View from the Mound

Festival fever is upon us now in Edinburgh.  Pop-up bars, theatres, restaurants etc are appearing around town in preparation for the hundreds of shows and thousands of visitors for the Fringe Festival which begins next Friday.  I suppose the biggest pop-up of the lot is the Ferris-wheel which takes it's place both for the festival and for the Christmas markets.  In the photo you can also see the towering Scott Monument (for Sir Walter Scott), which you can climb 287 steps to the top, and also the grand Balmoral hotel.  The hotel clock intentionally reads 3 minutes fast so that commuters heading to the nearby Waverley train station make it to their trains on time!