Museums

[Skippyboo]

I love museums, especially the small, unique or quite odd. The thing I struggle with is burnout, too much information. I start out wanting to read every plaque and give up because I can't take anything else in. I need to find a good strategy to see a museum and enjoy to get a good overview or sense of the place without getting overwhelmed. Museums my husband and I have enjoyed include:
The Getty Center
Petersen Auto Museum
WW2 Museum
The Met
The Museum of Flight

We are heading to London in June and there are so many museums, most of them are free!(donations) So of course it's hard to come up with a short list, not enough time to see all of them. So I'm thinking British Museum, National Portrait Gallery(if it reopens), Sir John Soane's Museum(sounded odd).

NPG in London is reopening June 22, 2023. Don’t know if that’s too late for your trip. The Victoria and Albert Museum is pretty cool. It’s over by Hyde Park. The National History Museum is down the street from it.

I love the Smithsonian in DC. I like in Atlanta area so I have done World of Coke both old and new location, Atlanta History Center, Fernbank Science Center, College Football Hall of Fame.

The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mi is pretty cool. They have a weinermobile.

 

[Lumpy1106]

So Cal Edition;
I always tell people not to waste their time with Hollywood Blvd, The Santa Monica pier and Venice Beach. They are all just dirty and disappointing. Here are some great alternatives;

1. Petersen Automotive Museum - DW took the kids and my FiL about a month ago. I thought FOR SURE the kids would hate it. Nope. My youngest did not want to leave.
2. LA County Museum of Art. It's next to La Brea Tar Pits so if you get a package deal go ahead and spend the 15 minutes or so it takes to appreciate the tar pits (otherwise skip it), but LACMA is the real gem. Don't miss Metropolis II ;
3. Ronald Regan Library - this is such a great slice of history many of us actually lived. It's really well done, and includes Air Force 1. We got a membership to all the presidential libraries for a nominal upcharge. The Nixon library is nearby - FiL refused to go, but we'll make it by there eventually.
4. The Queen Mary - it's currently under renovation - it almost sank (literally) due to delayed maintenance but should be open again soon.

That's the ones we've been to recently.

 

[SueInBoston]

Another museum (now closed) that will always haunt me is the Newseum. I went in late October 2001. They had an enormous 9/11 display as it was the main (and really only) headline of our country. One section was specific photographs that focused on one of the most gut wrenching parts of that day ... the jumpers. My Mom and I still talk about those photos, they are burned into our brains. Deeply affecting us. I have never seen the majority of those images ever again, they never made it to print or online (and for good reason.) They were pulled shortly after our visit as patrons said they were too distressing.

I loved the Neweum. i made a special trip to see it one last time before they closed.

 

[soccerdad72]

A really fun one we went to a year or two ago while visiting our older son at college was the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester: https://www.museumofplay.org/

 

[hrhdhd]

Is your profile picture the Fife tiara? Anywhere that piece is on display would be a favorite of mine

Indeed it is. I saw it on display at Kensington Palace a while back.

 

[Magical2017]

We love museums. We live an hour from DC so have access to all of the Smithsonian museums, which are free. We also have some free museums in the Baltimore area.

 

[MGMmjl]

I love the Smithsonian in DC. I like in Atlanta area so I have done World of Coke both old and new location, Atlanta History Center, Fernbank Science Center, College Football Hall of Fame.

What do you think of the College Football Hall of Fame? That is one we have thought about visiting but haven't made it to yet.

 

[nycdisneygal]

We love museums. Recently back from Italy so went to Vatican, Uffizi and Academia. We are originally from NYC, so My teen's favorite is Metropolitan Museum of Art but she also loves the Cloisters. Today she went to the Natural History Museum - she hadnt been since December 2019!! We went to the Interpid once (for a party ). We are doing college visits in April so will show her Museum of Fine Arts and Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum, both in Boston. In the first year or so of the pandemic we went to Wadsworth Atheneum in CT. Nice collection. Havent done the smithsonian mus. in years...

 

[Skippyboo]

What do you think of the College Football Hall of Fame? That is one we have thought about visiting but haven't made it to yet.

There was a lot of interactive stuff. Most of it I didn’t do. The day I visited I went to GA Aquarium first since it was my birthday and you get in free on your birthday. I got in free to HOF because chick fila was running a promotion. I think it’s okay if you are already in Centennial Park area. Don’t know if I would make a special trip for it.

 

[CynBeth]

What do you think of the College Football Hall of Fame? That is one we have thought about visiting but haven't made it to yet.

We visited there when we went to Atlanta this past summer and enjoyed it. The World of Coca Cola was great at one portion they have a room that is a bigger version of Club Cool at Epcot. It was fun but took me a few days until I wanted to drink soda again. The Georgia Aquarium is right by there and wonderful as well. We also went to the Atlanta History Museum and Fernbank Science Center and went on the big wheel. Also visited the Delta Flight Museum and took a day for Stone Mountain. And went to the zoo. Spent a little time at Centennial Park but it was having some work done so only certain spots were open. And we saw a Braves game. We had dinner at a revolving restaurant that was not moving that night but had great views. We also went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.