Exploring Edinburgh

Friday was our "explore Edinburgh day".  By the way, this week-end was the opening weekend for Edinburgh's huge Fringe Festival.  Almost every open space is devoted to this festival.  So while we were trying to get a feel for the city,  we were almost getting it on steroids with the festival going on.  I started the day by going on a walking tour.  It was a great way to begin the trip because it really made me familiar and comfortable with the city.  After the tour we went to find lunch and some of the girls decided to do some shopping.  (Sorry family, you will not be getting the rather ugly, and very expensive Scottish wool scarves like some of the other girl's families).   Instead of shopping, Nicole, Jenesis and I explored the city further.  Edinburgh had some really neat things about it that made it nice for us: almost all of its museums were free, there were street performers everywhere so when we got tired we just went and sat down and watched them, and a lady that lives there holds the record for the most piercing, and we saw her!  Another cool thing is that Edinburgh is built on hills and so there are many layers to the city.  You could think that the street you were on was at ground level, but actually it was 7 stories up.  Also, the architecture of Edinburgh is very different from the other cities I have been seeing.  The church steeples are very dark and decorative.  Around 5, we went to see a show and it was super funny, probably the best performance I have ever seen.  Later the three of us wanted to find some more cheap or free shows so we were walking around and a lady gave us a flier for a free show at "Espionage", a venue that holds free shows all day.  We decided to go, but we were a little sketched out by the venue as we approached it.  Espionage is a giant 5 level bar that is renting out rooms to performers.  We watched two shows there that night, one much more vulgar than the other, but still entertaining.