What to do this weekend: 2-3 September

ALL WEEKEND

Choose Edinburgh's 101th Object

If you are unfamiliar with the initiative, Edinburgh's 101 Objects is a collection of Ediburgh's most treasured objects ranging from the world's first blended Scotch whisky to Dolly the cloned sheep. You can read my earlier post featuring my favourite objects here.
Did you know you can have your say and suggest what should be the 101th Object: The People's Choice? What will you choose: perhaps the Balmoral clock, chippy sauce or Greyfriars Bobby? Get involved here.

Check out the Queensferry Crossing

The Queensferry Crossing is finally open - in fact this weekend 50,000 people will walk it. Are you among the lucky ones who got selected by ballot? If not, you can still enjoy the view of the three bridges from the picturesque South Queensferry (or North Queensferry). Expect the area to be pretty busy!

2ND SEPTEMBER, SATURDAY

Farm Fest

Head to Gorgie City Farm this Saturday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of opening the farm. There will be cute farm animals, live music, face painting, raffle and other fun activities. The event is on between 10am and 6pm and the entry is free (although donations to the Farm are much appreciated).

3RD SEPTEMBER, SUNDAY

Tour of Britain

This weekend the Tour of Britain comes to Edinburgh for the very first time - if you are into cycling, you should not miss it. Mark Cavendish will be here too. Find full spectator info here.

Have a nice weekend!

What to do this weekend: 26-27 August

ALL WEEKEND

Edinburgh Police Box Festival

Tired of the Fringe crowds? Why not explore instead Edinburgh's old police boxes. They have their very own festival happening this weekend, with boxes open from 11am to 4pm both on Saturday and on Sunday. Find the list of participating boxes here from Tupiniquim to the Tool Library.

La Boheme

Edinburgh International Festival and Teatro Regio Torino presents Puccini's heartbreaking love story, La Boheme. The opera is only on for three nights at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre - don't miss your chance to finish off the festival season with a magnificient Italian production.

26TH AUGUST, SATURDAY

Canteen Street Food Festival

Meanwhile in East Lothian you can enjoy a street food feast at the Archerfield Walled Garden. The August line-up includes some of our favourite food vendors from Pizza Geeks and the Marshmallow Lady to Poco Prosecco.

27TH AUGUST, SUNDAY

Edinburgh Art Festival

This Sunday is the last day of Edinburgh Art Festival and your last chance to make the best of the fest! Our top picks include: a very friendly dragon at Trinity Apse, Josef Koudelka at the Signet Library and Jac Leirner at the Fruitmarket Gallery.

Have a nice weekend!

What to do this weekend: 19-20 August

ALL WEEKEND

ECA Masters Degree Show

This is the last weekend of the Edinburgh College of Art Masters Degree Show at the Lauriston Campus and the first weekend at Minto House. Don't miss your chance to check out the work of the talented ECA postgraduate students.

• The Lauriston Campus exhibition covers Contemporary Art, Illustration, Interdisciplinary Creative Practices and Art, Space & Nature.
• Minto House features the work of Architecture and Architectural and Urban Design students.

19TH AUGUST, SATURDAY

Escape the Festival

Although we love the festival, it is nice to escape a wee bit from the crowds. Our favourite escapes are:

• Jupiter Artland - we cannot wait to check out the Rose Walk
• The Secret Herb Garden
• Filmhouse - still showing Dunkirk on 70mm!
• Custom Lane - including a Bramble pop-up bar

20TH AUGUST, SUNDAY

20 years of friendship: Edinburgh and Kyoto

Do you love Japan and Japanese culture as much as we do? The Consulate General of Japan is celebrating 20 years of friendship between Edinburgh and Kyoto at the Lauriston Castle Kyoto Friendship Garden. There will be tea, taiko and fellow Japan enthusiasts. Book your free tickets on Eventbrite to attend.

Have a nice weekend!

What to do this weekend: 12-13 August

ALL WEEKEND

Architecture Tours with Cobble Tales

The lovely Olga of Cobble Tales is running some scheduled architecture tours during the month of August. The New Town Tour runs at 10am on Saturdays and the Dean Village Tour runs at 10am on Sundays. (There is also an Old Town Tour on Mondays if you want to brave the Fringe crowds.) Alternatively book your private tour here. We tried and tested all tours and can only recommend - they are also perfect if you have friends and family visiting.

12TH AUGUST, SATURDAY

ECA Masters Degree Show

The Edinburgh College of Art Masters Degree Show is back - it's also part of the Edinburgh Art Festival. You can check out the work of postgraduate students at the Lauriston Campus from this Saturday. The exhibition covers Contemporary Art, Illustration, Interdisciplinary Creative Practices and Art, Space & Nature and it runs until 20 August.

13TH AUGUST, SUNDAY

Art Fest Day Trip

If you are a fan of Charles Jencks, you will be pleased to hear there are still a few tickets available for the Art Fest Day Trip visiting Little Sparta and the Crawick Multiverse. The trip departs from Summerhall at 9.30am and returns by approximately 6pm.

Have a nice weekend!

Edinburgh Art Festival: Art Late Instameet

Last Thursday together with a small group of Scottish instagrammers I was lucky to attend the Edinburgh Art Festival's signature event: the very first of this month's Art Lates. Having attended Art Lates in the past, I was very much looking forward to the evening. Many thanks to Edinburgh Art Festival for having us!

Talbot Rice Gallery

Our first stop was at Talbot Rice Gallery at the Old College to check out exhibitions from Stephen Sutcliffe: Sex Symbols in Sandwich Signs and Jacob Kerray. Our favourite part was playing ping-pong at the Playfair Library. Yep, you read it right - ping-pong in the library, what could go wrong?

Dovecot Studios

Our second stop was Dovecot Studios: today this is a tapestry studio, but did you know that it used to be a Victorian swimming pool? They even kept the old neon 'BATHS' sign. Dovecot currently has a group exhibition on investigating women's stories and textile histories.

At this point our Art Late group split into two and the first group went to see exploring The Number Shop and the MELON exhibition. I was in the second group which headed towards the Royal Mile to the Signet Library and the Museum of Childood.

Signet Library

If you have not yet visited the Upper Signet Library, this is your chance. The beautiful room hosts Czech-French photographer Josef Koudelka's exhibition: The Making of Landscape.

Museum of Childhood

Our next stop was the Museum of Childhood which I have not visited before and I was excited to check it out for the first time. Apologies for the slightly blurry photo of the bunny in the cabbage - it's something you need to check out in person! Our inner child had so much fun and we will certainly return.

List Festival Party at Summerhall

After a quick dinner at Civerinos we moved on to the final stop of the Art Late: the List Festival Party at Summerhall. Let's say the Red Bastard made an appearance and things got wild!

What else is on at the Art Fest?

There are three more Art Late events happening this month and the Art Fest itself is on until 27 August. Most of the exhibitions and venues are free to visit so I recommend checking them out in the next couple of weeks - check what's on on the Art Fest website.

The next Art Late participating venues are as follows.

• Art Late 10 August: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Jupiter Artland
• Art Late 17 August: Collective, Edinburgh Printmakers/Rhubaba Gallery and Studios, Custom Lane
• Art Late 24 August: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Trinity Apse and Stills/Chessels Court and Gladstone Court/Johnston Terrace Wildlife Garden, Fruitmarket Gallery

All Art Lates finish with live music at the final venue. Book your tickets via Eventbrite here.

All photos by The Edinburgh Ethusiast (C).
Acknowledgement: Even though our group of local instagrammers received free tickets from the Edinburgh Art Festival, the views and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and purely my own.

What to do this weekend: 5-6 August

ALL WEEKEND

Festival is probably the most over-used word in the month of August in Edinburgh. Apart from Fringe, Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Art Festival, there are some smaller festivals also happening this weekend and you will certainly find your favourite - let it be food, drink, comedy or art related.

Foodies Festival

Foodies Festival comes to Inverleith Park for the whole weekend, so fingers crossed for decent weather! Believe it or not, this will be the first time we will be attending Foodies at Inverleith, thanks to the lovely @cazmonkeysaround scoring us some tickets! We are looking forward to checking out the Chefs Theatre with Jane Devonshire 2016 Masterchef winner and local chefs including Kaori Simpson of Harajuku Kitchen (our favourite sushi place!), Dan Ashmore of the Pompadour and Neil Forbes of Cafe St Honore.

Edinburgh Cocktail Festival

If you are into cocktails at New Waverly a brand new coctail festival will be shaking things up. You can get discounted cocktails for the whole month of August by purchasing your ticket via Eventbrite.

Summer Open Studios

Meanwhile in Leith, away from the festival crowds Coburg House will have their summer Open Studios event. Around 80 resident artists are participating including Emily Hogarth. The event is free and family friendly.

5TH AUGUST, SATURDAY

Bloom

The signature opening event of the 70th Edinburgh International Festival is called Bloom and the 'Bloom Arena' is located at St Andrew Square. As in previous years, the multi-award winning 59 Productions will be in charge of the incredible light projections. The event is free, but for priority access to the Bloom Arena you will need to register on the website.

P.L.A.N.T. at Salisbury Arms

Visit the Perilous Laboratory for the Absorbment of Natural Teachings (P.L.A.N.T.) this Saturday at Salisbury Arms. Wondering what this weird thing is I am talking about? Of course it is Hendricks gin related! P.L.A.N.T. will include an outdoor Hendricks gin terrace and cucumber inspired chef specials. Hendricks will also have a pop-up at George Square Gardens during the whole weekend.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo Flypasts

Although I do not have details of the exact aircraft types, we can expect a Tattoo Flypast this Saturday sometime between 6.15pm and 6.40pm. Bruntsfield Links are a pretty cool spot to photograph them if you do not have tickets for the Tattoo. Possible other flypast dates and times are between 7.45pm and 8.10pm on 9, 11, 15, 16, 18 and 25 August.

The Gathering

Gordon Millar of Scot Street Style is hosting The Gathering XV this Saturday in Leith. This year's sponsor is Naked Grouse. Having attended The Gathering VIII back in 2015 at the Biscuit Factory, this will certainly be another cracking event! Make sure to check our Instagram stories on Saturday at @edienthusiast and you can read a blog post on the previous event by Laura Crawford (@thelikelylady) here. But one question remains - what to wear?!

6TH AUGUST, SUNDAY

Rhinoceros

I booked this play based on the rhino poster and very much looking forward to it! The beautiful Royal Lyceum Theatre hosts this new Scottish-Turkish version of Eugene Ionescu's Rhinoceros and it is on until 12 August.

Have a nice weekend!
Oh, have you counted how many times I used the word 'festival'?