As we completed our journey through the Edinburgh Festival Fringe we thought of all the ups and the downs of the ride. It was a roller coaster indeed. We met so many new friends, had so much fun doing our show, handed out literally thousands of postcards, cried from exhaustion ... As we recalled alllll of the moments, we received an email from some friends. Their names are Storm and Shadow. They did a thing. They had heard on CBC about the esteemed Erwyd le Fol, Jester-in-Residence of Conwy, United Kingdom. He is a historical jester-in-residence and they told him about us. This is what happened... It is THE BEST way to end Ed Fringe EVER! ... 

It's hard to choose because there have been so many, but here are some of the highlights of our journey (we'll probably keep adding to this list as we think of more and more):

Thank YOU from the bottom of our clown hearts to everyone who helped make this adventure possible!

Our final days at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe:

Monday 
The last final official day of the fringe. We thought it would be appropriate to see one last show and gosh it was a good one. We saw Tes at Underbelly (another one of the big four venues). It was beautifully crafted, written and performed by Steve Larkin. We found out after that it had gotten some not-the-most-awesome reviews which just shows to go you how strange reviews can be, because it was well deserving of huge audiences and five stars. In our humble opinions... 

Monday is the day that fringe lies on the ground and gives into expiration. The streets are suddenly dead. You can't get a pre-show double espresso because the food trucks are closed. Everything is going into hibernation for its long winters nap. BUT WAIT. There are still shows on so WHY is everything closing? It's so sad and confusing.  Apparently, we are told, we made a rookie mistake booking a show today because no one who has been before would subject themselves to having a show on this audience-less day. Just as we were feeling like we had made a grave mistake, we saw our three friends Harry, Bailey, and Munir who told us they bought a cookbook, and then we saw more friends who came to our show for the third time - WE LOVE YOU!!!

Oh, and we found out that we got 5 stars from Tiger Paws which is great. AND we were awarded a "Bouquet" from Bouquets & Brickbats. They only give out twelve for the whole festival so that's pretty awesome. All those things made us feel much better and we had a wonderful warm and fun last show at Edinburgh Fringe 2015. 

After the show we rushed out to the annual fireworks. At the end of the fest every year, they do a massive fireworks display with a full orchestra. These were unlike any fireworks we have ever seem. They kept going and going and getting bigger and more spectacular... for a full hour. A whole HOUR.... of fireworks... from a castle.... with live music... from a castle... AHHHHHH!!!

We got some last fish and chips and went to find some friends to say goodbye to. We danced the night away until about 5am when we finally passed out with sore feet, happy hearts and glowing noses from the run that we had completed. 

Tuesday
We went to the theatre bright and early - after stopping at Visitor Hugo's to get a breakfast sandwich (it was the first place we went when we got here so we thought it would be fitting to return on our last day). We packed up our trusty toilet into its box and cabbed it over to Homebase where they said we could return it after the show. We did just that, and with a final goodbye, got our full refund and left our toilet to go on and make some other people happy. It was certainly good to us for the duration of our time together (and luckily we never crashed it into the stage during our epic finale). We packed up our suitcases, cleaned our flat and then set off to the Ritz where we spent the night in semi-luxury. The hotel had a bit of an identity crisis and couldn't decide if it wanted to live in the past or in the present so it was a big mishmash of furniture and strange decor including a book on cats, displayed prominently in the main staircase from the foyer. It was grand though, and we were glad to be there. There were free shortbreads in the room too which we couldn't refuse. 

After a long day of cleaning we were two hungry clowns so we let our feet find a delicious place to eat. The winner was a Turkish/Kurdish restaurant where the owner was standing outside pitching the restaurant with great love and pride, and knowing what that feels like having pitched our show hundreds of times a day for the past month, we decided to try it. When we asked what was best, the man told us, "I'll surprise you", and brought us various small dishes (Mezes) of many things so we could try it all.  It was indeed the best Kurdish/Turkish food that we have EVER had. Then after dinner, he announced that it was his birthday so he gave everyone in the restaurant shots of Turkish Sambuca and taught us all how to dance a traditional Kurdish dance. HOW EXCITING! 

Soon after, we headed back to the confused but magical hotel, got into our jammers, and set off two confetti crackers (a red and a blue) to celebrate our adventure. We fell asleep in our kitschy room at the Ritz with the alarm set for a few hours later so we could rise and head home. A journey complete. Our clown hearts happy.