They Gave Us Fire and Told Us to Go Have Fun!

Happy Hogmanay everyone! Having spent St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, I decided to continue the trend and spend New Year’s in Scotland (next year will be Easter at the Vatican!...maybe).  The city was packed and the festivities extended over three days.

Day One, The Torchlight Procession: We picked up our torch on the Royal Mile and were really excited to join the whole city in a massive firelight exodus.  We gathered at St. Giles Cathedral where the whole city and then some were packed into the streets with flaming torches.  Initially it seems like an awful fire hazard, but we got over that worry fast.  The procession started with bagpipes, drums, and marching Vikings, and then we were all heading down the Royal Mile and the Mound.  In the dead of night, surrounded by thousands of people carrying torches, listening to bagpipes…I felt like I was marching into battle.  It was awesome.  (This was aided by my friend’s 300-style shout of “THIS! IS! HOGMANAY!”) 

We marched to the top of Calton Hill where we got a fantastic view of the city.  There we proceeded to watch the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen.  Not only was it coordinated to epic Scottish music, it came from every direction, in front of us, behind us, above us, and was accompanied by an amazing light show.

When that was done, we marched back down the hill, disposed of our torch (now burnt out), and headed home.  The best view of the night, though: looking out over the city, seeing thousands and thousands of lit torches lining the streets of Edinburgh.  Beautiful.

Day Two, Hogmanay Street Party: We spent the day doing a bit of shopping and eating, then prepped for the night out by having a liquid dinner of “tea”. 

Gucki, of course, joined in.

Then we headed out to dangerous Princes Street, which was so packed, you could hardly move three inches without getting an elbow to the ribs.  We met some interesting characters, including one man who skipped me in line at the Port-a-loo, then proceeded to ask, “Are you going to piss your pants? Cuz I’m going to piss my pants.”  All right then, sir.  Feel free to go ahead of me.  We also ran into a group of young men who couldn’t tell the difference between a crepe and a samosa.  One of these gents is the “nude man” I mentioned earlier.  Though Ange corrected me, saying that he wasn’t really nude, I think peeing into a bottle in the middle of the street involves a certain amount of nudity. 

Still, despite the semi-nudity, the atmosphere was awesome.  Bands were playing loudly, different sounds from every direction.  The air smelled like cooking beef and rain.  The whole of Princes Street was lit up with hanging lanterns and Christmas lights in the trees.  The centerpiece was the Ferris Wheel (which, sadly, we weren't able to go on), which stuck out like a massive, glittering jewel along the skyline.

We made the mistake of trying to wander the streets.  We proceeded to squish through the massive and heavily-packed crowd for twenty-five minutes before we decided to turn around and head back to our spot.  It was terrifying and hilarious; we were linked together in a chain and moving involved a lot of pushing, bodily contortions, and American boldness.  

The fireworks were lovely, though not as good as the night before.  Afterwards, we took part in the World’s Largest “Auld Lang Syne” rendition.  No one seemed to be singing the same words at the same time, but we had a fantastic time.  The practicing we’d been doing for the past two days certainly paid off!

Day Three, Hogmanay Games: Sadly, we didn’t really get to take part in these games.  The lines were way too long.  But we did get to show our support.  We picked teams.  You could either be an Uppie (those from the North, represented by an eagle wearing an aviator helmet and glasses) or a Doonie (those from the South, represented by a stag wearing a monocle and a mustache).  We decided to be Doonies (I’m from southern Wisconsin and now southern England).  We got to wear our badges (which you can’t really see in the picture) around the streets and on our climb up Arthur’s Seat.

And that was Hogmanay!  Oh so much fun and spent with fantastic people.