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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“At the end of the candlelight march, huge piles of wooden viking ships and large mock animals made of straw are lit up ... ” |
After checking in at our hostel, I decided to take a four hour long nap to try to compensate for our lack of sleep and recharge for the kickoff celebration tonight.
.. starting off with the torch candle processional, the entire streets of Edinburgh is literally flooded with thousands of people holding brightly lit torches. One could describe the event as a glimmering sea of fire, adding a warm ambience to the already surreal city. Upon arriving on Princes Street, we join the swarming crowd of fire as the nearby Pipe Band play the national anthem with these loud yet beautiful bagpipes. At the end of the candlelight march, the crowd is drawn up to the top of Calton Hill where huge piles of wooden viking ships and large mock druidic animals made of straw are lit up while drizzles of rain singe the torches people are carrying. A huge spectacular fireworks bonanza tops the evening event as fireworks are launched off just a few hundred feet away from the cheery, loud and wet crowd.
Afterwards, we head back down to George Street to find some place to eat. We stumble onto a small crowd lining the street as some oddly dressed folks with funky vehicles straight out of a Lemony-Snicket movie, my friend and I stood there bemused and laughing at this strange spectacle. We later find out they were out for a last minute rehearsal for tomorrow night's street parade. With quite a bit of comic relief, we headed back to our rooms (without any luck for dinner).
Later that evening our room mate arrives, who we strike up a conversation with. We later decide to grab a late night drink at the downstairs bar and ended up having these off the wall topics like the meaning of Gai-jin (Japanese word for foreigner, connotes a bad meaning) and what it meant to our Kiwi room-mate. She obviously hated that word and if you're ever interested as to why, feel free to drop a line.
We eventually retire once we realized it was nearly three in the morning.
previous travel blog entry
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