When the Victoria & Albert Museum decided to branch out from London, they chose the seaside town of Dundee, and built a museum dedicated to Scottish design. I have always wanted to visit. It was going to be the longest drive Nancy & I have done for this holiday and I had given up on the hope that it might be in sunshine – as well as wanting Nancy to see Scotland at its prettiest, I’m really not keen on driving these roads in the rain. But, it was inevitable. Wait, wrong again. We left Carluke in rain, but Nancy was monitoring the forecast carefully and assured me we would have sun. And as soon as we crossed the Forth Bridge into Fife, she was right.
The V&A is an absolutely stunning building, right in the middle of Dundee, sitting on the Tay river. Their parking is crap, but the building is lovely. We thought it would be a good idea to sign up for the 45 minute tour to give us a flavour of the place. It was just the two of us, and our tour guide Kate was a local with a background in UK museums. She was very knowledgable, and very passionate about the V&A and about Dundee. She could also talk for Scotland. OMG. She talked non-stop for 93 minutes. At first she encouraged us to ask questions but we couldn’t squeeze them in. By the end of the tour we were afraid to say anything, for fear of starting her down yet another tangent. Don’t get me wrong, she was pleasant, friendly, and informative, but . . . dear God, an hour and a half. Thank goodness I had accidently bought the maximum 4-hour time slot for parking.
But it was worth it. Fascinating building, dedicated to Scotland, to Scotland out in the world, and to the world coming to Scotland. My mother would be so pleased; she was constantly telling us about all the great things invented by Scots (the steam engine, penicillin, rubber tires, etc… — she was a bit like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding). The design of the building is unlike anything I’ve ever seen (architect Kengo Kuma). It was based on the cliffs at Noup Head, Westray in Orkney (Lori & I walked the top of those cliffs last year). I am so glad we made a point of going there – I would recommend it to anyone visiting Scotland (only about an hour from Edinburgh).
And I learned the kaleidoscope was invented by a Scot. Hunh.
