Tartan week in NYC

[RGM1]

Was exhausting spending 6 plus hours on my feet on concrete. Was quite glad I wore good hiking boots and still my feet and back took a beating. Was quite happy my hotel was close to end of parade.

Events sell out. I did not think I could arrive at the Kirking of the tartan in time to attend and was right so tried to attend Brunch and was surprised that there was no setup for payment. Went to some effort to get pointed to coordinator who was dealing with an oversold event. Was quite polite just couldn't help me. So went hiking to parade assembly area. Found nice pub and had lunch. Pipe and drum group had taken over bar so was entertaining.

When crowd gathered, I got a pint and wandered around and had a nice chat with a father and daughter from Glasgow. Looking for other strays made for nice conversations. Highlight of trip.

Located my clan contingent for parade around 1 and spent an hour and a half waiting for our group to start walking. We were right behind the Murray of Atholl regiment which was pretty cool to see. Made decision to socialize with clan rather than watch early parts of parade which was pleasant.

Got invited to dinner but had difficulty finding venue, so cut my loses and headed to Carnegie Hall for Hoolie.

Hoolie was superb. Great Gaelie singing and dancing and best bag piping I have seen and heard. Will do it again if the opportunity arrises.

Parade was interesting with substanial crowds cheering us along. At end, I doubled back and watched the tail arrive. They put on a show when they reached the Grand Marshall at the end of parade so got to see a bit of parade.