Favorite museums

[J_Dee]

I'm going back to the Art Institute of Chicago soon (I hope). It's easily my favorite art museum, and the fact that it's near so many other cool sites, like the Field Museum, is just icing on the cake.

Spoiler

I was one of the first people to see Sue at the Field Museum when she very first went on display over two decades ago.

What are your favorite museums? What's the coolest thing you've ever seen in one?

 

[Frumpo]

The Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

The Art Institute is great. The MoMa in NYC is half great and half garbage. They have Monets, Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali, and other great works. The last time I was there they also had a room that was just a bunch of cardboard boxes stacked up :|

The Met is awesome but overwhelming because it is so big. The only bad thing was the American wing of the museum. There was some great stuff in there (Washington crossing the Delaware) but a lot of it was just furniture. I mean it's nice looking furniture but still...

The Guggenheim was a complete waste of time. The architecture was cool but that was it.

In DC I've been to the Natural History Museum, the American history museum, and the Air and Space Museum. This was 20 years ago so I don't know whats all there now. But seeing the flag from fort McHenry that inspired the Star Spangled Banner was awesome. And literally anything to do with space is cool to me.

The Intrepid museum in NYC is AWESOME. If you are into military history at all you'll love it. They also have a space shuttle (Enterprise, never went to space) and I got to meet some astronauts while I was there. Again, I'm a huge space dork so I was totally star struck meeting them, and I'd say the vast majority of people would have never heard of either of them (not Apollo astronauts).

 

[Festivus Miracle]

So many great museums in Washington DC. One rather obscure one is the National Spy Museum. It was very interesting.

 

[GeraldV]

Love the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Pete, Florida. Hands down my favorite.

 

[rudd1]

-d'orsay in Paris is my fav.

-prefer art institute to moma.

-tate modern in London is great.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Philadelphia is an underrated museum town -- and I live in DC. I prefer the Philadelphia Art Museum (of the famous "Rocky Steps") to the National Gallery of Art or the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. And the Barnes Museum is a quirky, terrific space to see impressionists and others.

That said, for sheer volume of accessible museums Washington is unbeatable. The new fossil hall in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is amazing, as, really, are all the Smithsonian museums for one reason or another.

Among European museums, the Prado in Madrid, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Musee D'Orsay in Paris were all worthwhile, as, it must be said, was the Louvre, however overcrowded with Asian tourists it becomes.

The entire old city of Jerusalem is a museum, if you want to look at it that way.

 

[Catman100]

No Louvre, no care.......

Actually on a different note, the Dayton Air Force museum in Dayton was very impressive. They have everything from Air Force one, to ballistic missile, and pretty much anything else that flies through the sky.

Unexpectedly impressive.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

also the rotunda at the National Archives is neat. You get to see the Declaration of Independence, constitution, and Bill of Rights. When i was there they also had an original copy of the Magna Carta and a speech prepared for Nixon incase Apollo 11 got stranded on the moon.

 

[CatsFan4Evr]

We just went to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in NY last week. The **** just isn't "real" until you're there and see it all with your own eyes.

 

[VernHatton52]

Portland Museum

 

[WildcatFan1982]

We just went to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in NY last week. The **** just isn't "real" until you're there and see it all with your own eyes.

another one I forgot to mention. Just wish they didn't have truther garbage in it. It also annoyed me to see little kids running around. I mean it is a literal gravesite. The same way it annoyed me at Arlington to see people sitting on the JFK memorial despite all of the signs saying not to.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

I went to the Owensboro history museum several years ago for the first time since I was little. They have pictures of the time the New York Yankees came and played a game against an Owensboro team.

They also had an original iMac in there. But that was actually supposed to show something and wasn't part of the 'history' aspect of the museum.

have not been to the bluegrass museum since it moved from the Riverpark Center to it's own building. Will try to check it out next time I go home.

 

[vhcat70]

-d'orsay in Paris is my fav.


-tate modern in London is great.

I'd add Uffizi & Accademia in Florence (not Ky), Prado, Picasso In Barcelona. Love the Rodin Scapluture Museum Garden in Pairs. Can't go too far wrong with Brit & Lourve either. NY Guggenheim quite good.

 

[_Mav_]

Black Museum ("Black Mirror" series 4, episode 6) was pretty freaking awesome.

 

[DoubleSecretProbation]

Les Invalides in Paris is pretty cool for military history buffs.

 

[KyCatFan1]

I'm going back to the Art Institute of Chicago soon (I hope). It's easily my favorite art museum, and the fact that it's near so many other cool sites, like the Field Museum, is just icing on the cake.

Spoiler

I was one of the first people to see Sue at the Field Museum when she very first went on display over two decades ago.

What are your favorite museums? What's the coolest thing you've ever seen in one?

I went to the Field Museum on my son's 5th grade field trip about 9 or 10 years ago. It was a really cool museum. We didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked. Had a 2 hour window and that place was huge. So we had to rush through it. My phone wallpaper is from that visit.

One of my favorite museums I've been to was the Air Force Museum up at Wright Patterson AFB. Went there on field trips a couple of times while in ROTC in high school. I wouldn't mind going back there one of these days. We had a mini version of it where I was stationed in Omaha, NE. It was just about the Strategic Air Command.

Locally the Louisville Science Center used to be pretty good years ago, but last time I went it was mostly just an interactive kid's place. I enjoyed the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and the Louisville Slugger Museum was interesting but fairly short.

I wanted to go to Washington DC to check out some of the museums there before they started getting rid of and vandalizing statues last year. I might still go one of these days if they don't keep trying to destroy our country's history and remove things that offend people.

 

[natron20]

The International Spy Museum was so good.

 

[vhcat70]

Les Invalides in Paris is pretty cool for military history buffs.

Yes. Hard to believe the Frogs celebrate him still. Cool that the church altar was in the middle with the leaders on one side of it & the enlisted were on the other.

Rodin Museum right across a boulevard from it. We've stayed nearby in the Rue Cler area a couple of times. Less touristy IMO & not far from Eiffel either.

 

[Tannerdad]

Love all the Smithsonian’s
The Wright Patterson and Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola are both fantastic.

Field Museum is on my bucket list.

 

[JumperJack]

Great thread. We were lucky enough to see the Louvre, Prado, some others in Europe. El Greco in Toledo. I know it’s tourist hell but the Louvre was great.

 

[vhcat70]

The Thomas Crapper Museum not bad.

 

[joeyrupption]

The International Spy Museum also has a great podcast.

Add another vote for the US Air Force Museum in Dayton. Pre-COVID, I would take my son up there a few times a year.

 

[DSmith21]

Other good ones not previously mentioned:

Vatican Museum
Imperial War Museum in London
Holocaust Museum in DC
British Museum and National Portrait Gallery
Egyptian Museum aka Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
National Palace Museum Taiwan (best Chinese art saved from Mao's Cultural Revolution)
National Archeological Museum in Athens

 

[American Dragon]

I don't travel a whole lot, most of my stuff is from here in Virginia. Especially don't travel much anymore. Between sleeping real ****** in beds other than my own 99% of the time and my cats freaking the hell out to the point they nearly starved themselves to death the last time I went on a week-long trip, I just don't do much more than day trips anymore.

Have had three of these cats for over a decade now, frankly can't even remember the last time I had any extended trips outside of work trips because before then we didn't have the money to do much of anything once my dad had to retire about 15+ years early over health reasons...

Luckily there is quite a lot of traditional and non-traditional museums (such as historical parks and animal-based museums) around these parts

• Mariners Museum in Newport News
• Pamplin Historical Park
• Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach
• Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond
• Appomattox Court House in (obviously) Appomattox
• Historic Jamestown
• James Madison's Montpelier
• Virginia Living Museum in Newport News
• Colonial Williamsburg
• Virginia Museum of the Civil War-New Market Battlefield State Historical Park in New Market
• Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Staunton
• Monticello
• Poplar Forest
• Science Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke

 

[PhDcat2018]

I'm going back to the Art Institute of Chicago soon (I hope). It's easily my favorite art museum, and the fact that it's near so many other cool sites, like the Field Museum, is just icing on the cake.

Spoiler

I was one of the first people to see Sue at the Field Museum when she very first went on display over two decades ago.

What are your favorite museums? What's the coolest thing you've ever seen in one?

Air and space museum in DC for me. The sr-71 blackbird is still the coolest plane ever.

As far as the most impactful museum? The holocaust museum. Just horrific stories of lives lost. Seeing the shoes of those who were in concentration camps(and died) is just gut wrenching.

 

[PhDcat2018]

The International Spy Museum also has a great podcast.

Add another vote for the US Air Force Museum in Dayton. Pre-COVID, I would take my son up there a few times a year.

Dayton one is amazing too!

 

[GGCAT]

Went to the WWII Museum in New Orleans this summer.

Spent 5 hours in there and felt like I rushed thru it.

Simply amazing.

 

[chroix]

The Vatican museum is my favorite I’ve been to.

 

[awf]

While I haven't been to many museums......my favorite was the Louvre, in Paris........Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa were both neat to see.......I would like to spend several days in the Louvre

 

[vhcat70]

Other good ones not previously mentioned:

Vatican Museum
Imperial War Museum in London
Holocaust Museum in DC
British Museum and National Portrait Gallery
Egyptian Museum aka Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
National Palace Museum Taiwan (best Chinese art saved from Mao's Cultural Revolution)
National Archeological Museum in Athens

Makes me remember the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Loaded with Rembrandts/Van Goghs/Vermeers. Separate Van Gogh Museum nearby. Stayed 3 blocks away.

 

[Frumpo]

The Salt and Pepper Shaker museum in Gatlinburg is very underrated.

 

[KentuckyStout]

Udvar Hazy
The Met

For the Met you need a guided tour or you will just walk around looking silly. Don’t forget there‘s a nice bar on the roof, have some drinks and check out the city.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

For the Met you need a guided tour or you will just walk around looking silly. Don’t forget there‘s a nice bar on the roof, have some drinks and check out the city.

True dat. I was by myself and I found myself feeling rather dumb at some points. Especially when I was looking for Washington Crossing the Delaware. I walked up to a guide and asked how to find it. He sort of giggled and pointed... And well he was right to laugh

 

[vhcat70]

^ Outboards would have made it easier.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

another mention for the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. I visited that and the USS Alabama with my WW2 vet grandfather. It was a really fun time and great to hear his insight about everything.

Its been over 20 years since I've been to either so obviously things may have changed, but at the museum in Pensacola they had a display that was set up like a normal small town during the war. Just listening to my grandpa talk about it was so great. He told me a lot of great stories about his time that sadly will never be told again. He is the one person that I wish actually had a blog before he passed

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

-prefer art institute to moma.

word

although I have a soft spot for moma. Mainly because it's when I first "got" Pollock.

I'd always denigrated his work, UNTIL I stood in front of one. That s*it comes alive, but you have to see it in person. It was a true epiphany for me.

 

[Beatle Bum]

I went to the Field Museum on my son's 5th grade field trip about 9 or 10 years ago. It was a really cool museum. We didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked. Had a 2 hour window and that place was huge. So we had to rush through it. My phone wallpaper is from that visit.

One of my favorite museums I've been to was the Air Force Museum up at Wright Patterson AFB. Went there on field trips a couple of times while in ROTC in high school. I wouldn't mind going back there one of these days. We had a mini version of it where I was stationed in Omaha, NE. It was just about the Strategic Air Command.

Locally the Louisville Science Center used to be pretty good years ago, but last time I went it was mostly just an interactive kid's place. I enjoyed the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and the Louisville Slugger Museum was interesting but fairly short.

I wanted to go to Washington DC to check out some of the museums there before they started getting rid of and vandalizing statues last year. I might still go one of these days if they don't keep trying to destroy our country's history and remove things that offend people.

I will drink a Pseudo Sue tonight to honor that picture.

 

[Beatle Bum]

If you like Wright Pat, you may also like the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn.

 

[gobigblue812_rivals29381]

Went to the WWII Museum in New Orleans this summer.

Spent 5 hours in there and felt like I rushed thru it.

Simply amazing.

I've been there and felt the same way. Very cool museum. We went down for the LSU FB game several years ago and stumbled across it while we were staying in New Orleans.