Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Set in front of Edinburgh's cliff top castle, with stands built on and out from the Castle Esplanade, the Tattoo brings to the heart of Edinburgh a spectacular range of traditional military costumes, music and parades, not just from the Scottish tradition of kilts, bagpipes and pipe bands, but combat and motorcycle display teams, parachute displays and visitors from military forces from around the world. Every year there is the haunting sound of the Lone Piper, performed against the famous backdrop of the castle, as well as Massed Highland Dancers.

Celebrating not only the 60th Tattoo, 2009 also helps celebrate the 250th anniversary of Scotland's national bard, Robert (Rabbie) Burns, as well as Scotland's first ever Homecoming Festival. With music provided by the massed bands of the Royal Air Force and the band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, there are also two sets of Swiss visitors - its Top Secret Drum Corps and, in its Tattoo debut, the Central Band of the Swiss Army.

If you can't get there, then the Tattoo website provides live images of each year's event, with two webcams, strategically positioned atop the box complex on the east stand of the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle, providing spectacular views of the castle, the Tattoo and the historic Royal Mile which leads down to both the Palace of Holyrood House and the new Scottish Parliament. Tattoo Website for information and Tickets: HERE

When: 7 - 29 Aug 2009; not Sun (annual)

Where: Edinburgh Castle

Cost: £14-£46; Sat 10.30pm £17-£49
Mail order (to be received by 7 Nov) & online booking from 1 Dec

Royal Botanic Gardens

Established in 1670, on an area the size of a tennis court, the Garden consists now of over 70 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds. The amazing Glasshouse Experience comprises ten glasshouses, all with their own fascination. The garden features Britain's tallest palm house, the elegant Temperate Palm House, and its neighbor, the Tropical Palm House. There is an Alpine House and an astonishingly long Herbaceous Border of 165 meters which contrasts with the Winter Garden displaying plants that are at their best at the opposite end of the year.

The magnificent Woodland Gardens and arboretum hold nearly 2,000 specimens generally grouped into major genera and including groves of oak, limes, maples and rowans as well as a conifer collection and major groupings of rhododendrons, magnolias and eucryphias. There is also a Demonstration Garden, a Heath Garden, a Peat Garden, Azalea and Pond lawns, the Pringle Chinese collection and not least the Rock Garden, often considered to be the best in the world, whose diverse habitats and clever cultivation supports more than 5,000 high mountain, arctic and mediterranean species. From its top, magnificent views of Edinburgh can be obtained. Buy Tickets on-line: HERE HAVE A WONDERFUL VACATION IN SCOTLAND. IT IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY...

I hope that this web-tour of Scotland was able to provide you with a sneak peak of what you can expect to experience when you visit. Hopefully, it will help you decide on an itinerary for your particular day ashore. Please feel free to send me feedback (click here) to this site --or the rest of my sites, i.e.; things I should change; things I should add. I certainly would appreciate your input and suggestions. Thanks! Sunny