Edinburgh Is Where It's At

What is it that I loved so much about Edinburgh? Is it the way people line up single file to board the city bus? The way that, no matter where I went, the city smelled like freshly buttered toast? Or maybe it’s the fact that there is a MEDIEVAL CASTLE RIGHT DOWNTOWN! There is so much going on in Edinburgh that it’s hard to say what exactly makes everyone fall in love with this city, but it stole my heart the moment I arrived at Haymarket Station.

I'm sure Edinburgh isn’t always like this, but I was lucky enough to arrive in town during the peak of festival season, when three world-renowned festivals overlapped - The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Military Tattoo and the Comedy Festival. Walking down the Royal Mile, performers lined the street doing stand up comedy, performing unconventional music acts (the roller-blading mandolin player immediately comes to mind) and executing Matrix-like choreography while handing out flyers for their shows. Some nights I spent the entire evening in underground comedy clubs, wandering between floors and seeing new acts every half hour. Others nights I watched the action from the inside, staring out the window of the Southern Cross Café, bagpipes playing outside and Edith Piaf on the inside.


I’d be lying if I said my visit to Edinburgh during festival season was entirely coincidental. I, Claudia - a story of “the raw but beautiful interior life of misfit adolescent Claudia” - is what brought me here. I, Claudia touched my heart years ago when I saw the film version of the Toronto-based play, and continues to make me smile every time I watch the film or when I’m lucky enough to see it live. When I found out it would be playing at the Edinburgh Fringe during my visit to Glasgow, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see it live once again. Being the die-hard fan that I am, I lined up half an hour earlier than necessary in order to get a good seat, and it was worth thirty minutes of looking like a nerd once the lights were off and the curtain was drawn. For an hour and a half, Claudia, Drachman, Leslie and Douglas transported me into Claudia's world once again - I laughed, I cried, and I went back the next day to do it all over again. Maybe that's why I loved Edinburgh so much. But then again, maybe it was just the buttered toast.