Where: United Kingdom, London
Bankside, London SE1, directions on website
Cost: Free, suggested £3 donation
Website: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 10AM to 6PM and Friday through Saturday 10AM to 10PM
How to get there: London Underground, Southwark and Blackfriars stops are closest
When visited: Fall 2008

Is this a must see site? I’m not sure. I would say the biggest question you have to answer is, “Do my children like modern art?” My daughter tolerates the gallery portions of modern art. I can look around a gallery and immediately determine which two or three pieces I want to look at more closely. Strangely, it almost alway seems to be “name” artists.

Anyway, the real reason to bring the family here is for the turbine hall, unless they love Rothko or Bacon. It’s an amazing space. Since the Tate Modern used to be a power plant—right in the middle of London, crazy, I know—the main space is an enormous room capable of eating whatever building you live in and then a few more. It’s huge. A rotating display is featured there. My daughter loved the one we saw: ranks of yellow and blue bunk beds. She had to touch all of them. Truly an overwhelming space to contemplate art, certainly unique to my experience.

There are baby changing facilities in several locations of the Tate Modern. For those with strollers, there is a bank of elevators, though if busy the wait might be fairly long.

If it weren’t for its central London location I doubt we would have gone there, but I’m glad we did. The turbine hall is worth a visit, and you can cross the Thames on the Millenium Bridge when you’re done.