I was surprised and thrilled to find that I’m one of the 2013 MAD blog award finalists in the Best Travel Blog category. If you nominated me, thank you, I really appreciate it.
So, we sped around level four of London’s Tate Modern with the cousins during the half term break. The youngest had been given an excruciating project to complete: ten pages on Cubism (1907 – 1914, Picasso & Braque, jaggedy-type pictures, in case you were wondering – as I was). The project was to be completed with No Copying From The Internet. Now that’s a challenge for a dyslexic ten year-old who avoids writing at all costs: ‘Can I do it on the computer and make the writing really big?’ he asked, hopefully.
He could, but he needed some inspiration. We had actually visited the Picasso Museum in Malaga, the artist’s birthplace, last summer, but he couldn’t remember much about it. We decided to head to London and find some Cubist pictures to look at.
The great thing about London’s big museums and galleries being free to go to is that you can pop in without feeling obliged to look at everything on display. This is perfect for kids. In Tate Modern’s Cubism room we saw paintings by Picasso and Braque, but the youngest wasn’t impressed. He rolled his eyes and said: ‘It looks like they just cut up different shapes and glued them together’.
We then whizzed around the rest of the floor, before heading for hot chocolate and postcard views from the balcony of Espresso Bar on level three. As we looked out across the Thames towards St. Paul’s Cathedral the youngest said, wistfully: ‘I prefer art by Banksy‘. Maybe we’ll look for some on our next trip to London.
The family travel lowdown: General entry to Tate Modern is free
We visited the Tate Modern last year as my sister was performing there. The kids found it all a little odd and to be honest I didn’t get it either, but you can’t fault London for it’s free museums and places of interest.
I know, there are so many great things to see and do, much of it for free.