Walk down Royal Mile, lined with St. Giles Royal Cathedral, the Parliament House, and Holyrook Palace.

The best way to understand both Mr Putin's ascent into the Kremlin and his rule since is to see them as the remarkable recovery of the culture, mentality and view of the world of the old KGB.

He checked in at the old Chateau Elysee, on Franklin Avenue. Clark Gable and Katharine Hepburn had once stayed there, but when Haggis arrived it was a run-down church retreat called the Manor Hotel.