Visiting MIMA by Rail

Today we decided we'd have a day out and do something a bit different.  We departed Whitby Station on the 8:50am train to Middlesbrough - a journey I haven't made since visiting friends who lived up the Esk Valley while we were at school.

Arriving in Middlesbrough at about 10:30am, we headed through the town centre and made our way to MIMA - Middlesbrough's answer to the Tate Modern.  My Mum and Dad had visited before and recommended it for a good place to visit.  It's free entry, and they provide plenty of acitivities for children to do whilst looking around the gallery, including free colouring sheets, and a 'Looking Bag' filled with things like binoculars and a magnifying glass.

On the approach to the gallery we stopped to enjoy the water feature - Edmund suggested I 'go in', but I thought better of it given the wintry conditions (and the lack of trunks):

We had a look around all three floors, including taking in the panoramic view from the rooftop terrace.  We did have one little 'mishap' when Edmund mistook an art installation for a bouncy castle and jumped on it (to be fair, it did look like a big, inflatable, pink sofa) - but other than that, we enjoyed looking at their current exhibitions.

Florence enjoyed the colouring in, but refused to eat her lunch (purchased from the good value, child friendly Cafe Mima). 

Just as we were leaving, I noticed a couple of jet engines.  You know, the kind of thing you expect to see lying on the ground in the middle of a large town.  Edmund wanted to show Grandad Doug (who works for Boeing) - so we took this picture:

Sometimes it's good to just get out and do something out of the ordinary.  We don't visit Middlesbrough often, but perhaps, having enjoyed both the journey and the place itself, we'll make more effort to do so in the future.

For more information, have a look on Mima's website at www.visitmima.com.

As a side note, all photos were taken using my new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which I have to say, I'm very impressed with so far - maybe I'll write about that later.