I walked down the Scotsman Steps the other day for the first time in years.  I suppose I was aware that some sort of reburbishment had been underway for a while but I was not prepared for the transformation that they have undergone.

Although occasionally smartened up and used for hanging pictures during the Festival they've generally lived in my consciousness as a dank, dirty thoroughfare pervaded by an air at once urine infected and somewhat threatening. 

But now, resplendent in a multitude of shades and patterns of marble, they are quite beautiful.  There are lots of lovely pictures on the Edinburgh Spotlight site and you can hear the artist whose work it is in this BBC clip.

The initiative for the project came from the Fruitmarket Gallery which is only a few yards from the foot of the steps and there is a more arty blurb about the project on their site and a video in which Martin Creed, the artist, sings a staircase song; not to be missed.