We Back Dundee as a City of Culture

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PEOPLE AND GROWING

Support Dundee

The fact that we are so central in Scotland and can reach Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen within 90 minutes maximum. We are a city of culture and science and this is improved upon on a daily basis. I am so looking forward to the waterfront being finished and the new V&A building. Love Dundee. Look forward to my 2-year old reaping the benefit.

<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> the wide variety of culture from ancient history like the Discovery to the new V and A coming to the city.....the Hutton Institute does some wonderful work across the world. The McManus Gallery has Picasso coming to it shortly...where else could you find such diversity.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The DCA, one of Dundee's many cultural gems
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The views across the city and across the Tay are ever-changing and always inspiring. I'm sure few outsiders would think of Dundee as a beautiful city, but everyone who's been here knows.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The quality of the live music you hear for free in the pubs. And the beach at Broughty.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> People care. Culture Reflects that.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> It has sooo much potential to be an amazing city, glad its getting a facelift and we are here to help record its evolution.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> There's so much to offer at every time of the year and for every age, having only been in Dundee since 2005 I can't ever imagine leaving.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is an amazing and vibrant city with so much going on - we love Exchange Street with all its independent shops and cafes.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Great mix of people.
Good cultural mix.
Set on the silvery tay.
Climb the Law - see for miles.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The amazing diversity of music available in Dundee - everything from punk, ska, classical, jazz, blues, indie and pop, there's always something going on!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is the only city in the whole of the UK with Red Squirrels within the city boundaries. As an iconic species for Scotland this says a lot for Dundee and shows the depth of commitment from its Ranger Service and Parks Management. Camperdown Wildlife Centre is a very important conservation site for endangered species across Europe and the World, and plays an important role in educating our younger people and serves as a main centre of attraction.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The city of Dundee was the first Scottish city to have suffragettes bringing to light the inequities if the time. When you scratch the surface of our understated city you will find such depth, humour and humanity that this example shoes. Also a rich dialect that will educate visitors-do you know what a circle is? :) Dundee is a truly lovely place
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> its friendliness and fun
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The hidden beauty of a past industrial city surprises me every day. I am new to the city, having chosen to study in Dundee over the other cities that the UK has to offer, and every time I travel I am stunned by the beauty that the city has.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> A vibrant business community with a ''can do'' attitude that welcomed with open arms MacRoberts as a new entrant to the City earlier in the year.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> we have the closest 2 football teams in the world. and dundee united are the only team in europe to have beaten barcelona everytime that we have played them in europe
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee used to be the butt of jokes, but no more!! People from all over the world come to study here and decide not to leave because they can see the potential of the city. There is a great sense of humour here too - I love how if someone gets a bit above their station there is usually some wit armed with a razorsharp comeback to put them firmly back in their place :D
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> the history alone bounces dundee right out there, everytime I come home to Dundee the look changes for the better
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Apart from the friendliness of our people and the sudden impact of some of our treasures - Frigate Unicorn, Morgan Academy, some of the surviving old tenements - I marvel at the strong thread of traditional Scottish dancing here. Dundee's branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society started in 1925 (3rd oldest in the world!); there's dancing all over, if you know where to look! It's going on in school halls and church halls most evenings, but lots of visitors don't know enough about it.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> the gritty, real, innovative, inspiring creative talent of the city's young people to problem solve, make and enterprise
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee folk have the driest wit on the planet. Their quick humour requires a very thick skin. However this goes hand in hand with true kindness and community spirit. I love Dundee!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The brilliant Macmanus Galleries to the Blues Festival. Always plenty to do. Really looking forward to the V and A. its all going on in Dundee.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> I love the way Dundee is situated next to the River Tay. It is different everyday. You can see a seal bobbing along or an oil platform being towed out to sea. It also gives great views when you're higher up in Dundee.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee has the ability to re-invent itself
exciting to see the city connecting with the river again
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> For me this is about saying 'thank you' to a city that made me feel so welcome and has become home! And, for me, it's the hidden surprises that make Dundee so special; the enigmatic jute mills awaiting rescue, the seals on the sandbanks under the rail bridge, daffodils in The Howff in the spring; the lovingly tended parks and forestry.... All this and we still have so much to look forward to! The V&amp;A and the whole waterfront redevelopment - I can't wait!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Great communications to all parts of Scotland and UK. Fantastic setting on the Tay and beaches up the coast to Broughty Ferry and Carnoustie.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> the flowers....Dundee parks department does a great job with wonderful floral displays throughout the city.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Wonderful restaurants and great people!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee decided a long time ago that it was not going to be talked down to and look where it is going. it is ever changing, looking to the future with V&amp;A Dundee on its way, which will be housed within a stunning purpose built delight. But don't forget about the past look around and you can see what Dundee was with many beautiful buildings of years gone by.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> I have this image of a group of people, one of them my wife, swimming across the Tay. They arrive, shivering and tired at Broughty Ferry Harbour and as they emerge a school of bottle-nosed dolphins barrels out to sea leaping and diving as if in salute. It sums up why we came and stayed. A plucky, generous place and people, succeeding against the odds and blessed with an incomparable natural setting.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> If you see Dundee in sunshine, it is a lovely place. Yet seeing it when it rains and all is grey and the Tay river whirls with the wild currents, that is what summons the bitter-sweet nostalgia of the past, of the industrial times and streetcars passing through the city center.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The art scene has lots of little underground/pop-up/interesting goings-on that most people in the city are unaware of even
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Arriving by train across the mouth of the Tay, the City nestles below the Sidlaws. How close the Highlands seem, as leaving the station and walking up Union Street one passes Gows - gun and tackle dealer (est 1860). Dundee is a thriving 21st century city, which has never yet stopped being a village or country town.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The resilience of the city and the people - we keep geting knocked down and we still show a unity to keep going until we succeed.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Whenever I travel back to Dundee I am always surprised at the beauty I see. Travelling over the water on the train I never fail to remember how lucky I am to be able to see our landscapes and treasures in architecture, history, creativity and community... That and a good pub!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee, just look at the view of our city we take for granted every day. Some people moan about our city, lets make a comparison when you compare our city to a lot of other city's throughout the uk and the world. Is it safe to walk our streets ? and we do like a good moan about everything but do we like it when people from other city's moan about us, so lets hear it for Bonnie Dundee.
I'm just checking in, come back soon!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Walk along Dundee's riverside on a summers afternoon, wind blowing gently, ice cream in hand and admire the best kept spectacular vista in the world.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> What surprises me about Dundee is how little people living outsidethe City realise how much Dundee has changed over the years and what a fantastic place this is to live,work and visit. I have lived in Dundee all my life and have raised my family here and I would never have had it any other way.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The wooden cobbles in Whitehall crescent.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Viewing the heavens through the (public) Mills observatory telescope. the sparks of light from the Art College annual show.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> It surprises me how cosmopolitan the city is considering the lack of transport links
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dylan Drummond is surely one of Dundee's greatest assets. The passion and enthusiasm he displays for his city (and the similarly talented locals he chooses to freely showcases) displays a vigour and vibrancy which I think is unique and truly infectious. See for yourself.
www.sonofthesea.co.uk
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee sits on a beautiful location comparable to some of the most stunning cities in the world. The excitement in the City of how this will be harnessed through the development of the Waterfornt is palpable. Dundonians are already proud people with a rich cultural heritage and we are all backing the changes in the City that will afford us even greater pride in where we live.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The V&amp;A... City Quay, two ships,what a great place tae visit &amp; stay... DUNDEE's Growing &amp; Glowing.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> There's a quiet spirit of determination, generosity and ambition found in Dundee that's positive and uplifting, but hard to find elsewhere.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee never fails to amaze me. From the jute, jam and journalism era to present day, its rich culture of down to earth, hard working men and women is a legacy that will live on. Dundee is a city with a small village attitude - well known faces in well known places - that's the magic!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> It always amazing how diverse Dundonians are, in their language, there fashion, their backgrounds, their views and there lifestyles. The rich tapestry of people in Dundee means there is a place for everyone to feel at home and that is something that always surprises me about the place.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> What i love about dundee is Balgay park, the gorgeous hidden forrest trails, the wildlife living there, An observatory, the ancient graveyard you can explore for days, the haunted bridge ... the rose garden...i could go on. I have spent so many weekends of my life swinging on those brilliannt swings overlooking the gorgeous greenery of the hill. One of the best parks i have ever been to and a real dundee gem.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee has its very own Neollithic stone circle - in Charleston.

I hope that the focus on the City of Culture can bring more of Dundee's history that is one the ground (and under it!) to the fore.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Attend one of Creative Dundee's Pecha Kucha nights to learn more about creatives you knew about and discover ones you didn't. Always inspiring.

Duncan of Jordanstone Art College is a hub of exciting creative activity and brings creative life to the city. I love going to degree shows in summer to see an amazing spectacle of talent and fresh ideas. Look forward to seeing a strawberry farm this year as part of Interior and Environmental Design's showcase. Can't say the students aren't dynamic!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> A city that feels like a village, and where I can be on a beach in 10 minutes or in the mountains in 45. You can't beat that.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> I remember coming out of the Caird Hall in June some years ago, to find I was in Moscow in December! With snow and pictures of Stalin. The BBC had transromed the city square into a set for it's play 'An Englishman Abroad' set in comunist Russia in the cold war - it was amazing and yet another example of Dundee's rich yet unsung cultural patchwork.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is an undiscovered gem for many people in the UK. Full of creativity, culture, humour and sunshine - it is a vibrant exciting place to be. Straight-talking Dundonians are without a doubt the city's its best asset. I couldn't be prouder to tell anyone in the world that this great place is where I live.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is truly cosmopolitan. People come from all over the world, fall in love with it, and are always sorry to leave. It has everything you need and there is always something going on or something new to see. My favourite things are the McManus, the DCA, Balgay Hill, the Blues Bonanza, the Duncan of Jordanstone Degree Show and the view from my house.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Me sorprende su hermosa Arquitectura, organización, cultura, costumbres y todo su avance
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> My image says it all, that's what delights me! Being able to walk along the beach every day with the sun beating down on the city gives Dundee its pulse and people the incredible energy they all seem to have! We get more hours of sunshine than most other UK cities (that's official!) and it shines through.. sorry for bad pun!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee's thriving cultural scene, for far too long, Scotland's best-kept secret, is now bursting out all over! Dundee is pulsating with creative ideas and regeneration!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The ever changing look of sea, river, clouds, hills and wildlife make everyday a surprise.
The richness of women's history in Dundee.
The thriving arts community in Dundee and surrounding countryside.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Planning student at the University of Dundee. The city has changed so much in the space of less than a century from industrial to culturally-orientation. V&amp;A, DCA, The Waterfront, Discovery, McManus are only tips of a very large iceberg.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> it's been surprising, but delightful, to notice how the city is regenerating itself. From the stunning rows of daffodils lining the roads into the city today, to the beautiful views along the river and the varied responses to economic growth, the city is a remarkable example of renewed confidence in itself.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Many things to see and do in Dundee but for me nothing beats a Sunday afternoon stroll in Camperdown park with my family and the dog.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee has some hidden gems of delightful restaurants and cafes that are original and varied. Having lived in Dundee for 6 years now I am still amazed at all the new places I am discovering. This on the backdrop of amazing surroundings and scenery is just one of the things that makes Dundee amazing!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> It is not the city people think it is - it is much more: dynamic, cultured, historical, international and at the forefront of research in areas such as life sciences or digital art (including video games). And all of this, near one of the most beautiful countryside and riverside backdrop!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The rest of Scotland sneering at Dundee, because...?
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> A very strong artist-led community, with events at Tin Roof, Generator and WASPS studios.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Friendliness, great music scene, lots of creative people
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> I love how child friendly Dundee is - places for cake or eating out, loads of activities to do from sports activities, art &amp; crafts, places to go like Camperdown, Botanics or the beach and so much more.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> I spent many a happy year at University here and loved the University life. Dundee is a great city to study and live, I have very fond memories of my time there.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is the perfect sized city. Everything is close and you can walk the distances easily or take a bike. The location is also perfect. It's close to the sea and at the same time close to the bigger cities and the Highlands. A walk along the river Tay when the sun sets is always special!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The Incredible Roll Inn on Whitehall Crescent, just a stones thow away from the new Waterfront Development and Neighbour to the Malmaison Hotel is a sandwich bar with a difference. Come try our tasty treats!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The music scene in Dundee is very diverse, for a small city we have some great venues and bands. Not to mention our great blues festival! It really helps put Dundee on the map.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The daffodils in springtime! The first year I moved to Dundee they were a joy to behold after my first Scottish winter.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The location is amazing - surrounded by both inland coastal delights
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance is based in Dundee and is the only training centre of its kind in Scotland. It is not recognised enough!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> It is absolutely packed with cute little off the wall cafés and bars, a great art and science scene, and a vibrant and innovative university. For a fairly small city, it packs a lot in! To win the city of culture award would serve to boost all of these things and enhance the city even more.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is the city of Dance - Its a well kept secret! So many fantastic dancers have came from their or have came to Dundee to dance. Even though I moved away from Dundee I still come home and will always find a dance class of some sort.  I've got to thank my first dance teacher - Emma Preston who made me love dance! And she also inspired many other Dundonians as well!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Despite a lack of national exposure, Dundee's creative community continues to flourish and produce young, genuinely innovative art across many media. There is always something exciting happening in Dundee's bars and galleries. With the help of the DCA, DoJ and other well-meaning parties such as local music promoters; musicians, film-makers, artists and designers will always find a home for their terrific talent somewhere in the city.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Our young people

Diversity in action
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> women were appreciated and treated with respect as they were the breadwinners during the war period and after as many worked in the jute mills to earn money for the family.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> It's growth - back in the mid-19th century, there was no Riverside Drive or Seabraes areas, just the waters of the Tay. In the last century-and-a-half, Dundee has expanded, grown, developed, nutured and inspired people, buildings, industries, research and bussiness - we live in an exciting peroid where we get to watch Dundee transform from a Scottish town to a Scottish institution.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The great art collection in the McManus Gallery. And the great mixture of Architecture in the city such as the grand old houses.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is full of surprises (for those who don't yet fully understand how wonderfully vibrant our wee city actually is!) There is a huge amount of creative and cultural activity happening all over the city... you just have to be dedicated to seeking it out! And if there's something in particular that you think should be happening in the city, whether that's a new club night or a new Japanese restaurant ;) ... then there is a strong network and a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm around to support new ideas and put them in to action!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> its simplicity! Dundee is amazing, it offers warmth to strangers and absorbs them in its culture. Good luck Dundee!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The Duncan of Jordanston College of Art and Design is always a fantastic exhibition. I have to go at least 3 times each year because I dont want to miss anything!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The hidden asset of Dundee is the fact that It is easily accessed from all other major cities in Scotland, therefore an ideal place for being the City of Culture 2017. A beautiful setting as you approach the river, miles of beach, countryside within 10 minutes and people from all walks of life.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The stories my gran told me of her time in the jute mills will never be forgotten. What terrible conditions to work under, for very little pay. The hard times they lived through made the women of Dundee strong but humorous, and a real sense of family. My gran's, and her parents, philosophy on family has been passed down the generations to my own children. Dundonian and proud.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> We've got two Universities, two football teams, two bridges and a professional ice hockey team a plethora of theatres and a number of fine museums. The people are proud, but not pushy. The city has one of the finest settings in the world and despite many of the mistakes of the sixties almost every other city made it is now going places and has a tremendous sense of optimism. Becoming City of Culture would be the icing on the cake of the cities rebirth.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee City Centre doesn't cover a very wide area but it has everything you'd ever need. Lovely and compact but with all the big shops as well as the lovely independent cafes for some variation.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The mix of the place - professions and creatives mixing to give something greater than the sum of the parts
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The city has grown beyond the small university town it was just a couple of decades ago. The diversity and inclusiveness as well as the industry that has expanded Dundee into a city is just amazing and makes me proud of my Alma Mater.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Art bar. DCA. The people.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> When I worked in a city centre office in the shadows of the McManus, a highlight was my lunchtime walk up the Law - my Nearest Faraway Place. After walking straight up the "Conshie", past the university and the old DRI building, pausing briefly at the top of the Law to admire the spectacular panorama, it was back down past tranquil allotments, down Inverlaw Place and through Dudhope Park, complete with castle, back refreshed for the afternoon work ahead. Quality time!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Sometimes you have to look a little closer or a look at a city from a different angle to discover the hidden gems of arcitecture or urban archeology that may be there but never seen. Dundee is a facinating plave for this. The grand gateway to the Howfe that has never been opened for decades, The 1/4 mile long aquaduct over the Dichty burn at Fintry ....
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Having spent my past 44 years living around the Tay estuary, I regularly re-discover the incredibly vibrant local music scene with which I first became familiar in 1969. The current crop of young musicians[I recently saw a 14 year old playing Peter green, Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix], supported and encouraged by the early 20 + year olds who had themselves been supported and are still supported by earlier generations. The Blues festival is rightly famous but you can go round many venues in Dundee weekly and hear music of the highest calibre.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee is full of strong characters who bind our communities together with a shared sense of resolve, grit and determination. I am always struck by the strong sense of identify that exists in Dundee and how when implemented can be a real force for positive change. That identity is not something that comes through nothing but through a development of a particularly strong culture.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> For me, the people are what make Dundee. They are as spirited group of individuals, who are friendly and welcoming to people in their city. They also celebrate everything their city offers depsite the negative image it has been wrongly given
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Well Dundee is my home city and I just love it! The people are fun and friendly. Eh just love the way we speak! Pure teckle!
There are loads of amazing parks to take the bairns - the swannie ponds is fab in Summer and Winter - I grew up with stories of ice skating on the ponds.
Tannadice is hallowed ground - I grew up there with my uncle and cousins, and now my wee boy is United daft too. And what about the brilliant Michael Marra's song about Hamish McAlpine and Grace Kelly!
The Lochee baths - aye freezing, Victorian splendour and full of characters.
St. Mary's Lochee Catholic Church - absolutely beautiful - and funded by Irish immigrants that helped build the population of Dundee from the 1840s.
Juteopolis - a brilliant book about Dundee and its people.
The Cleppie Road - and the imaginary 'secret tunnel' that goes from Aunty Isabel's bin store on the Cleppie, underground to Tannadice. (Ok - so its not real but its in my imagination).
Lawside Academy - my young days of joy roaming the streets of Downfield and Ardler with my pals - days out up the "Seedlees" (Sidlaws) with picnics, swinging over the Dighty Burn on a rope swing.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The view from The Law, the hub of the City. Each view is like the spokes on a bike with different cultural experiences awaiting in every direction. The South to the city centre the bridges and beyond the Tay to Fife. The South East to the grassy beach and the delights of the Ferry, and the bombs and biodiversity of Buddon ness. The East to Arbroath the birthplace of Scotland and the great beaches and cliffs of the east coast. The North East to the invention of the Bridie ,the Angus Glens and wild adventures, the North to Golden Eagles and the heart of the Highlands, and the North West to Birnham and Macbeth country. Finally the fantastic view to the West of the Tay Estuary of the Tay winding its way to the heart of Scotland.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Great location for walkers, runners and cyclists, productive and unique art and music scene, cosy corners in the phoenix and art bar, lovely wee tea and cake shops, great parks to explore on a sunny day, we get plenty here!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The hugely supportive and inclusive student culture. The West End of Dundee is a hub for all sorts of student activity and promotes a truly welcoming vibe. The number of independent traders and retailers along places such as the Perth Road makes Dundee thrive and elude individuality. It is great to see residents supporting local business and hailing from Derry, the current city of culture, I can see how winning this bid could only boost Dundee's already growing culture sector.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Dundee has an outstanding school's music program. Talented and enthusiastic teachers go to all of Dundee's primary and high schools weekly to work with children. The sheer quality of the music produced by the Dundee School's Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band, Rock Band, Percussion Ensemnle, Guitar Ensemble, Pipe Band etc etc is awe inspiring. These children are a massive credit to Dundee.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The warmth, the colour of the stone, the glimpses to the sea, the irish influence, the wynds, the theatre experience like your extended family's front room at the Rep, the great and obscure films, comfy seats at the DCA &amp; the vibe in the cafe/bar outside, the memory of Michael Marra everywhere, the bridges, the hope of seeing dolphins, the criss-cross bustle of the Ferry, the friendliest hairdresser ever, the cheek, the possibilities, the Discovery, the jute mills, the wide boys, green surprises like Baxter Park, the end of eyesores like Tayside House, the refurb of the Tay Hotel and the best cycle route across any bridge anywhere.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> This is one of the events that excites me about Dundee, Dundee Blues Bonanza, this free 3 day festival is unique to the city. Blues music is in the blood of Dundonians and this 18 year old event has grown in to a national and internation event. 12,000 people attend what is thought to be the biggest free blues event in Europe and it's a real gem in Dundee's musical heritage.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> Moved up here from the Home counties Kent ,the garden of England to Dundee some 13 years ago. Away from the mad rush and no time for this and that.
The people in Dundee are so freindly and helpful they seem to have time for one another. It has a relaxing feel to the place and made to feel very welcome. It has a great deal to offer something for everyone, and iis at an exciting time with the city wide future development projects.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> The community spirit. The stories people tell. The willingness to get involved in creative projects.
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> I was born in Dundee in the 80s. The city has really changed since then. Dundee has worked so hard on it's cultural side. Every time I go back to visit there is always something new to see or do. Go for it Dundee! You deserve it!
<b>Q) What surprises you about the city?</b><br><hr><b>A)</b> love all the green open spaces - there is so much to do!

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