The pandemic has me craving museum visits..I did visit one recently as the exhibit was meaningful to me..and a place that Bernard and I have visited in the past.

But it took timed ticketing, limited access, masks..it wasn't the same...I so look forward to free access..

This had me thinking of my fav museums and curious about yours...let us list them!

Here are mine...

The Gardner in Boston, of course!

US Air and Space Udvar-Hazy Center just WOW! What an amazing place!! They have EVERYTHING there. The Space Shuttle is the highlight.

The Hispanic Society of America Museum a little known New York gem!

Which leads me to my fav....I learned of this from Spanish lessons online, saw his mural at the above museum ( Sorolla Mural )..and on a trip to Madrid, we sought this one out and were delighted..It ranks as my all time favorite.

Museo Sorolla

Tell us about your fav museums so that we can all make travel lists when all this pandemic stuff is over!!

I haven't been in DC for 33 years, but I was a big fan of History and Industry and "The Castle". I wasn't an aviation geek back then, so I only went to Air and Space once with one of my college roommates. Now, I could probably spend a week there... then another at Udvar-Hazy.

The Museum of Flight in Seattle is outstanding. We have a Space Shuttle trainer which is a different experience from seeing the actual Shuttle because you can touch it.

I always loved the Victoria and Albert Museum. But some years ago, they blocked off the front face of the museum to make bespoke condos. They eliminated some of the best permanent exhibits (like musical instruments!) and it's just not the same anymore.

The Science Museum in London is outstanding.

The Transport Museum in London is outstanding.

The British Museum -- Rick Steves calls it "The Encyclopedia Brittanica Theme Park". Also the British Library which used to be at the British Museum, but is now next to King's Cross train station. They have original Bach and Handel manuscripts, Alice, and a Magna Carta, among other gems.


I loved the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. I want to go back there.


Mrs pj and I spent an entire day at Musee d'Orsay and still didn't see everything. It's high on my list when we can travel again. There is also a Holocaust Museum in Paris that was closed by the time we got there. That's also on the list.


I've always loved house museums. Mount Vernon. There were some cool ones in Colonial Williamsburg. Chas took me to a couple when I visited him. There's a very interesting one in Kent, south of Seattle, that was owned by a Japanese shipping magnate when he and his family were interned.


The Tretyakov is amazing.


It was a bit surreal to see the history museum in Kuwait in 1997. The Iraqis has bombed and burned it, but they had one building open shortly after the war. It had held the world's largest collection of Korans including many historically significant and priceless ones. All burned.


I'll have to think a bit on which is my all time favorite.

The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, also known as MAAS - Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences is HUGE and full of utterly fascinating displays. But it is very disjointed -- it's in an old power station -- and very hard to figure out how to get from one section to the next. Several times, I could see a display I wanted to look at, but I couldn't figure out how to get there. Besides that, I spent a whole day there and it knocked my socks off.

The Exploratorium in San Francisco.

The Royal BC Museum in Victoria.

The American Museum of Natural History in NY.

I've been to Tate Britain several times.

I've been to Tate Modern once... that was enough.


I also hit the gift shop and book shop at the Pompidou. That was enough.

I would love to see the Frank Lloyd Wright Home in Oak Park, Taliesin, and Taliesin West.


I always wanted to see Laura Ingalls Wilders's home. I understand there are a couple of them that are preserved, with the main house museum in Mansfield, Mo.

I loved the British Science Museum and the British Library! Two highlights of my only London trip!

The Chicago Museum of Art is so lovely.

I adored the Albertina Museum of Modern Art in Vienna. Maybe more so because it was during a heat wave and it was the only properly air conditioned building we could find.

The site of the Terracotta Army archeological dig took my breath away.

Closer to home, the Detroit Institute of Art is absolutely wonderful.

We really liked the Pompidou Center in Paris -- partly because we had a pass for unlimited admission for the entire week and so we visited it a couple times a day for a restroom and A/C break while walking around Paris, but also because both the building and the modern art it contains are fun and quirky and provided a bit of a mental break from all the grand architecture and highbrow culture everywhere else in Paris.

Also really loved the Pinball Museum in Las Vegas and the Musee Mechanique in San Francisco. Both are very interactive with games you can play -- basically giant arcades with games from all eras. The Exploratorium in SF was also great.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are several museums that did not even come close to living up to our expections. We found the both the Salem Witchcraft Museum and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame kind of lame and the National Atomic Testing Museum in Nevada seemed like such a promising concept but it was absolutely awful.

In London, the V&A is my favorite. It´s got amazing ¨stuff¨ and it´s very accessible.

The Met in NYC is and always will be amazing.

The National Palace Museum in Taipei is an absolute wonder. All those ¨stolen¨ Chinese treasures!

And for a funky and quirky way to spend an afternoon in London, check out Sir John Soane´s Museum.

In truth, I find all the museums in London fun and interesting.

MOMA

Jf

quote:

Originally posted by Dan:

And for a funky and quirky way to spend an afternoon in London, check out Sir John Soane´s Museum.

In truth, I find all the museums in London fun and interesting.

Absolutely agree!

I've never made it to Sir John Soane's Museum. When I was in London a year ago, I guugled "offbeat museums London" and found a few I hadn't heard of.

One of them near Spitalfields was closed (apparently only open some evenings and for events), so I spent sometime at Christchurch Spitalfields instead. And the market. And had a nutella-filled donut. But I digress.

I went to the Brand Museum which is compact and interesting -- mostly a history of consumer goods and advertising. It's a block or two from the end of Portobello Road Market. Photography is not permitted.

The tube was closed from Hammersmith to South Kensington or Knightsbridge the last weekend I was staying near Earls Court, so I only hit a few places within walking distance.


The museum at the Royal College of Music (down the steps from the Royal Albert Hall) is currently closed while they are building a new building. It used to be in the basement and was only open Wednesdays when school was in session. There you will find, among other things, the earliest known stringed keyboard instrument and the earliest known guitar.
https://www.rcm.ac.uk/museum/

Oh the V&A! I can’t believe I forgot it!

Also in Toronto the Bata Shoe Museum is a gem. I spent literally weeks of my life there doing research in university and it’s just stunning. It’s definitely worth a visit!

Some guy messin' around at the V&A February of last year...

This piano geek has to recommend the historical piano museum in Massachusetts. I don’t remember the town name, but a bunch of us Piano World people met up there a few years ago. You can actually play the pianos.

There's a museum in Munich filled with historic pianos. The curator let me play Mozart's piano.

The Merchant Seaman's house in NYC, built in the 1830s and a time capsule from that era--fascinating place.

The Met, of course

The Detroit Institute of Art is wonderful, especially if you are a fan of Diego Rivera

Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace, now a national park site near Gramercy Park