Dennis Dart 96 in Charlotte Square
At the start of Edinburgh's great winter of 2010 / '11 the repaint programme was in its infancy with most buses in the 1999 Harlequin livery. Dennis Dart SLF /SPD Plaxton Pointer number 96 (SN53 AVM) meanders gingerly around Charlotte Square on the second day of our snowy conditions (November the 29th) which virtually paralysed the city until early in January.
Due to the building of the tram line all city centre buses were diverted around this square and onto George Street and Queen Street. Number 96 is seen on Service 1 to Easter Road infront of the home of the home of Scotland's First Minister, then Alex Salmond but today it is Ms Nicola Sturgeon's Bute House.
Charlotte Square, designed by Robert Adam in 1786, was part of the initial phase of one of the first architectural master designs of the area known as Edinburgh's New Town, completed in the 1820's. Sadly, Adam died in 1792 just when building work began.
The house contains the Cabinet Room, offices and conference, reception, sitting and dining rooms where Nicola works, and where Scottish Government ministers, official visitors and guests are received and entertained. The second and third floors contain the private residence of the First Minister.
Such grand and opulent architecture is rare in Britain and note the Greek pediments, Doric columns, rustic stonework on the ground floors and ornate Charlotte lanterns - electric lamp fittings attached to the railings and these are replicas of the fitments in the early 19th Century. These are now very much standard in the Georgian areas of the Capital.
Dennis Dart 96 in Charlotte Square
At the start of Edinburgh's great winter of 2010 / '11 the repaint programme was in its infancy with most buses in the 1999 Harlequin livery. Dennis Dart SLF /SPD Plaxton Pointer number 96 (SN53 AVM) meanders gingerly around Charlotte Square on the second day of our snowy conditions (November the 29th) which virtually paralysed the city until early in January.
Due to the building of the tram line all city centre buses were diverted around this square and onto George Street and Queen Street. Number 96 is seen on Service 1 to Easter Road infront of the home of the home of Scotland's First Minister, then Alex Salmond but today it is Ms Nicola Sturgeon's Bute House.
Charlotte Square, designed by Robert Adam in 1786, was part of the initial phase of one of the first architectural master designs of the area known as Edinburgh's New Town, completed in the 1820's. Sadly, Adam died in 1792 just when building work began.
The house contains the Cabinet Room, offices and conference, reception, sitting and dining rooms where Nicola works, and where Scottish Government ministers, official visitors and guests are received and entertained. The second and third floors contain the private residence of the First Minister.
Such grand and opulent architecture is rare in Britain and note the Greek pediments, Doric columns, rustic stonework on the ground floors and ornate Charlotte lanterns - electric lamp fittings attached to the railings and these are replicas of the fitments in the early 19th Century. These are now very much standard in the Georgian areas of the Capital.