My Dundee scavenger hunt: ships, lemmings, architectural cow pies and other surprises

All I knew about Dundee, Scotland, before arriving was that it is a port city, that it is home to one of Scotland's major universities and, thanks to a BBC article, that it became known for three J's: jute (a strong fiber used in textiles), jam and journalism.

A view of the Dundee city centre from a perch atop Law Crescent. The Tay Road Bridge goes across the Firth of Tay.  

My first order of business upon arriving was to learn more about the fourth largest city in Scotland (pop. 150,000). And thanks to a chatty bartender at the George Orwell pub, an extremely helpful expert at the local Dundee historical office, the nice woman who runs the local launderette, and some fellow travelers I met along the way, I developed my own scavenger hunt to separate the cool facts from the fiction of Dundee.

The RRS Discovery and its new neighbor,
the Victoria and Albert Museum of Design behind it.

1. Fact or Fiction? Dundee is soon to be home to an attraction that currently only London has.

Fact: The second Victoria & Albert Museum in Great Britain will open in Dundee in September and is expected to draw as many as 500,000 more visitors per year, according to the woman who ran the guest house in which I stayed (confirmed by this article). It's actually the Victoria & Albert Museum of Design.

The new building is part of the waterfront redevelopment and sits next to the RRS Discovery, which was launched in 1901 as a scientific exploratory vessel.

That brings us to the next bit of trivia:

2. Fact or Fiction? The first explorers to reach the South Pole sailed from Dundee on the Discovery.

Me at Discovery's helm. 

Fiction: The Discovery did carry Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his crew of more than 40 to the first in-depth exploration of Antartica. According to some of the interesting tidbits from my tour, the two-year journey included some big discoveries, such as rocks below the ice in Antartica that helped prove continental drift theory, how penguins lived and behaved, and that seal meat taste like "shoe-leather steeped in turpentine." The Discovery even got stuck in the ice for nearly two months but was able to withstand it long enough for the crew to break it free and sail home in 1903.

Discovery's finely-crafted wheel. 

But when Scott returned nearly a decade later aiming to be the first to trek to the South Pole, he found out when he arrived in New Zealand that a Norwegian crew was after the same prize. Scott's team marched inland and reached the South Pole on June 17, 1912, only to find out that the Norwegians
beat him by 33 days. Scott and his crew died on the march back to their ship.

3. Fact or Fiction? The Discovery is the oldest ship docked in Dundee.

Fiction: You would think that a 117-year-old wooden ship would have that honor. But it's actually the HMS Frigate Unicorn, that's still afloat about a mile away.

Launched in 1824 as a 46-gun war ship, it is now the sixth-oldest ship still afloat in the world. One reason it has survived so long is that after fifty years in the Royal Navy, it was roofed and used in reserve.

4. Fact or Fiction? The headquarters for DC Thompson & Co., the largest news publisher in the region, is an "architectural cow pie."

Fact: That might seem like a matter of opinion, but the official City Centre tour brochure describes it precisely as that. But there's a good reason.

This frame of Desperate Dan preparing
to dig in is on display in the DC Thompson
building lobby, which is open to the public.

First, "cow pie" apparently doesn't mean the same thing in Scotland as it does in the U.S. And DC Thompson published a long-running comic strip starring Desperate Dan, who constantly ate cow pies.

The DC Thompson building, home to The Dundee Courier. 

5. Fact or Fiction? The newspaper war is still raging in Dundee.

Fiction: The Courier merged with the Advertiser in 1926. And the same company, DC Thompson, owns both the Courier and the Evening Telegraph. The Telegraph staff moved out of its old building (which seems as long as the Camden Yards warehouse) decades ago. Still, the names of the former papers whose staffs worked in that building still loom large. The words "Courier & Advertiser," "People's Friend," Evening Telegraph" and "People's Journal" still hang over the new occupants, including three beauty salons, a Lebanese and Mediterranean take-out joint, a tutoring center and a bridal boutique.  

6. Fact or Fiction? Dundee is known for video games.

A park with the lemmings immortalized. 

One of the lemmings at work.

Fact: Four classmates from Dundee created a software company that produced a game in the late 1980s called the Lemmings, which hit the market in 1991. After that, the company produced Grand Theft Auto, which went on to mega-success (and controversy) worldwide. The first generation of that game, which includes violence, murders-for-hire and wild driving, uses Dundee's layout and street names for its setting, according to the bartender who first told me about that. 

The Queens Hotel (now a Best Western).

7. Fact or Fiction? Winston Churchill lived in Dundee while representing the city in Parliament as an MP from the liberal party between 1908 to 1922. 

Fiction: All of that is true except for the "lived in" part. Churchill, indeed, represented Dundee as a liberal MP before switching to become a conservative. But he wasn't required to live in the area he represented. He shopped around for a district, and found willing sponsors in Dundee. He usually only visited around election times, according to Adam, the helpful man at the historic society.  

I did, however, find the Queens Hotel, where Churchill often stayed. It's still a hotel (but also a bar and casino). And 10 years ago, they put up a plaque in the hallway commemorating Churchill's frequent stays and hung a frame with a copy of Churchill's letter praising the hotel. 

The letter from Churchill to his wife saying what a "great friend" the hotel is to him. 

8. Fact or Fiction? Dundee might produce the next big thing in art/fashion/design.  

Likely. It was graduation time at the local universities, including the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and Architecture. And, as part of that, the college held a "Degree Show" for 11 days (including while I was there) to show off the graduates' capstone work. 

The range was impressive: photography, performance art, multimedia, paintings, textiles -- you name it. I walked around for about an hour. Some of the graduates were there to answer questions. 

One student's capstone film played in stairwell of the DJCAR building. 

The textiles were really impressive. This student experimented with ways to reuse fabrics, particularly denim, to create new designs. 

What to do with my new coat of arms?

Ever since my internship at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, I always evaluate museums based on the interactivity of their exhibits. Sometimes this can be done in little ways, such as opening drawers to see additional items. But other exhibits are more elaborate. Two of my favorite museums here in London have some interesting ways of getting visitors involved. They may be aimed at kids, but I enjoy them nonetheless.

At the Victoria & Albert Museum, you can learn how to tie or cravat or try on a hoop skirt and petticoats following step-by-step instructions. Or you can use computers to design your own monogram or coat of arms.

The heraldic description of my chosen arms: Per pale azur and vert a chevron argent three roses gules. I chose the horses because of Kentucky. My motto, Nil Desperandum, means “Nothing to Despair.”

Another computer will allow you to design a fabric pattern for an 18th century dress. Even more awesome, you can email the pattern you create to yourself afterward. Here's mine:

The fabric I created at the V&A.

Over at the Churchill War Rooms, you can try "painting" one of Churchill's landscapes on the computer, or wear a replica of his hat and coat. The centerpiece of the museum is a huge interactive timeline that you can learn about in this short video:



Dr. Everhart: This is not the photo I want you to grade. It was my practice video. Please grade the one I post on Monday about the deck chairs in the Royal Parks.

When it rains, it pours ... and then the Tube breaks down

Saturday was rainy here, and five of my classmates entrusted me with their free afternoon and bravely followed me to the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was quite an adventure for Angela Austin, Cassie Hartsfield, Jennifer Kinser, Joey Malefatto, Theresa Wondracek and myself.

The rain was steady but not terrible as we started our journey at Russell Square station.

I confidently led the way to Russell Square station to pick up the Tube, and the group managed to get through the gates and onto a train quite quickly. We made it a single stop before having to disembark. A "signal failure" across town had disrupted our line and we were advised to seek "alternative routes." So we went above ground to start making our way on foot.

The rain became more incessant, and a few members of our group barely missed a surprise shower courtesy of one of the local double-decker buses. Two wrong turns later -- one of them fortunately caught and corrected by Cassie -- we made our way to the Thames and took a few rainy shots of the river before hopping on a working train.

A rainy view of the London Eye, Parliament and the tower housing Big Ben from across the Thames (near the Temple station). 

A short ride later, we crossed the threshold of the Victoria & Albert a little (or a lot) water-logged but in high spirits at our accomplishment. (Or at least I was. I think everyone else was just relieved that we had arrived somewhere at that point.)

That dark shadow about halfway up my leg is the water line. My shoes, jeans, and shirt were soaked through.

The V&A, which touts itself as "the world's greatest museum of art and design," is huge, and we split up to explore on our own. I spent most of my time looking at the stained glass and jewelry displays. In particular, I really enjoyed looking at the micromosaics and boxes in the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection. Micromosaics are made from the smallest glass pieces, and some contain more than 5,000 pieces of glass per square inch. All of the micromosaics would fit in the palm of your hand with room to spare. Most impressive to me were the Plaque with Leopard (early 1800s) and Plaque with Basket of Flowers (1825). You really need to click the links above to appreciate how tiny the pieces are; none of my photos did them justice. 

The museum provides magnifying glasses to help visitors see the tiny details of the micromosaics.

We emerged almost two hours later to almost sunny skies, and most importantly, no rain!



A British orientation

Jet-lagged and awestruck, we still tackled London's public transportation as soon as we arrived. We even met some nice gentlemen from Wales in the "queue" waiting to purchase our tube passes. We began talking with them after laughing at a 90-year-old woman got out of line from right behind us and announced to us all, "Bollocks, I don't need to be waiting in this line." Sure enough, she already had her card and just needed to get through the turnstile. Big British Moment #1 -- first real-life use of the word "Bollocks"

Big British Moment #2: Our hotel clerk asked us, "What are you, Australian?"

Our first stop of the day was to check out the Victoria & Albert Museum. The cast iron -- very cool. The stained glass -- even cooler. The details of the carvings and castings -- unbelievable. The co-ed bathroom -- very odd. But we wrung out some of the jet-lag by relaxing in the garden by the wading pool and watching the people splash around and checking out the incredibly ornate building.

The building facing the garden at the Victoria & Albert museum.

Ryan took this close-up of one of the columns on the building exterior.

After returning to the hotel for a brief nap, we got our second wind and headed out to the London Eye -- the giant Ferris wheel. Elizabeth and I tried to practice photo techniques we read about on the plane ride over using one of the text books from her class. We published some of our best shots in an album. Then it was off to find grub ...



Big British Moment #3: I spilled my first part of a pint in the UK.

Yes, my clumsiness does cross continents. After finally figuring out how to order food at a pub (you do that from the bar just like the beer) I tipped over my pint glass. Fortunately, only about 1/3 of it was left by then.

(This post was written by Ryan. Although I am equally clumsy, I managed to keep all of my beer in the glass. This time).