Sat. & Sun. Aug. 28-29 Glasgow, Scotland

We knew this would be a long day at the stop in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday, August 28th.  At approximately 10:30 a.m. that morning we met our group of 27 Cruise Critic friends and proceeded off the ship to our bus that would take us the approximately 1.5 hours to the city of Edinburgh, Scotland.  Because this was the final night of performance of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo we needed to travel over land to Edinburgh on Sat. before the ship’s scheduled docking in that area the following week.  As we came off the ship for our first stop in Scotland, we were met by a Scot in a kilt and full military dress with a bagpipe.

As we traveled through the port area I snapped this photo of it with the city of Glasgow in the background. 

In April 2010 we began our plans for this stop on the cruise.  Our first act of planning for this day was to purchase tickets, on-line,  for the Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. performance of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.  This was the last night of the 2010 program and therefore to attend it we traveled almost 2 hours in a bus from the port city (Greenock), near Glasgow, Scotland, to Edinburgh, Scotland for the first of two performances on August 28.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo which began in 1948 is an annual series of Military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces,  Commonwealth and International military bands and  display teams in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. The event takes place annually throughout August, as part of the wider Edinburgh Festival.

The word “Tattoo” is derived from a Dutch phrase that means “to close or turn off the tap”. 

It  became  a  signal--played  each  night  by a regiment’s Corps of Drums or Pipes and Drums—to turn off the taps of their ale kegs so that the soldiers would retire to their lodgings at a reasonable hour.  Later the term “Tattoo” was used to describe not only the last duty call of the day, but also a ceremonial form of evening entertainment performed by military musicians . 

The first official Edinburgh Military Tattoo began in 1950 with just eight items on the program.  It drew some 6000 spectators seated in simple bench and scaffold structures around the north, south and east sides of the Edinburgh Castle esplanade.

Now, on average, just over 217,000 people see the Tattoo live on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle each year, and it has sold out in advance for the last decade. 30% of the audience are from Scotland and 35% from the rest of the United Kingdom. The remaining 35% of the audience consists of 70,000 visitors from overseas.  The current grandstands have a capacity of 8600.

The Tattoo is performed every weekday evening and twice on Saturdays throughout August and has never been cancelled due to inclement weather.

This is our first view of the Edinburgh Castle as we arrived in the city shortly after noon.  Edinburgh Castle is located at the top of the “Royal Mile”, at the west end of Edinburgh's old town district. The volcanic Castle Rock offers a naturally defended position, with sheer cliffs to north and south, and a steep ascent from the west.  The only easy approach is from the town to the east, and the castle's defenses are situated accordingly.

 

The city of Edinburgh viewed from high above on the castle grounds.

In front of the castle is a long, sloping forecourt known as the Esplanade (shown below).

After a quick lunch with our Cruise Critic friends, Don & Sandy Craig from Palestine, TX, we began a tour of the Edinburgh Castle.  Above is the chapel. (This is actually the only worthwhile picture I have of the castle since the conditions were not very good for picture taking).

Later we took a bus tour of the city.  Many of the pictures, taken from the window of a bus, are not worthwhile posting.  Here, one of the many beautiful buildings of this very large city.

A beautiful public building of the city used for performances.

Back from our city tour, we stopped for an early dinner in a sidewalk café and then about 6 p.m. proceeded to line up for admittance to the evening performance.  Because of all the worldwide terrorist activity, approximately one hour prior to each performance the grandstands are completely examined by security personnel and bomb-sniffing dogs.  Then, the crowd of 8,600 people are allowed to be seated.  Below, the Edinburgh Castle and a portion of the grandstands.

We found that the seats are situated so closely to each other that when all seats are filled the persons sitting on either side of you are touching you and the back of the person sitting in front of you is touching your knees while the knees of the person sitting behind you are touching your back.  It is a very tight situation!  One advantage is that once everyone is seated body heat from everyone helps to keep you warm.  And the nights can be cool in Scotland, especially if it rains.  We received a very few drops of rain during the performance. 

Here, one of the performing bands emerges from the Castle. 

Twenty-two different groups from around the world performed in the show.  The United States was represented by The Citadel Regimental Band and Pipes from Charleston, S. C.

The Finale of the show (in the dark with the castle lighted) included the “National Anthem”which is “God Save the Queen”, very beautifully performed and sang by most.   Also in the Finale were “Auld Lang Syne” and an “Evening Hymn”.  As we exited with a crowd of 8,600 into an area where another crowd of 8,600 waited to enter the grandstands it was quite a challenge to locate our bus parked a few blocks away.  Finally, we were all onboard and we began our trip back to the port for Glasgow.

We arrived at the ship about 12:30 a.m. where we found a welcoming buffet for our enjoyment.  With everyone finally back onboard about 1:30, the ship’s Log states, “…Shortly before 02:00 we let go of our lines and proceeded away from the berth…”.  And, began an ‘unnamed’ day at sea with plenty of time for sleeping and resting.