Edinburgh - Thousands of musicians, actors, dancers and clowns led a noisy and colourful parade of floats through the Scottish capital yesterday to celebrate the world's biggest arts extravaganza.
About 100,000 gathered below the city's castle and cheered Scottish bagpipers, Brazilian samba dancers, Africans in traditional robes and a Barbados marching band on stilts.
Half a million visitors are expected to watch more than 15,000 artists from 1,500 different shows put on more than 16,000 performances at both the Edinburgh International Festival and its "anything goes" offspring, the Fringe Festival.