Aug 5 – Packing up and the Military Tattoo

We have nothing scheduled today until late afternoon so we let Liam sleep in (he slept until almost 11:00).  Much of the day was spent packing and relaxing. 

We took a walk down to Grassmarket Square for lunch.  Along the way we saw a section of the old city wall.

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More Edinburgh

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Early evening we headed off to get Liam some KFC chicken and then headed to our dinner venue near the castle.  Turns out they had a kid’s menu there and Liam did eat a very few items. 

The dinner was a “Whiskey Experience” with discussions on how whiskey is made and we had three samples to try.  Since we don’t drink, this part of the experience, while interesting, we could have done without. 

The food was good and table company interesting.  The other two groups at our table were from California.

We had a small concert by a man on a tuba and another on a trumpet.  They will be performing at the tattoo.

After dinner we had a tour of a whiskey collection…the private collection of 3,400 bottles of single malt whiskey that was collected by an Argentinian who decided the whiskey should come back to Scotland. 

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Video of Whiskey collection
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After that it was off to our seats at the tattoo.  We had perfect seats.  We were high up, just under the royal boxes (no idea if any royals were there…didn’t see any we recognized) and directly facing the castle.  Many of the performing contingents came out of the castle gates directly towards us.  

The first group of pipers came out through a cloud of mist...very atmospheric. 

Most of the performances were by military band and drill teams  

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Video 1 of Military Tattoo military band 
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Video 2 of Military Tattoo Band
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Video 3 of Military Tattoo Band
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Video 4 of Military tattoo Band
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and highland dancers.

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Video of Military Tattoo Highland Dancers
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The US Air Force Honor Guard Drill team (amazing display of tossing weapons around),

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Video 0f Military Tattoo US Air Force Drill Team
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a Day of the Dead group from Mexico,

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Video 1 of Military Tattoo Day of the Dead group
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Video 2 of Military Tattoo Day of the dead group
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Video 3 of Military Tattoo Day of the Dead group
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the Banda Monumental de Mexico (50 Aztec Eagle warriors) with fire and masses of feathers,

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Video of Banda Monumental de Mexico
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the New Zealand Army Band (that put down their instruments and broke into a Hakka [a fierce, Maori challenge] at one point…while in formal, bright red military uniforms...fun),

the Highland Divas (a trio of women singers),

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Video of Military Tattoo Highland Divas
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the Top Secret Drum Corp (a Swiss precision team) doing great drumming exercises and sporting massive long white feathers on their hats, the better to see their movements,

and they also used "light sabers" for another great display.  

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Video of Military Tattoo Top Secret Drum Corp
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There was a group of 50 of the world’s best Highland dancers (The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Performers).

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Video of Military Tattoo Highland Dancers
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At the end of the show all the units came out for one massive formation,

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Video of Military Tattoo All units form at End of Show
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there were fireworks and a light/laser show from the castle,

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Video of Military Tattoo Fireworks and Lasers
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and it ended with a lone piper on the castle ramparts (…calling “out to the struggling and embattled peoples of the world”)...

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Video of Military Tattoo Lone Piper on Ramparts
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Then the performers marched off...

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Video 1 of Military Tattoo Units marching off
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Video 2 of Military Tattoo Units marching off
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What a magical night.  And Liam loved it, as did we.

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More Tattoo
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