<p>Hello all, I just returned from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. </p>
<p>Won’t bore you with the fiasco of the the flights and delays, except to say that I tried to smuggle in my Dan Brown paperback under my coat and failed! (What, they thought I might have replaced the pages with thin sheets of plastic explosives?)</p>
<p>The Fringe is a marvelous experience, and Edinburgh is absolutely gorgeous - if you haven’t been, you should definitely go! I saw 30 shows in eight days, everything from Three Mo’ Tenors to One Man Star Wars Trilogy, some pre-West End dramas like Midnight Cowboy, the Muppets Adult Improv (fabulous!), some weird and very cool musicals - Bat Boy, Yeti the Abominamusical, and Catchy! (about the Plague - a riot), and some new theatre. </p>
<p>There were many college and high school groups from the UK and the US staging shows (I was somewhat concerned for the roving bands of wild high school students, hoping that they had an adequate number of adult chaperones in tow!) My son’s a cappella group, Out of the Blue, got two five-star reviews and they were sold out the last few days I was there - they were invited to participate in a three-hour show best-of-the-fringe show “A Night at the Castle,” evidently the first performance held at the castle in decades. </p>
<p>There are several festivals that overlap during August - the International Festival (orchestras and classical performers from all over the world), the International Book Festival, the Comedy Festival, and more. One location, more to do than anyone can possibly take in. I think that even without the festivals, it would take at least four days of concentrated effort to “do” Edinburgh, with all of the the history, art, architecture, and attractions (whisky tastings, weaving demonstrations, etc. etc.). </p>
<p>The zoo has the largest collection of penguins in captivity, and three of them condescended to “parade” around an oval for our viewing pleasure - up to 40 voluntarily partake of this daily pleasure, depending on the time of year. The keepers are great about answering questions, and it takes them hours to feed everyone - they feed by hand so they can ensure that older birds and chicks are adequately nourished, and if one needs medication, they just slip it in the mouth of the fish. Some of the senior denizens are almost 20, having lived long past their typical lifespan in the wild. Also saw baby warthogs (!) four Asiatic lion cubs, and a pack of African Wild Dogs (the signs on the enclosure said “These animals are dangerous. Keep children off the railings [elevated walkway]. Objects dropped in the enclosure cannot be retrieved.”) The zoo is in the process of a major refurbishment, with large natural enclosures and elevated walkways, and tall bridges for the monkeys and apes. Well worth a visit.</p>
<p>On a more sober note - political anecdotal observation - the pro-Islamic sentiment seems to be relatively strong over there. On the 12th, as I was in line for a show, there was a “peace march” passing by that seemed to be slanted towards the Islamic point of view - a preponderance of signs against Israel. The BBC televised an interview with a Muslim spokesperson, and his point of view was more or less that the terrorists were disaffected because of UK policies, and that the policies must change - “some of our youth are just so angry that it is expressed in violence.” Had the effect of something like: ‘I tried to kill my mother but it’s because she made me angry - she needed to stop making me angry.’ Terrorist apologism? I don’t think anyone would have the guts to express those sentiments here.</p>
Did you happen to see an American high school production called “Voices of Vietnam”? If so, those were my friends (almost all of them). I’m very proud of them, and proud to be involved in my high school’s theatre department. It’s fantastic. :D</p>