Capital City

"Moo Are Here", Princes Mall. A map of the city in cow form as part of Edinburgh's "Cow Parade"
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I remember seeing Edinburgh over 30 years ago to visit with my grandparents.  They lived on the outskirts of the city in East Calder, and we had to take a bus to get to downtown Edinburgh.  I've had a fondness for double-deckers ever since.  Like the tour bus we took this year, which starts out at the Princes Street Gardens by that huge gothic spire, Sir Walter Scott's Monument and weaves through town highlighting areas of note: Scottish Parliament, the National Gallery and of course, Edinburgh Castle.  This year, there was some kind of city-wide art project ongoing: painted fiberglass cows were placed all over town!  That's right, cows.  I think it had something to do with Edinburgh's cattle market days of yore.  The cows had cute themes painted on them: a subway map, psychedelic flowers, road signs, rainbow stripes...there even was a New England entry called "Moo-sachusettes".  Once we had our fill of castles and cow puns, we headed north to the highlands.

Princes Street, Edinburgh, as seen from Edinburgh Castle. Ross Bandstand is in the foreground, the body of water on the horizon is the Firth of Forth which flows east into the North Sea.
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...painted fiberglass cows were placed all over town!