We spent the first couple of days of our trip just wandering around Glasgow, sleeping off jet lag and visiting with family. Although by all accounts the weather (a topic of great interest to Glaswegians) had been glorious the prior week, it was largely dull and grey for much of our trip. (Hence, not a ton of photos of Glasgow, since the light kind of blew.)

Then on Friday, we headed to Edinburgh for the day. It's a quick 45-minute train ride from Glasgow's Buchanan Street train station to Edinburgh Waverly, which spits you out in the center of downtown Edinburgh, practically at the feet of the castle and a couple of blocks from the Royal Mile.

We happened to be there during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the internationally renowned event that brings performances of all kinds to Scotland -- theater, musicals, opera, comedy, dance, etc. -- and turns the city into madness. Madness! At first I'd worried it would make everything too chaotic for the girls to enjoy, but how wrong I was.

While the trudge up the Royal Mile is usually a fun one, its cobblestone streets lined with ancient houses and overpriced gift shops, this was a whole 'nother thing. Street performers everywhere, plays being previewed on tiny stages, musicians and human statues vying for coins, young starving actors pleading and cajoling to get you to their shows. (The guys above were promoting a play called "Smells Like America." Hmmm...)

We didn't have time to attend a performance that day, since the castle was our main attraction, but we had an absolute blast sampling the madness and it didn't cost us a dime. To wit, my nieces Rebecca and Olivia making a faceless friend: