Oh the poor locals!

Is about the only thing I can think as I try and make my way through this giant chaotic mess of a city for what is known as the Fringe Fest in Edinburgh. I arrived Friday afternoon and was greeted by throngs of tourists from all over the world, crowding up the breathtakingly beautiful streets to the point where I could barely move. After a solid 2 days of carrying around my giant backpack, this was not a happy sight. I was also the least prepared, directions-wise when I got into the city, and with all the tourists, people were walking on every side of the street, rather than just the on the left as is proper in the UK. At one point I just barrelled up the middle of the sidewalk as that was the only place I could find any space!

Luckily, I made it to my hostel without too much trouble, and managed to get to the box office just in time to get the last seat for a show I wanted to see that evening. On my way to Edinburgh, instead of reading my guidebook and figuring out the city, I decided to read the reviews for the shows at the Fringe. I bought tickets to three shows, two I saw yesterday. The fringe traditionally has a variety of theater, comedy, music, and dance, but the most popular shows are generally all comedy. The first show I saw, Randy: Postcards from Purgatory, was a one-man puppet stand up routine. It had gotten great reviews and tickets cost about 10 pounds ($20), and although it was funny at times, the little black box theater, and semi-stale jokes reminded me a great deal of amature university comedy shows. The puppetry though was pure mastery, because you never actually saw the person, unlike Avenue Q, you just saw the puppet. By the end I really thought that thing was alive, so I guess for that fact, it was worth the money.

The second show I saw was Ashley Hames: Confessions of a Sex Reporter. Ashley Hames apparently had his own tv show in the UK where he explored the devious underground world of sex (dominatrixes seemed to be a common theme), until that is a year or so ago, the show got shut down, so here he was, trying to revive his career the grassroots way. I had bought the ticket knowing he had written a book that got a lot of press, and thinking I was gonna get something like Chelsea Handler standup, I showed up and realized I was in for something quite a bit different. The presentation was more about human sexuality than comedy, but luckily I had met a nice Australian girl from Melbourne at the show, so I didn't feel too much like a pervert being there by myself.

Tonight, I'm hoping my luck improves with tickets for what is technically the book festival, rather than the fringe. For tonight I'm seeing a comedy writer, Frank Skinner, do a program about his book and his exploits. I've heard he's hilarious so here's hoping. There's also quite a few free options, so I might try and pick some of those up if I can figure it out, or pay for a haunted tour of the city which is cheaper than a show and supposed to be fairly scary.

As for today, I went to the farmers market for breakfast and saw the giant Edinburgh Castle before lunch. It's essentially a less interesting version of the Tower of London, where they hold the crown jewels of Scotland and go on a bit about the history. It's at the top of the city though so the views were fantastic and now I know a bit more about Scottish history. This afternoon I'm going to attempt a foray into the national museum unless I get too bored and then will probably just end up watching the street performers all afternoon. And right now, I'm sitting in the cafe where J.K. Rowlings wrote Harry Potter, pretending to be thinking about my future bank-breaking novel series. I can feel it coming, this city definitely has the right mojo for creative thinking, perhaps I'll have something by the end of my time here.