Wednesday, Aug. 21

Started the day with a Little Fish walking tour of old town. The tour guide, Stephanie, was very entertaining.

Shows

It’s True, It’s True, It’s TrueLarge venue, 3 women “verbatim” performance that was beautifully staged.
The Patient GloriaLarge venue. The older main actress gave an inspirational performance.
ElizabethanMeh. Solo guy playing a lute looking thing that was clearly a regular guitar tried to string together so so performances of Elizabethan songs with what was supposed to be a humorous tale, but really wasn’t.
ChameleonThis solo young woman seemed to be pouring her heart into this, but I just didn’t get it.

Tuesday, August 20

Attempted and failed to climb to Arthur’s Seat. It was very disappointing to find myself so out of shape. I did still see some lovely views of Edinburgh.

Shows

The Importance of Being EarnestGerman company. They did really weird clownish physical humor. Jack as a (female, speaking) Harpo Marx, should give your an idea. Interesting at first, but wore on me.
Hide and SeekReally interesting one man show. Found out after her was also running all his not insignificant tech.
FishbowlBig space event. Interesting physical theater
DrowningProduced by Carrie-Anne Moss. Kinda interesting, but mostly disappointing.
Genesis: The Marty Shelley Play
To Fall In Love
Pussy in Boots: The Adult PantoNeeded to see what a Panto was like. Now I have. Think Ren faire without the Ren. Not terribly adult.

Monday, August 19

Shows

Dark Play, or Stories for Boys
DallowayA large venue show. Very polished solo show by a talented performer.
Vaults TourNot a very good tour, but the vaults and their history are really creepy.
Dorian GrayWell done, forhigh schoolers.
MetamorphosisSolo woman, very intriguing and we’ll performed
  • Grave marker for evil misogynistic man, who seems to have done some good for Scotland by introducing public education.

Sunday, Aug 18 – Edinburgh

Experienced a very uncomfortable overnight bus ride on Megabus. I have no idea why I thought I’d get an okay night’s sleep on a bus. The temperature was like a meat locker, the seats barely reclined, the bus was packed, and since they gave no info at the onset, I didn’t realize there was a toilet until morning. Still, although there was a major standstill around midnight – how does that happen? – we arrived 30 min early. The countryside during the visible party of the trip was lovely.

It’s really weird, as I’m finally entering this from my hands written notes a week later, I’m discovering I took copious notes the first day and only the bare minimum after that. So I’m just going to try to catch up on the bare minimum part and maybe add in more details later. It is not easy doing this on my phone.

So on this first Sunday I saw only 3 shows, although my attempt to nap after I checked into my hostel was futile.

Shows

Being Norwegian
Fight SongFiona Casper-Strauss show. Just as creepy as one would expect of a show where most of the characters are teen Texas cheerleaders. Very compelling and good performances.
Trying it OnRecommended by Alan. I’m glad I saw it.

Saturday, Aug 17- London

Didn’t get terribly solid sleep on the plane – probably 4 hours or so.

When I got to the airport I ran into a couple things that went counter to my pretrip Internet research. First – the ATMs at Heathrow appear to ALL be high-surcharge machines. If you can do so, wait until you can get outside the airport to make your GBP withdrawal.

Second, if you want to get a SIM card from a vending machine, you need to do so before leaving the secure area. After that you need to use the shop, which is much more expensive.

That said, it was a little nerve-wracking going without my GPS, until I got to the Sainsbury by where I stowed my luggage where I ultimately got my SIM card, but I made it.

I detoured to Leicester Square to pick up my London Pass, so I wouldn’t have to pick it up on my return to London next Tuesday.

Finally got my morning coffee after getting off the train by British Museum. Posting galleries for my three main destinations below as well as one with street pix.

Continue reading Saturday, Aug 17- London