***This blog post was delayed due to the events of the day, as you shall see below***

I woke up early with the intent of getting to the train station over the road and getting onto the train to Edinburgh as early as possible, so that I would have time to settle into my new hotel room before I would have to head out to attend the Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle that night.

Kings Cross Station was just over the road from the Carlton Hotel, so I was able to get over there and grab a quick breakfast before we had to board the train. At a quarter to nine, I headed to the train, handed my bag to the porter and boarded the last of the standard class carriages. AT 9am we started off.

Shortly after getting underway, I had my first Dr Who encounter of the trip, as we passed Alexandra Palace and its tall broadcasting antenna. Quickly, though, we had passed the building and were on our way.

The trip lasted for just over four hours and was very pleasant, although I could not see much beyond the window, as the tracks was bound on both sides by foliage or we traveled through a ditch in the landscape. Occasionally, though, we could see the tall tri-bladed windmills that generate power for the surrounding towns, along with the ruins of old churches. While some parts resembled the countryside of the South-West of WA, others most definitely did not. The towns or villages had an old-world feel to them, even where more modern building had been begun.

For all its length, this train journey only had five stops along the way. Each only lasted a few minutes before the train moved onward. The carriage that I was sitting in turned out to have the cafe at the rear of it, so I was able to grab a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of tea at about the three hour mark.

While most of the stops were unremarkable, the final stop before Edinburgh was quite different. The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in England's northern-most town and it has some beautiful old ruins right near the train tracks. The bridge that the train uses to cross the river Tweed is an old stonework bridge and is simply gorgeous.

Shortly after leaving Berwick-upon-Tweed, we would cross the England-Scotland border. I was keeping an eye out to see how they would mark it, and I almost missed it - a simply sign with two arrows, one marked "England" and another marked "Scotland" pointing in the appropriate directions. We continued onward and soon saw the North Sea off to our right as we ran along the coast and up into the Firth of Forth. As we got closer to Edinburgh, we noticed that a slIght fog was drifting across the tracks. It looked very... Scottish.

We finally reached Edinburgh and I was immediately struck by the building nearby - they were magnificent. I had been wanting to see old buildings and I could hardly miss them. I knew that I had the next couple of days to explore them so I quickly grabbed my bag and headed for the nearby Tattoo ticket office to pick up my ticket for that evening. I then hailed a taxi and headed for Masson House, where I would stay for the next three nights.

Masson House is a student housing block at the University of Edinburgh at the base of Arthur's Seat, one of the large mounts that Edinburgh sits around. When I got to my room on the third floor, I found it to be very comfortable and quickly settled in. As I had a few hours before I needed to head out again, I decided to do a load of washing in the laundry room of one of the neighbouring blocks.

At 7 o'clock, I headed for the bus-stop. As I did so, I noticed several large tour coaches leaving the University grounds - it turns out that many of the visiting performers for the Tattoo are also staying on the campus grounds! I hopped onto the next bus and headed into town.

Having missed my stop at the Royal Mile, I hopped off on the North Bridge and walked back up. The Royal Mile is the length of road (under several names) that runs from Edinburgh Castle down to Holyrood Palace. At this time of year, it apparently plays host to a large number of the street performers here for the Fringe Festival. I made my way up the road towards the castle, dodging around performers and onlookers. At one point, I stopped to listen to a man playing slap-tap on his acoustic guitar. It was beautiful and I bought a copy of his CD, which he happily signed for me.

After this I continued up to road until i reached the queuing area around the base of the Edinburgh Kirk, a large church that sits just outside the castle. I grabbed a quick bite to eat for on of the nearby shops and stood in line to wait. For whatever reason, they decided to let us in early an the growing crowd slowly made its way up the last length of road and into the ground of the castle to find our seats in the stands. My seat was block 15 row BB seat 1 - I was second row from the top and had a great view of the entire parade ground.

After everyone had filed in and the clock struck 9pm, the show began.

The theme of this year's Tattoo was Returning Home. Each of the acts was from a country that had been colonised or conquered by the British and that had known the sound of thee bagpipes. There were many impressive performances, but the stand-outs were The Massed Pipes and Drums (250 of the world's finest pipers and drummers), the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band, Te Waka Huia and Te Whanau a Apanui, and the Massed Bands of Her Majesty's Royal Marines.

The air was filled with the sounds of pipes and drums and it sounded glorious. It really brought out the truth of Billy Connolly's words: "When the British wanted to take over a country, they didn't send in some bloody Nigel. No, they sent in 400 hairy-***** Scotsmen to frighten them s***less!" The sight and sound of the Massed Pipes and Drums was gorgeous and inspiring.

One of the surprises of the night was the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra - the world's only marching military steel-drum band. They certainly put on a good show.

After almost two hours the show reached it's finale. With the entire crowd on their feet, bouncing along and singing "Auld Lang Syne", the performers all came back out and joined together to play a medley of songs from the past 60 years accompanied by fireworks. Of cvourse the lone Piper up on the battlements played his tune ("After The Battle") before the band played "Scotland The Brave" and marched out of the arena. In all, it was a magical evening.

After a 15-minute wait to climb down from my seat, I headed back down the Royal Mile and onto the North Bridge to hop onto the bus that took my back out to Masson House. BY then time I got back, it was nearly midnight, so I decided to simply head for bed.

Especially as I expected a fairly long day for the next day...