The Fringe Has Begun

It's August here in Edinburgh, and that means only one thing - it's the month where the city's population doubles with tourists, visitors, and performers for Fringe Festival 2008. I have to admit, my mood is a bit torn on the whole thing. I feel like I should be out, seeing all sorts of shows and generally having a blast. But instead I'm finding it hard to walk down the street where I live, my usual coffee shop haunts are jam-packed with festival-goers, there are people constantly hanging out in my backyard (there's a semi-popular venue there), and everyone here has a North American accent. I have a feeling that all the locals get out of dodge when Festival season hits.

Sunday was opening day, and feeling brave and undeterred, we decided to check out the opening parade down Princes street. We were walking over North Bridge about five minutes before the parade began, and got to see all the performers from above.


After that, we descended into the chaos. Princes Street was impossible to walk down with all the people there, so we scooted through Marks & Spencer to the street behind, and managed to get this view of the parade from one of the sidestreets looking towards the parade route.


I know, it's not so great a view really. After the bands from the Tattoo went by (who are awesome), there were buses full of random performers going by, so we kind of decided to get away from the crowds, head to a pub and give the rest of the parade a miss.

All in all, I'm not really all that unhappy to be coming home for a visit during the festival. I think it could be quite different if we weren't living right in the middle of it all. Still, B and I hit up a comedy show last night at the Canon's Gait which was good times, and I'd still like to try to see a few things before we leave.