Jurassic Sunderland

I know this is a bit of a local thing, and it is mostly football related, but it also appears in non football stuff too... But there is a big Newcastle/Sunderland divide. I live in Newcastle where the opinion is (generally) that Sunderland is rubbish! And university aside (I am a Sunderland graduate), I largely agree (I think it's the seagulls the size of dogs! Terrifying!!). But today I found myself in Sunderland with my sister on wedding business of hers, and we decided to visit a place that I'm ashamed to say I've never visited before...

Jurassic World...

Or the Sunderland Winter Gardens as it is locally known. It's free to get in (bonus!) and it has dinosaurs (awesome!) so I became a kid watching Jurassic Park all over again.

There were dinosaurs hidden away everywhere amongst the foliage..

Including the Velociraptor which my sister found hilarious as I am still pretty scared of them after watching the first film... Those buggers can open doors people!!

The building is pretty impressive and there are walkways so you can get a birds eye (pterodactyls eye) view of everything..

It really reminded me of the real Jurassic Park

See, even the sister looks slightly concerned!

But what I wasn't expecting, and was really impressed with, was the little museum that was in there too, there was even a display of fabrics and clothes...

Which I dragged the poor sister into.... Not sorry

And in one little corner a history of the Jarrow March (northerners protesting the closure of the ship yards and the loss of one of the biggest northern industries until Nissan turned up, causing mass poverty in the area), which included a reconstructed kitchen...

I love seeing reconstructions of homes, this one reminded be a bit of my Grans kitchen when I was younger, with the scales, old kettle, and rickety clothes horse.

Culture, botanics, dinosaurs, and history.... Well played Sunderland, well played