So, during tbe commonwealth games the ladies in my life will be at the gymnastics, leaving me and my 11 year old lad left to our own devices in Glasgow for the day. We’ll all be going in by train, so what should we go and see?

Mechanical/trains/engineering type stuff are usually winners with him.

Transport Museum http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/riverside/Pages/default.aspx

Or Science Musuem

http://www.glasgowsciencecentre.org/

both worth a visit.

Suspect we can lose a few hours between those two!

Kelvingrove Museum – not as many toys as the science museum though

Elvis leaves the building in a Spitfire? 😯

Start at the transport museum, have a walk up byres road and have some lunch then do the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the afternoon.

If you’re getting the train to central its an easy walk along the riverside to the transport museum.

Elvis leaves the building in a Spitfire?

Yeah, well thought you might appreciate a bit of a heads-up fr Kelvingrove, so to speak

So there you have it. The boy likes mechanical/trains/engineering type stuff, I offer spitfires, elvis and floating heads. Not off topic at all.

Oh and next to the Transport Musuem is the SS Glenlee an old cargo ship of the “tallship” category that has had very interesting life and is worth a visit. The trasnport musuem is the wavy building in the pic.

http://thetallship.com/

Go to Edinburgh.

Titan Crane at Clydebank
Maritime Museum at Braehead is ok
Speedboat tour on the clyde…I’d be dissapointed but an 11 year non sailor might well love it.

Sharmanka Kinetic gallery at Trongate 103 – Arty, but don’t diss it til you’ve seen it. many a young sceptic has been converted. Plus its only 30 minutes for the short show.

Or take the Train to Balloch and try out all the stuff at canyou experience or get the bus to aberfoyle and Go Ape. Takes about 3-4 hours to do the course.

And You could tour all these on a tandem rented from…Me!

Titan Crane at Clydebank

ohohoyeah, deffo. passed it loads of times and heard it wsa going to open – open now then is it?

Transport museum has Obree’s bikes

Isn’t the important one, Old Faithful, the self-build featuring washing machine parts that he won the hour record on, in Chambers St in Eddyburg?

Not when I was in the Transport Museum

Edit: sorry wrong. They are replicas built by one G Obree – but not originals.

If your son likes actually looking at cars and bikes etc. The transport museum will probably dissapoint its crap.

I think chubbybloke is correct about obrees bike too.

Get the train out to somewhere in’t Highlands for the day. Balmaha with the masses, Helensburgh (or Rhu) for simples seaside day. Ferry over to Argyll peninsula’s?

Science centre – my kids love that place…

Though they also enjoyed Burger Meats Bun (West Regent Street) last time we were in town

As said if your lad actually wants to see things up close then the Transport Museum is a bust. Summerlee on the other hand…

http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=15877

…is supposed to be good and you can actually see the stuff. There’s the Maritime Museum down in Irvine as well, both are a half hour train journey from Glasgow.

There’s the museum of Modern Art in the city centre as well (Royal Exchange Square) which can vary between the sublime and the ridiculous. Free as well and not that big so worth the 15 minutes to walk round and see if anything takes your fancy.

Dunno your dates but this is also on in July at the South Rotunda. The set is amazing and the groups from around the commonwealth should have some interesting shows.

http://m.nationaltheatrescotland.com/news/2013/11/announcing-the-tin-forest.aspx

Yep Summerlee is actually pretty good. Titan Crane might still have a bar at the top….dunno I think it may have been temporary for a promo??? find out and let us know!

Balmaha – Get the mailboat, or hire a rowing boat from the yard, cross to inchailloch and pretend to be pirates/swallows and amazons for a few hours. Wee hill to climb, a good climbing tree at the top/ barbecue spooky churchyard/ might see deer.

Actually, can we all come too?

Summerlee is good. Plenty of big engines/machines, a couple of decent static steam engines,a short tram ride, mineworks you can go down into, miners cottages from different decades (you’ll like them too), decent swingpark and a section of the old coatbridge canal with a lovely boat called Vulcan thats been restored although not sure if you can go on it to look..Coatbridge central station literally 5 minutes walk away too..
If your boy likes cars and trains the transport museum is good- keeps my two younger boys happily amused but they love Summerlee too..

Never been to summerlee but its a quick train from the city centre to the best named trainstation in the uk… Coatbridge Sunnyside.

Other ideas…

Epic graveyard investigating at the necropolis.
The lighthouse water tower for a different view of glasgow.
Bikes? Cycle up the kelvin?
Huntarian museum for gross things in jars.
Train to largs for nardinis icecream.