Taking a city break in Edinburgh for the August Bank Holiday weekend means that you’ll have plenty of activities to choose from, with our top attractions like Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Zoo, Royal Yacht Britannia and the Royal Mile. But if you’d like to try a host of different activities, we’ve put together a little list to suggest some different ideas for you.

Ten things to do in Edinburgh – 26 – 29 August 2011

1. Visit the Elizabeth Blackadder Exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland.
2. Go to a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
3. The Edinburgh International Book Festival is staging its final events of the year this weekend
4. Find a haven of peace in the city by visiting the Royal Botanic Garden
5. Have fun at the Free Fringe on the Royal Mile or Mound Precinct
6. Go for afternoon tea – the Signet Library is only open from 5 – 29 August for a very elegant Champagne Afternoon Tea
7. Visit the Camera Obscura
8. Go underground and find out about Edinburgh’s Old Town life at Mary King’s Close
9. Climb a hill – we’re right between Arthur’s Seat and Calton Hill
10. Debate the future of the web at Edinburgh Tech Festival.

We’d love to welcome you to Edinburgh!

Before our first review assignment

Last year, we were stepping into the great unknown, wondering how we would get on reviewing shows, and perhaps keeping to relatively safe choices as it was our first year as reviewers.

This year, our review team is of course all a little older, and the challenge to find shows aimed at the right level is proving a little more tricky. The transition from childhood to the teenage years means that our elder reviewer, at age 13, is eager to try more ‘adult’ shows, while our younger reviewer at age 9 is happy to see shows which satisfy his curiosity and love of magic and science.

All of our reviews can be found over at Edinburgh Spotlight, but here are links to the first few for you.

The Amazing Bubble Man (USA) – The Amazing Bubble Show (C too) – read review

Comedy Club 4 Kids (The Bongo Club) – read review

I Hate Children Children’s Show – Bad Magician (Zoo Southside) – read review

Nunsense – American High School Theatre Festival (Pilrig Studios) – read review

We’re going to be having lots of fun going to events at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe again this year, in our role as family reviewers for Edinburgh Spotlight, but what to choose?

A friend has just emailed to say that his Daughter’s flat will be available for let for 4 weeks (weekly minimum) during August. If anyone’s still looking for accommodation, email me and I’ll pass on your details. Let will be £450 per week, flat near Ocean Terminal (Leith). Good transport links to city centre. Email joflat (at) 2edinburgh.co.uk

Canongate Kirk

We’re getting excited about the next big wedding in the Royal Family, when Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne and grand-daughter of Queen Elizabeth, marries England Rugby Captain, Mike Tindall in Edinburgh.

The Mail is reporting today on the big security operation which will be in place for the wedding which is to take place at Canongate Kirk, only a short distance from Craigwell Cottage.

We’ve warned our arriving guests that day that they should be prepared for lots going on in the immediate area!

If you’re staying at Craigwell Cottage, you’ll have access to free wi-fi and many of our guests find it helpful for keeping up to date with their emails or booking tickets for events while they’re here.

Apps for Edinburgh

If you’re an iPhone user, then there are some Edinburgh Apps which you might like to download ready for your visit.

Edinburgh Spotlight’s iEdinburgh app gives you an insider’s view on places to eat, current events and perennial favourites around Scotland’s capital city – you’ll even find a review of Craigwell Cottage in there.

The EdinBus app provides up to the minute information about bus timetables.

Getting last minute tickets at last year’s Edinburgh Festival and Fringe was made more exciting by the Theatre Ninjas app – great if you’re in town and want to take in a show.

And if you’re an Ian Rankin fan and would like to take narrated walks round the Edinburgh featured in his novels, then the Ian Rankin’s Edinburgh app is the one for you.

The Walking Through Time app developed as a joint project between Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, and the National Library of Scotland overlays historic maps on present day ones so that you can see historic changes as you walk round the centre of Edinburgh.

Do you have a favourite app for your mobile phone which you’ve used when visiting Edinburgh?  Leave me a comment and I’ll check it out.

I’m excited to see that the Granturismo Project being undertaken by Lara Dunston and Terry Carter will culminate in the two globe-trotting travel writers spending two weeks in Edinburgh in January 2011. They’ve chosen a great property in Edinburgh’s historic New Town to base their stay.

Over the course of the last year, it’s been entertaining to dip in and out of their posts to see what their latest adventure or discovery has been as they make their way slowly around the Globe, staying in vacation rental homes in each of their destinations. Self-catering holiday property stays are favoured by more and more travellers who like the options to eat out or eat in, get up late, or get up early – in short to enjoy freedom to relax and enjoy slowing down and remembering to savour cultural and local highlights wherever they choose to spend their precious days away from normal routine.

I look forward to seeing what culinary discoveries they make when exploring Edinburgh – they’ll be able to buy a great range of Scotland’s best produce at the weekly Edinburgh Farmers’ Market, and I’m sure they’ll be sampling haggis, whisky and shortbread. A personal favourite would also be a trip to Clark’s Fishmongers in Musselburgh. Where else in Edinburgh do you think we should recommend they visit to source local delicacies?

Clark's Musselburgh

St Giles Cathedral

While you are on holiday here, I wonder how you will tell your friends about your travels and adventures? Times are certainly changing in the way that we communicate with our friends as we travel. If, like me, you’re active on Facebook and Twitter, you’re probably posting photographs and little snippets of information about your travels – texting or sending emails from your smartphone or using the Sodasnap app to send little virtual postcards to friends and family.

But back in the 1700′s when visitors came to Edinburgh, if they wanted to tell others about their travels they would send letters about their adventures, which would have taken weeks to arrive and been carried by a variety of means involving stage coaches and horses.

One such traveller was a gentleman named Edward Topham who came to Edinburgh in 1774 and wrote letters to his friends in London telling tales of what he found here. The Edinburgh World Heritage site has recently put together a series of small video clips about the Edinburgh Adventures of Edward Topham which are most entertaining. They’ve been filmed on location around Edinburgh and are an interesting insight into the world of the traveller to Edinburgh in those times.

How will you record your visit to Edinburgh? Do you think people of the future will be writing about your letters, diaries, blogs, photographs or video clips in 200 years time?

It’s still snowing outside as I write this post, but it’s been a lovely day with the schools closed because of the severe weather. However buses were running, so we got out and about and made a little video for you to wish you a Happy St Andrews Day and to say hello from Scotland for all the expats who pine for home on days like this. Come and visit soon – we know a lovely little cottage where you can stay right in the centre of the capital city.