For all the indulgences, pleasures, recreation and hedonism on offer in Edinburgh right now, opportunities for keeping in shape are surprisingly ample. Oddly yet naturally enough, a daily fitness routine is inherent in August’s festivities, so no true reveler, regardless of how hard- or soft-bodied upon arrival, has an excuse for not being a little [...]
Where else in the world can you legally be this weird? Three girls – wearing fishnet stockings, swimming caps and some sort of bathing-suit-turned-lingerie thing – look like they could be the only naughty synchronized swim team this side of Amsterdam. Of course, I should hope that a swim team doesn’t need to wear inflatable [...]
As of this past weekend, the beginning of the International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), means that the Fringe is no longer going it alone. The Book Festival brings in world-renowned authors such as feminist Andrea Dworkin, Norman Mailer and J.K. Rowling, of Harry Potter fame. With the [...]
Festive August is over. With the beginning of September, summer winds down. Where recently the sun wasn’t truly set until 10:30pm, already Edinburgh is dark by nine, and the growing shortness of the days brings winter ever closer to the city. The Fringe, Film and Book festivals all finished this past Monday, leaving the International [...]
From Rose Street to the Royal Mile, roaming crowds of tourists and flier-hawkers clog the veins of Edinburgh. Yet despite needing 20 minutes to walk the same distance as 10 used to suffice, the city thrives, pulses with a vibrancy that is understated or in hibernation much of the year. Even at 11 on a [...]
“How in the world can all these people possibly fit in there?” a woman next to me asked her companion. A hundred meters and a thousand Military Tattoo attendees in front of us, the stadium seating in the esplanade – on three sides, with Edinburgh Castle on the west – did not look as if [...]
Edinburgh calls itself the festival city and it’s no idle boast. In August of each year there are five of them I’m aware of, and there could be more. First it’s jazz, then four more that run concurrently for three weeks: The Books Festival, a Film Festival, the International Festival, and the Festival Fringe. The [...]
