absolutely wonderful and well worth all the money and energy that invested, but Edinburgh just stole my heart. As much as I love cities, I had never felt as moved as I did while in Edinburgh. Visually, it's spectacular. On our first night there, we were walking uphill towards the Old City and I turned around for a moment. The view of the Firth of Forth (sp?) took my breath away. As I discovered during the week, there seems to be no end to the panaromic views. Whether we were at the top of the Arthur's Seat, the Scott monument, or looking at the city though a camera obscura, we were dazzled. Add the view to the closes and wynds and you just have a wonderful, wonderful city for sightseeing.

But it wasn't the sightseeing that made me want to return next summer. (Typically, once I've done a city, I'm ready to move on to other adventures) It was the Fringe. Though I had known that August was festival month, I really had no sense of what the Fringe Festival was. What I discovered was that it's almost 2000 dance, theater, comedy and music performances. The streets are filled with performers marketing their shows along with spectators enjoying every minute of the entertainment. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Every other day, I snuck into the ticket office for another purchase. We ended up seeing a comedy - musical called, End of the Rainbow, which told the story of Judy Garland's last days. (6-year old Luc and his 11 year old cousin, I'm sure, enjoyed the alchohol drenched cautionary tale. . LOL). A martial arts comedy by a Korean troupe which amazed and entertained one and all. Another martial arts extravaganza, Chanbara, which combined the swordsmen from Kill Bill with Taiko drums. The Spaghetti Western Orchestra entertained us with Morricone tunes, sound FX, and even dialogue from some of our favorite westerns. Adam Hills, an Australian comedian, made us laugh and reminded us that America is not the center of the universe. We also got a chance to be amazed by an actor playing Onysus the Wild, Chris Porter, who transcended his material.

For a week after our return, I dreamed that I was still in Edinburgh. At the very least, we'll be back next year for a week, but I'd love to find a way to spend a longer period of time to truly get to know the city.