The Ramblings and Photos of a recycled teenager!!: Festival

We normally always have a day in Edinburgh sometime during the festival, but we almost missed it this year as we'd also had a holiday on the island of Mull, so we were tight for time. Almost at the last minute, we decided on a day to visit Edinburgh and boy were we lucky!! We chose a magnificent day to go with the sun shining which always means seeing Edinburgh at its very best.

This year I thought I concentrate on doing some 'people' photos rather than landscapes, so here are some of my efforts

I didn't confine photo taking to just people however, so here are a few more, landscapes this time!!

Two more landscapes, but taken with the special effects mode on the camera where only the colour red is picked out

Then, as we were having some drinks and nibbles in the Grassmarket area, there was much revving of engines and I saw that it was a number of scooters leaving so, not to miss a photo opportunity, I managed to catch these before they left

We had had a great day in town with the sun shining down on us for most of the day so a thoroughly good day was had by all!!

If you happen to regularly read my blog, you would have seen that last year we had a night-time picnic down at the local beach to watch the end of the Edinburgh Festival being marked by the usual spectacular firework display. Well, this year we went the whole hog and booked to attend a gala dinner at the Royal Overseas League at 100 Princes Street, Edinburgh, which is situated directly opposite the Ross Bandstand and Edinburgh Castle!!

We caught the train into Edinburgh and wandered along Princes Street in glorious sunshine, taking one or two photos on the way

Scott Monument

Scottish Saltire

Houses near Edinburgh Castle

We made our way to the venue where we settled in for a thirst quenching drink then on to the champagne reception. After a couple of glasses of very nice 'bubbly stuff' we entered the dining room for our five course dinner. It was a set menu - here is what was on offer:

Strips of confit duck leg and sliced smoked

duck breast with a bacon and hazelnut dressing

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Cream of asparagus soup topped with

coriander creme fraiche

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Lemon sorbet drizzled with Limon Cello

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Slow cooked fillet of beef with celariac and mustard mash,

tarragon infused chantenay carrots and a port jus

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Milk chocolate box with Morello cherry compote and

toasted chopped nuts

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Dunsyre Blue, Connage Clava Brie and Arran Cheddar

with celery, grapes and real ale chutney

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Freshly brewed coffee and Scottish fudge

I can tell you now that everything was just wonderful - the plates were very clean going back to the kitchen!! This was fine dining at its very best and was served with lovely wine, which was all included in the price of our tickets.

Once the sweets were finished it was time to climb up to the rooftop to view the fireworks. We were very lucky and were right at the front of the balcony with a grandstand view of the majestic Edinburgh Castle.

Then the music and fireworks started. It was all truly awesome!! Some of the fireworks seemed to be bursting above us and lighting up the night sky with brilliant colours. As usual, I spent most of the time viewing everything through the lens of the camera with some photos turning out quite well and others not turning out at all!! Here are what I consider to be some of the better photos of the night:

These ones look a bit like palm trees!!

Although the castle looks like it's on fire, I can confirm that it wasn't!!

The finale

Although the fireworks and music lasted around 45 minutes, the time flew past so quickly and it was soon time to descend the stairs back into the building where our cheese and biscuits and coffee and fudge were waiting for us. We had hope that we'd be able to get the last train home again, but Scotrail are not very hearty when it comes to putting on late trains - the last train was 10.30 p.m. instead of 9.30 p.m. which wouldn't have given us enough time to enjoy what was on offer, so we decided to take a taxi home instead.

Once we had finished our cheese and biscuits we headed off into the night and hailed a taxi which took us home. I have to say though that these black cabs are not at all comfortable!! I think that was the bumpiest journey I've ever had in a cab in my life!!

We really hadn't known what to expect from our evening but it really did surpass all expectations - so much so, that we're talking about the possibility of doing it all over again next year!!