If you ever get a chance to go to Edinburgh…

Yesterday evening I got one of my favorite kind of text messages: “my friend is going to ___, can you recommend places to go…?”.

To which the answer is always YES I CAN!

I love making suggestions for people travelling, especially when it’s to one of my favorite places – and Edinburgh (eh, the one in Scotland, obviously) definitely qualifies for that status. And since I had the details organized in one place – I thought other people might find it of interest, too.

What to do..?

Scott Monument, Edinburgh

I highly recommend one of the open-top bus tours of Edinburgh- they all leave from Waverly Bridge near the Scott Monument- it’s hard to miss. There are tickets that cover more than one tour, which are a pretty good deal- for only an additional £2 you can take more than one of the open-top bus routes around the city within a 24-hour period. The best value is to take one of the sightseeing tours around the city and also do the Majestic tour to the Firth of Forth waterfront and Royal Botanic Gardens. The Botanic Gardens is a great way to spend a few hours, and well worth the visit. I also very highly recommend the Grand Plus ticket, which includes the Firth of Forth bus-and-boat cruise, but that’s only available April-October, unfortunately.

The National Gallery is not to be missed. It’s free in, and has amazing exhibits. One of my favorites? The opportunity to stand a mere couple of feet away from one of Monet’s “Haystacks” paintings. Wonderful stuff.

Edinburgh is a delightful place just to walk around in and admire the scenery, too. Definitely bring a camera, strike off in one direction and see where it takes you. Calton Hill is a great walk, and Arthur’s Seat is fantastic in decent weather.

There’s loads of other things to do in Edinburgh- Greyfriars Kirk is well worth a look around, there’s always the castle (though the cover charge seems a little steep to me, I’ll admit), and of course plenty of shopping etc. For the more bookish (and who doesn’t love a good books maps and prints shop?) there’s the wonderful Old Town Bookshop, and map-lovers will delight in the Carson Clark Gallery on the Royal Mile. A free one-hour tour of the Scottish Parliament building is also highly recommended- it’s a fascinating and beautiful building, and the tours are excellent. These are just a few of my favorites….

I couldn’t not recommend the Stand Comedy Club, too, if looking for somewhere to go in the evening- they tend to have an excellent lineup.

Go eat!

There are plenty of great places to eat in the city. I definitely *HIGHLY* recommend Double Dutch at 27-29 Marshall Street, near the university, for breakfast- I often go when I’m in town for the Festival and Fringe for good big fried breakfasts. Good service, strong coffee and good food at relatively reasonable prices.

One of my favorite Edinburgh eateries is Gordon’s Trattoria on the Royal Mile, even just for one of their delightful desserts (they do an excellent banana split, which is hard enough to get…). One of my favorite places in Edinburgh, and the staff (and owner) are really lovely. On a good night it’s often sort of like stopping in to a dinner party that goes on every night. Delightful.

There’s also a wonderful Italian restaurant called Pompeii at 62 Grassmarket in Edinburgh, which is convenient to most of the city center and has an excellent menu and lovely service.

No list of Edinburgh eateries would be complete without a recommendation to stop in to City Restaurant at 35 Nicolson Street (within a few minutes’ walk of much of the city center)- something for everyone, good food, great service, relaxed surroundings and reasonable prices. And they do a mean mac & cheese…

Scrambling up toward Arthur’s Seat through Holyrood Park

I was going through my photographs from Edinburgh and putting most of them up on my flickr when I ran across the above photograph, which I think is one of my favourites from Edinburgh this year. Late on the Monday afternoon of the second week I was in Edinburgh, I was wandering around by Holyrood Park when I decided to mosey in along the path. I didn’t consciously set out to try to climb Arthur’s Seat – I’m not that keen on high hills/mountains in Ireland (and by extension Scotland) as they tend not to have trees (I’ve climbed some of the mountains in the Adirondacks. I liked them, because they have forests on the slopes of the mountains, so you can’t really tell how high up you are until you reach the summit for that “oh WOW” moment) and it’s quite high by my standards. That said, I do love a good photograph – and I kept stopping to take a photo, wondering what the view would be like a bit further along, and walking up to have a look (and take another photo or two).

I ended up more than two-thirds of the way across the Dry Dam (which in my mind is most of the way up to Arthur’s Seat- I got to about the end of the red arrow on the way to Arthur’s Seat on the map on the Walking Scotland page), where the path becomes a bit narrow and has a bit of a drop-off to the left, before I decided I’d best turn tail and head back before I managed to slip and go tumbling to my doom down the hill or something (Not that I’ve ever had any balance issues, but it seems a more likely way of my meeting my doom than, say, in my sleep as an old woman). There are some pretty spectacular views along the path, though.

I love this photo particularly for a few reasons- the thistles (symbol of Scotland), the couple holding hands walking down the path, the variety of colours… Good times.

Looking forward to the Edinburgh Fringe (and International Book Festival!) 2011….

As usual, I’m gearing up for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival in August, and there are a good few shows I’m really looking forward to. This year, for the first time ever, I’m actually going over for two whole weeks, and I can’t wait – I usually just go for a few days, and always come back wishing I had stayed longer. Two weeks, of course, means lots more time for a lot more shows. Here are some of the highlights of the shows I’m planning to see:

Des Bishop is bringing his “My Dad Was Nearly James Bond” show back to the Fringe for the first two weeks of the festival, and I’ve booked the last show of the run (which apparently is the last run of this show. Probably.). This was probably the most memorable show I saw last year, with his dad making an appearance at the end of the show. I laughed, I cried… and as I’ve seen it in Vicar Street (thanks to Des letting me have guestlist for my birthday in June), I’d like to see the last one as well (never mind the fact that it is actually one of those shows you can see several times and still enjoy). If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check it out – sadly there won’t be a surprise ending this year, but it’s well worth seeing anyway.

I’m all for some whimsy in life. So I’m delighted to see that the lovely David O’Doherty and the delightful Josie Long will be back in Edinburgh doing their thing on the Fringe. The mighty DO’D has two shows this year – “David O’Doherty is Looking Up” and “David O’Doherty Presents: Rory Sheridan’s Tales of The Antarctica”, both of which look like great fun. While writing this, I realised that I think I’ve been to every one of Josie Long’s Fringe shows, her “The Future is Another Place” this year being her fifth show (and my fifth time seeing her in Edinburgh). The Edinburgh Fringe wouldn’t be the same without her – her shows are always a good laugh and full of warm fuzzies.

Speaking of whimsy, I’m also looking forward to Joey Page‘s “Sparklehorse Superbrain”, which looks like fun – and the description boasts a glowing comment from Josie Long, so it’s got to be good, right? Another show that appeals to the whimsical side is Conor O’Toole‘s “Manual of Style”, which promises to be font-based comedy. In my case an offshoot of being a stationery connoisseur (*ahem* if you don’t mind) is also having a keen appreciation of fonts, so this should be good craic.

At risk of glowing about the Bishops too much, Aidan Bishop is doing what promises to be an excellent show, too; in “Misspelled” he tackles the subject of his dyslexia head-on, and gets in laughs in the process. I’ve seen this in preview at the International and it’s shaping up to be a great one – just the right mix of informational and funny. Looking forward to seeing the final version in Edinburgh.

And then, of course, there are the guaranteed-laugh “big names” – Dave Gorman, Jimeoin, Axis of Awesome (who may not be an official big name but have sold out shows at the Fringe a *lot*, and are recommended by a lot of comedians), Omid Djalili, Rich Hall, and Glenn Wool (who at any rate is a regular on the circuit and, having seen him before, I can vouch for the fact that laughs are practically guaranteed) are all doing shows at the Fringe this year, and are all well worth the ticket price. While I’m a little disappointed that some of the comedians I always see – notably Reginald D. Hunter and Brendon Burns – don’t seem to have shows this year, there are more than enough other excellent shows on to make up for it.

Finally, the Irish crew (and I’m not just name-checking them ‘cos I know some of them – these folks are good): Eric Lalor, Rory O’Hanlon, Jarlath Regan, Eddie Naessens, Foil Arms & Hog, Damien Clark (honorary Irishman), and Fred Cooke are amongst those fleeing the island for Edinburgh for the month of August. Pop in, say hi and stay for a laugh- trust me.

For two years, I’ve been meaning to get in to the Edinburgh International Book Festival, ever since I discovered it was on in Charlotte Square Gardens. With my infamous poor timing, I’ve managed to miss out on actually getting to any of the book festival events the last two years- so I’m delighted to finally have gotten my act together and booked two shows at the book fest. I’m extremely pleased at managing to get a ticket to see the famous Neil Gaiman (owner of the home library I covet) – two of his shows are sold out at this point, but on the 21st there’s a Guardian Book Club event discussing his novel “American Gods” with him.

Some of you, my dear readers, may already know I’m a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society. There’s a website that I think is somehow tangentially related to the Cloud Appreciation Society (I think one of the founders is the same, though I wasn’t able to confirm on the Cloud Appreciation Society website), called The Idler. The editor of The Idler and a contributor, Tom Hodgkinson and Matthew de Abaitua, are doing a talk at the Book Festival on the 16th of August called “Advancing Into the Slow Lane”, which looks to be right up my street (if you’ll excuse the pun).

While in Edinburgh, I highly recommend stopping at Gordon’s Trattoria if you get a chance – wonderful little restaurant on the Royal Mile with a great menu, excellent staff and service and lovely atmosphere. The first time I went in there – craving a banana split for no apparent reason at 10pm one evening (and they do the best banana splits in town) – Frank Sinatra was on the radio and staff and customers alike were singing along. Every time I’ve been in since has been a great experience – highly recommended.

Another great spot for a bit to eat is Pompeii, a little Italian restaurant in Grassmarket. Delicious food, great service and a pleasant atmosphere – always a regular stop on my trips to Edinburgh!

Counting down the days…. 🙂

My top five recommendations for don’t-miss shows at the Edinburgh Fringe

First of all, something I have to get out of the way: I love Edinburgh. Especially during the festival (though it’s a gorgeous, friendly city even when visiting at other times) there’s an incredible atmosphere, the scenery is spectacular and the locals are by and large friendly. (One year, when walking up the road to a gig I must have had a serious look on my face, as a homeless man across the road shouted something to the effect of “ah cheer up love, it’s not that bad!”. Never had that happen anywhere else, that’s for sure…) I always try to head over for a few days during the Festival to catch a few shows and generally hang out, and this year is no exception, with the added bonus that a good friend of mine is coming along on her first visit to the city (and we all know there’s nothing I like better than showing my favourite people around my favourite places. Hurrah!). Since she’s never been to Edinburgh before, nor to the Edinburgh Fringe, I was entrusted with the mission of finding us a few good shows to go to, and I have come up with Chi’s Official List of Shows You Cannot Miss in Edinburgh This August In No Particular Order (which of course I’m only sharing with you good people now that our tickets have been booked):

Danny Bhoy – By Royal Disappointment I saw Danny Bhoy at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival a couple of years ago and will confess that not only is he a very funny comedian, I had a bit of a crush by the end of the show. Edinburgh’s his home turf, too, so should be a cracker of a show.

David O’Doherty – Somewhere Over the David O’Doherty DO’D is just one of those comedians who, upon even just hearing their name, makes your mouth involuntarily break out in a big grin and brings a warm feeling to your heart… at least, if you’ve ever seen DO’D. O’Doherty’s particular brand of musical whimsy is something no plan for Edinburgh should be without.

Reginald D. Hunter – Trophy Nigga I have some trouble trying to remember the first time I saw Reginald D. Hunter, but it was a few years ago now (Kilkenny? Edinburgh? Probably Kilkenny…) and I haven’t missed a show in Edinburgh (or Dublin, if I hear about it) since. One of my favourite comedians.

Brendon Burns – Y’know- Love ‘n’ God ‘n’ metaphysics ‘n’ shit Another one I won’t miss if I can help it- very funny, smart, often high-energy comedy – but the easily-offended should probably steer clear…

Josie Long – Be Honourable! I first saw Josie open a show at Whelans for David O’Doherty. She was wonderful. She had Venn Diagrams. At the end of her spot I was hoping she’d be back to do a show of her own, and soon. No such luck (yet, that I know of…), but I’ve been to see her every year in Edinburgh since. She even does little handmade magazine/programme/booklet/thingamys. Wonderful.

Finally, while you’re in Edinburgh you really should stop in to the lovely little restaurant that is Gordon’s Trattoria on the Royal Mile. You can’t beat a restaurant where the staff sing as they go about their work, the owners are great and they do an excellent banana split. Also highly recommended is Pompeii Restaurant at 62 Grassmarket- spectacular lasagne, wonderful staff and great atmosphere. Bon appetit!

Update 14 August 2010 In addition to the above, I highly recommend checking out Des Bishop’s show “My Dad Was Nearly James Bond”. I saw a review that described it as “moving”, and that’s certainly spot-on (I was welling up a bit at parts, I’ll confess. Yes, Chi is a sap. Shaddup)- but very very funny as well. Was really glad I went to see it while I was over this week, and had my mother roarin laughing when telling her bits of it today. One not to miss…