1978年的9月某天，我與電腦系的東京大學留英學生Ono先生從倫敦搭夜車往愛丁堡參加著名的藝術節（the Edinburgh International Festival）。
我們清晨道達。我們都沒有預訂旅館。
我們先去堡（Scotches are displayed at a shop along the Royal Mile. You can’t leave Edinburgh without doing the traditional tourist stroll along the this street.）、再國家美術館（At the National Gallery of Scotland, works by Scottish artists are given prominent display. 本文末的照片 與30年前 不過當時是大廳 小女孩約6歲的美術教育）；看一場莎士比亞的{仲夏夜之夢}（全場跟著劇情背唸台詞，讓我們變成「外星人」）；許多散在各處的表演團體（the Fringe）。
我忘掉Ono什麼時候打退堂鼓，自己再搭車回 Colchester（Essex 大學）。
反正我去 YMCA住通鋪。將錢包放在枕頭下。省來找不到。
我還是去Glasgow。下午還在著名的York城憑弔。
後來我的導師說當時我應該報警。請求支援，他們有特別學生救援辦法。
根據
History of the festivals
1978年添加了Jazz & Blues，不過，我錯過了。
http://www.edinburghfestivalcity.com/the-city/history-of-the-festivals
Edinburgh's 12 major Festivals are Scotland's world-leading cultural brands with expertise, vision, impact and international recognition unmatched by any other cultural events on the globe.
36 Hours in Edinburgh
Kieran Dodds for The New York Times
View from Calton Hill down Princes Street.
EVERY August, the global theatrical community — well, at least the part that is drawn to an all-male, musical version of Chekhov's “Three Sisters” — heads to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh for a monthlong celebration of the dramatic arts, from world premieres by celebrated authors to one-man shows by unknown novices. The main event is the Edinburgh International Festival, which next month will feature such productions as “Orpheus X,” a modern-day telling of the Orpheus myth, and a Mabou Mines staging of “A Doll's House.” But for many people, the real draw is the Fringe, a riotous collection of performances all around the city by hundreds of performance artists, comedians, memoirists and monologuists. The crux of the action is at the Assembly Rooms (54 George Street), one of several places where tickets are sold each day, and where hundreds of festivalgoers gather each morning — almost like theatrical futures traders — to swap information about what is causing the latest buzz, what's a must-see and what's turned out to be a flop. The great thing about many of these shows is that they often run an hour or so, and thus you know that even the most painful theatrical experience will soon come to an end if you've chosen unwisely. (Though I did once earn the lasting enmity of one playwright whose tortured attempts to tell a coherent story were so inept that I walked out about halfway through the show. The fact that there were only four other people in the audience might be why he glared at me so intently as I gently closed the theater door behind me.) Still, Edinburgh, even in August, is more than just about sitting in darkened theaters all day. The city itself beckons, and often provides the perfect kicker to a day spent discovering an amazing new talent, or the perfect antidote to a theatrical experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong.
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Friday
6 p.m.
1) HIGHER GROUND
Who's to argue with Robert Louis Stevenson? This native son of Edinburgh once wrote that the best views of the city could be found on Calton Hill — and he was right. The monument-studded hilltop, at the far east end of Princes Street and reachable by stairs from Waterloo Place, offers magnificent vistas of Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside, from the port town of Leith in one direction to Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags in another. When the skies are blue and the late-afternoon sun shimmers on the city below, it becomes clear why Edinburgh is considered among the most beautiful cities in the world.
7 p.m.
2) STARTING THE WEEKEND
Grab a Candy Cosmo or a Pear Drop at the Candy Bar (113-115 George Street; 44-131-225-9179; www.candybaredinburgh.co.uk) during happy hour (5 to 9 p.m), when drinks are two-for-one and this trendy basement bar is packed with Edinburgh's young scenesters getting revved up for the weekend ahead.
8:30 p.m.
3) ITALIAN FOOD, OF COURSE
Edinburgh's new Restaurant Row runs along George Street from St. Andrew Square to Charlotte Square, with a clutch of sleek, upscale establishments. Expertly prepared Italian food, from lightly breaded fried calamari to a braised lamb shoulder with polenta, is served at Est Est Est (135 George Street; 44-131-225-2555 or 44-870-401-2109; www.estestest.co.uk), an elegant space dominated by 130 black-and-white photos. Dinner for two, with wine, runs about £70, or $140 at $2 to £1, including tip.
11 p.m.
4) BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS
There are dozens of excellent places around town to hear live music, from Bannermans, where you'll often find unsigned local bands looking for their big break, to Sandy Bell's, a place for devotees of traditional Scottish music. But perhaps the best of all is Whistlebinkies (4-6 South Bridge; 44-131-557-5114; www.whistlebinkies.com), a sprawling basement bar that is often the first gig for start-up acts — from testosterone-fueled garage bands to soulful lesbian folk singers. The crowd ranges in ages and temperaments, and the talent runs from slickly polished to amusingly clueless. (“I know we have a song list here somewhere,” one young rocker — surely not far removed from high school — kept telling the small audience on a recent night.) But nothing compares to the frenzy that grips the room when an unknown singer unleashes a powerful voice and sets the place on fire. Open every night until 3 a.m. (5 a.m. during August).
Saturday
10:30 a.m.
5) OLD MASTERS
The National Gallery of Scotland (National Gallery Complex; 44-131-624-6200; www.nationalgalleries.org; free) has an impressive collection of artists from van Dyke to van Gogh. But this inviting museum also offers a good introduction to Scottish art. Names like Raeburn and McTaggart may not be as well known, but paintings by these Scottish artists compare well with their more famous contemporaries.
11:30 a.m.
6) SCOTLAND ART
You've seen Scotland's artistic past. Now it's time to fast-forward into the present. For a survey of the country's contemporary art scene, go a few blocks north and stroll among the galleries on and around Dundas Street, from the Open Eye Gallery (36 Abercromby Place; 44-131-557-1020; www.openeyegallery.co.uk), to Bourne Fine Art (6 Dundas Street; 44-131-557-4050; www.bournefineart.co.uk) and the tiny Randolph Gallery (39 Dundas Street; 44-131-556-0808; www.randolphgallery.com). Almost all will have special exhibits during Festival month, but you're sure to come across an intriguing local artist any time of year.
1 p.m.
7) BLUE PLATE SPECIAL
The modestly priced Blue (10 Cambridge Street, 44-131-221-1222; www.bluescotland.co.uk) shares the same head chef (Neil Forbes) and commitment to local seasonal ingredients as its better-known culinary sibling, the award-winning Atrium. Dishes include whiskey-cured salmon with crème fraîche (£5.50) and pan-fried mackerel with toasted almond, orange and fennel (£13).
2:30 p.m.
8) SPLIT PERSONALITY
Is there any major thoroughfare in the world more conflicted than Edinburgh's Princes Street? On one side is an urban blight of harshly lighted department stores, foul-smelling fast-food joints and generic cellphone shops. But turn your gaze to the opposite side of the street, and you'll see elegantly landscaped gardens, inviting park benches and massive trees framing a view of Edinburgh Castle off in the distance, looming over its former kingdom. It's a breathtaking sight, and one you should come back and experience again later in the evening, when the softly illuminated castle glows against the slowly darkening skies.
5:30 p.m.
9) HOW WAS ALAN CUMMING?
The Theater Royal Bar (25-27 Greenside Place; 44-131-557-2142) may not look like the best place to mingle with serious theatergoers (the signed posters of “Mamma, Mia!” and “Annie” hint at a more mainstream theatrical heritage). But this lively after-work, pretheater hangout is a good place to mix with the locals and catch up on Festival gossip, particular if the weather is nice and you can snag one of the dozen or so outdoor tables.
8 p.m.
10) CHINA ON THE NORTH SEA
Chinese food may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to Edinburgh, but Kweilin (19-21 Dundas Street; 44-131-557-1875; www.kweilin.co.uk) is a longtime local favorite, particularly for its classic Cantonese seafood dishes like steamed sea bass with ginger and spring onions (£17) and wok-fried sliced monkfish with fresh broccoli (£12.50).
10:55 p.m.
11) NO BAGPIPES HERE
End the night back on George Street, where the city's nightspot of the moment is Lulu, in the basement of the Tigerlily Hotel (125b George Street, 44-131-225-5005; www.luluedinburgh.co.uk), a sleekly designed dance bar that stays jumping until the early hours of the morning. Free entry before 11 p.m.; £7 after that.
Sunday
10 a.m.
12) ROYAL PROMENADE
You can't leave Edinburgh without doing the traditional tourist stroll along the Royal Mile, with Edinburgh Castle at one end and the Palace of Hollyrood House and the new Scottish Parliament at the other. Predictable? Yes. Worth doing? Most definitely.
12:30 p.m.
13) CATCH OF THE DAY
Rose Street, a long, narrow alley running between Princes and George Streets, is home to dozens of pubs, cozy cafes and informal restaurants — one of the most popular being the Mussel Inn (61-65 Rose Street; 44-131-225-5979; www.mussel-inn.com). This bright and airy space, with unfinished wood floors and butcher-block tables, serves fresh, simply prepared seafood. As the name implies, mussels are the house specialty, served in a choice of different broths, from the traditional (white wine, garlic and shallots) to the unexpected (leeks, horseradish, cider and cream). All but the most ravenous of diners will find the half-kilo order plenty, particularly as it is accompanied by delicious freshly baked bread, perfect for soaking up juices (£5.20). Thus sated, you should be ready to hit the theater again. That Polish production of “Macbeth,” with actors performing on stilts, sounds interesting.
The Basics
Continental Airlines offers direct service between Edinburgh and Newark; in late July a check of fares showed a roundtrip ticket as low as $918. The most efficient — and the cheapest — way to get to the city center is to take the airport bus (£3), which makes several stops in town, as well as at the centrally located Waverley Station.
Open for just over a year, Tigerlily (125 George Street; 44-131-225-5005; www.tigerlilyedinburgh.co.uk) has become the hot address in town, not just for visitors looking for a hip alternative to a Scottish B&B, but also for the locals, who jam its bars and stylish lounge areas each night. Doubles start at £175, or about $350 at $2 to £1, breakfast included.
The Scotsman Hotel (20 North Bridge; 44-131-556-5565; www.thescotsmanhotel.co.uk), in an old newspaper building, is a gorgeously renovated space, with dazzling rooms and a good restaurant. Double rooms start at £270 and quickly escalate into the stratosphere.
If it's good enough for J. K. Rowling, then why not you? The Balmoral Hotel (1 Princes Street; 44-131-556-2414; www.thebalmoralhotel.com) was where the “Harry Potter” author holed up while finishing the last chapter of the final book. (“I was sobbing my heart out,” she recently told an interviewer. “I downed half a bottle of champagne from the mini-bar and went home with mascara all over my face.”) Even if you're not a Potter fan, this elegant, centrally located hotel is a good place to rest up between Festival performances. Doubles start at £145.
Information on performances, tickets and locations for the Edinburgh Festival, which runs from Aug. 10 to Sept. 2, can be found at www.eif.co.uk, and for the Fringe (Aug. 5 to 27) at
www.edfringe.com.
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| Kieran Dodds for The New York Times |
 Kieran Dodds for The New York Times |  |
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