FROM EUROTRASH TO CARLTON HILL

My first encounter with the Fringe was going to be an australian extravaganza based on our very own Eurovision festival.

I had returned to the hostel after my Blue meal in order to get ready, and I met a "creepy" irish guy staying in the lounge room. I don´t know if you have previously experienced something like that, but it was like a blast from the past. He was certainly older than everybody around, and he looked as if he had had a few beers already. He kept asking every single girl around where they were from, and upon hearing the country he was deciding that " Spain means Barcelona, Italy means Roma, Australia means Sidney", he was asking how was life there, improvising songs and asking if you would invite him to stay at your place. I had forgotten that I didn´t like the song "A pair of brown eyes", not at all. What I did find interesting was the fact that the couple of americans in the hostel found him nice and lovely and oh so sweet, while the rest of the people were absolutely terrified. So, I think that almost everybody exhaled a huge breath when he was sent towards the Military Tatoo, after having been convinced by one australian guy that all the shows were fully booked out.

Anyway, off I went to climb the Edinburgh hills towards the Plaisance Grand, where the Eurobear was being held every night. There was a long queue, and there was also a bar outside where you could buy beers and mixed drinks to get into the auditorium. There was a group of girls giving out stickers so you would know the country you belonged to, and you could buy "clappers" and little flags to wave around. I ended up belonging to Sweden (bad omens after all these years). The spectacle was hilarious. It was supposedly hosted in "sunny Sarajevo", with two presenters and 10 countries competing fulfilling all the expected quirks. So, we got a boy band from Russia, a Björk lookalike from Iceland, a ridiculous Bono from Ireland (I should shut up, because there was such an amount of irish people in the audience, that he won) ... I should say that the "faux" post-industrial rock german group was pretty good, and I would have liked to hear more of them. It was great fun, specially when the voting arrived ( Royaume Uni, deux points ). Most of the people were able to join in and send SMS.

Monday came with bright blue skies. While I was sitting in the lounge having my breakfast, I discovered that the irish guy had indeed gone to the Tatoo and had been fleeced by an scalper. He paid something like 100 pounds for a ticket. Way too much for me.

I first went to the Fringe Half-Price booth. I had hoped to get tickets for "Teenage Kicks", the play based on John Peel´s life, but mondays was their day off. I sat down at one of the computers there, and looked for things going on during the afternoon. I found that "Njinsky´s last dance" was on that day, and I got one of the last tickets. The computer tent installed there is very handy when you want to check what´s going on and buy your last minute tickets. Then you just walk up to the counter with your credit card and they give you the tickets.

And then I began to walk around town. First up to Carlton Hill. The day was amazing, with blue skies and scattered clouds, and the views were resplendent all around. One of the things that I noticed during my stay in Edinburgh is that nature is very, very near to the town. The hills are just there, so bare of trees and so full of heather that you cannot really believe it when coming from a congested big city.

I continued my meandering through town, and I went looking for the new and polemic Scottish Parliament. I don´t really understand all the fuss. A very interesting building, but I couldn´t see how it was disturbing the town architecture around it (I saw far worse things). I specially liked the windows.

Nearby I grabbed a roasted pepper and salami roll (very, very good and freshly made in front of me), and headed back up to the Pleasance for my dosis of "Potted Potter".

Ps. I lied. Quidditch in the next instalment.