Walking tours in a walking city

I figure that soon I will have taken enough photos of and around Edinburgh that I'll be able to slow down.  In the mean time, here's another photo dump:

I took a walking tour of the city this morning while the Liar slept off the worst of last night's performance.

The City Chambers, home to Edinburgh's tax office, features a statue of Alexander and Bucephalus.  I am curious why we don't have similar statues adorning our ATO buildings.

James Braidwood developed the world's first fire service in 1824.  This statue was unveiled in 2008.

Just around the corner is "Carolo Secundo," which I think is Charles II as he liked to refer to himself in such terms.

Around the front of St Giles is Sir Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, a land-magnate and conservative politician.  Not to be confused with the other Sir Walter Scott, who turns up later today.

Next up a real star: David Hume! (could out consume...) the great Scottish philosopher and best selling author of the six-volume 'History of England.'

Next up; one of those gulls the Liar was talking about.  These things freak me out.  They get on top of buildings, tip their heads back and imitate kookaburras.  They cackle at the sky.  That's no way for a self-respecting gull to act.  They should be begging chips from tourists. (On a side note; while I'm getting better with the weird gulls, the Liar still giggles at rangas on the street.  So I'm doing a bit better, I think)

Within Greyfriars cemetery there is a gated section, the Covernanter's prison, which marks the place of one of Scotland's darkest parts of history.  It is also the most haunted place in the world.

Now a couple of photos for the Harry Potter fans: William McGonagall is the namesake of the head of Griffindor house from the books.  He is also the worst poet in the history of Scotland.

Just next to him is George Heriot's school, supposed to be the inspiration for Hogwarts.

The Princes Street gardens feature the world's largest working floral clock.  As I walked past, I managed to catch this photo of a guy practicing some extreme botany. The photo doesn't show the angle well, but if he fell from that ladder it would be directly into the gaping maw of thousands of blood-thirsty, time-telling plants.

I have so many photos of Edinburgh Castle, I'm just giving them away.  This shows the side 30 men, at the request of Robert the Bruce, ascended the cliffs and attacked the 1,500 English soldiers garrisoned inside.  And won.

Princes Street park has some amazing stuff in it.  I cropped this photo of the fountain so it wouldn't show the restaurant-on-a-crane in the background.  Rest assured, I have kept the original.

Really, lots of photos of the castle.

The Liar stopped for some traditional Scottish fare (ice-cream sandwich.)

Here's the other Sir Walter Scott.  Extra points if you've read any of his books.  The original versions, not re-tellings by more interesting authors.

And to finish today's tour: Dr Livingstone, I presume?