For the past week we've been experiencing Edinburgh's Festival. I've never seen anything like this (I keep saying that, don't I?). There are actually two Festivals going on simultaneously: the Fringe (https://www.edfringe.com/) and the Festival (http://www.eif.co.uk/). From what I gather, the Fringe Festival is a bit more edgy, younger, and more experimental while the Festival is a bit more high-brow, expensive and mainstream. This festival is massive and has taken over the city. Every bar and building is a venue for comedy acts, music, performances from the dramatic to circus, and serious talk and speeches on every topic under the sun from poetry to Scotland's independence. In 2013 there were 45,464 performances of 2,871 shows, making it the largest ever arts festival in the world. This year, it's even bigger. There are massive books in tiny print that show every performer and venue that people pour over and use to create their daily schedules, much like conference participants, only in search of fun, fun, and more fun--with a few pub breaks in between.  

So far, we've gone to Fringe events and focused on Comedy shows because we love to laugh . We saw Ruby Wax: Sane New World (http://www.rubywax.net/) and Elaine C Smith (http://www.elainecsmith.com/). We enjoyed Ruby Wax as we like a little intelligence with our comedy. Elaine C Smith was a poor choice for us. The entire audience was laughing hysterically and gave her a standing ovation. We Americans, however, could hardly decipher her thick Glaswegian accent and totally missed her references to events that happened in Glasgow. Humor really is cultural, folks. Then, we decided to take ourselves to other side of town and see what was happening in the Old Town near the University of Edinburgh. Brilliant decision. In small rooms on the top floors of pubs, we watched four different young comedians put on their free shows to anyone who would take the hour to listen to them. They were hilarious. We totally enjoyed the shows. We bought a pint, carried it into a hot and crowded room and perched on folding chairs with 50 others and laughed our heads off. I don't remember their names, but it was a great day!

Day before yesterday we bought tickets to see two shows we'd heard were good . That's how you find the best shows: word of mouth. Talking to people in line and in the pubs, we exchanged information about we'd seen and got recommendations from others. We went to Miles Allen's show called One Man: Breaking Bad (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/one-man-breaking-bad-edinburgh-716941 ) and a musical comedy presentation called 50 Shades of Grey, a Musical Parody. You can view clips from the musical on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw_KAyYgiIo. Both were fantastic performances. Enjoyed them immensely.

Today we're deciding what to see. There are so many choices that we need to plot it out. Or, just go have a drink and go where our noses lead. Either way, it will be fun.