Second day in #Hull #CityOf Culture #CorporationPier #HumberStreetGallery

 After a day exploring yesterday, we decided to revisit the dock area and look at some of the smaller galleries as well.

The first area we came to was near the Scale lane swing bridge. This had a really interesting building on it that was itself a work of art but unfortunately empty now. Here there were a couple of ships stuck in the mud as the tide was out. They were quite an interesting subject matter.

Next we visited the Museum area taking time to view the Wilberforce house and read about his famous campaign against slavery. 

After a walk along the riverfront, viewing The Deep in the distance, another impressive building, we made our way to the old Fruit Market area. This is a vibrant area known for art galleries and music and performance venues and is an emerging digital hub, which also forms part of the Old Town Conservation Area. 

Hull has done a fantastic job of regenerating this area as well as the wide paved areas surrounding it.
After visits to some other large towns it was a joy to have the space these areas provided.

After visiting a number of small galleries we had a look around the Humber Street Gallery. This proved to be quite a playful exhibition based on games. Visitors had a chance to interact with several exhibitions and even add to some of the sculptures. An interesting observation was that in the toilets they had posted the pictures of some of these sculptures and the reactions of some visitors.

Wandering down Humber street there was an excellent atmosphere with street performers and places to sit and relax. The area is fast developing into a must visit area with small art and craft galleries, designer shops and food outlets. 

There were also little gems that we came across, like the odd mural in an alley. Also some of the shops had window displays of art work, some linked to the sea theme others to the shopping experience.

Before coming to Hull, we had been given a variety of opinions on what the town was like. Some good and some not as good. From our experience it is a city that is certainly on the up in many areas and has spent the City of Culture money widely enhancing areas that needed developing. It will be interesting to go back in a few years to see how this development has continued.

The only downside to our visit was the timing. We knew that it was the City of Culture but failed to check the activities whilst we were there and our weekend fell at a quiet time. Not their fault though!