The Big Idea
Another destination during the Easter and Summer holidays was the
Big Idea exhibition in Irvine,
which opened on April 15th, 2000.
Our intrepid reporter crossed the Bridge of Scottish Invention at Irvine harbour,
entered the dome-like structure, sat through the audience-shaking movie on
explosions, saw the gadgets, turned the handles, played the games, built and tested the
Inventors' kits, and generally had a good time!
The place is full of machines and mechanical sculptures to show mechanical and other engineering principles.
Most of the day, it was full of children too! We had to wait until near closing time to take these pictures, after
most of the crowds had left.
It's a great show, and worth the visit if you can avoid the crowds...
The huge sculpture on the left comes to life every hour, flaps its wings and a crew of mechanical figures prepare for take-off, while
some really loud music plays (from Carmina Burana).