# Museums? Which ones?



## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

Do you like museums? I do. I actually love museums. 

I love LACMA, MOCA, Getty Center, Getty Villa, Japanese American National Museum, Norton Simon and Hammer, Museum of Tolerance in LA ... I've also visited some, out side of LA (CA) - I particularly loved Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Philadelphia Museum, National Liberty Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. My all time favorite is Uffizi in Italy! but other big name museums in Italy and France were also great. As a girl, Salvatore Ferragamo Museum was also like a dream. 

You can tell I haven't visited many states yet in the US... but when I do travel to other states, I need to know which ones to visit. Which museums do you recommend? Which museums do you like?


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## Johnny.B.Good (Aug 27, 2012)

I love museums.

Of those that I have visited to date, my favorite has to be the Musée d'Orsay.


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## apicius9 (Aug 27, 2012)

I have never been to LA, but on the other coast I definitely liked the MOMA and the Guggenheim in NYC, the small Rodin museum in Philadelphia. Others that impressed me: Anthropological Museum in Mexico City, parts of the Prado in Madrid, the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt/Germany as a kid (natural history, lots of dinosaurs...). In terms of art, I remember a few exhibitions more than museums, e.g. a Dali exhibition in Madrid that I hitchhiked 1,500miles to see, a Munch exhibition, also in Madrid but years later while I spent a few months in the city etc. As a German who is interested in history, the Holocaust Museum in DC really got to me on an almost visceral level. 

Stefan


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## 99Limited (Aug 27, 2012)

My wife had a five month assignment to Washington DC. While she worked I spent my days visiting every museum I could find, some multiple times. It seems like the best museum I've ever been to is the British Museum of Natural History. I say "seems like" because that was 30 years ago and all I'm left with is the impression that it had a lot of cool stuff to look at. Chicago's Field Museum was wonderful and the nice thing about its location is the Shedd Aquarium is next door so you could make a day between the two places.


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## DwarvenChef (Aug 27, 2012)

I can't remember the names but I can spend days in Natural History museums


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## ecchef (Aug 27, 2012)

Takoyaki museum in Osaka.


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## Lucretia (Aug 27, 2012)

Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL. Much more than circus art...


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## Keith Sinclair (Aug 27, 2012)

DwarvenChef said:


> I can't remember the names but I can spend days in Natural History museums



Me too others that come to mind Air and Space in DC,Van Gogh in Holland,Orsay in Paris,Rodin Paris,I went to a small museum in Germany that was half Art Nouveau and other half Puppets I liked that one alot.


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

Johnny.B.Good said:


> I love museums.
> 
> Of those that I have visited to date, my favorite has to be the Musée d'Orsay.



yes, Musée d'Orsay was beautiful... I decided comparing what we have in Japan and the US with ones in Europe isn't fair.... I wish I can hop on the airplane now to visit those museums there!


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

apicius9 said:


> I have never been to LA, but on the other coast I definitely liked the MOMA and the Guggenheim in NYC, the small Rodin museum in Philadelphia. Others that impressed me: Anthropological Museum in Mexico City, parts of the Prado in Madrid, the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt/Germany as a kid (natural history, lots of dinosaurs...). In terms of art, I remember a few exhibitions more than museums, e.g. a Dali exhibition in Madrid that I hitchhiked 1,500miles to see, a Munch exhibition, also in Madrid but years later while I spent a few months in the city etc. As a German who is interested in history, the Holocaust Museum in DC really got to me on an almost visceral level.
> 
> Stefan



Last time we visited Philly, the Rodin museum was still under construction... next time I'm in the area, it's one of the top to-do list! Dali museum sounds so fun.... I love Dali's art... Anthropological Museum, Senckenberg museum, and the holocaust museum in dc also added in my wish list! Thanks for sharing  !


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

DwarvenChef said:


> I can't remember the names but I can spend days in Natural History museums



I took my nephew to Natural History Museum in Downtown LA.... the bird section really freaked me out though! Gem section was like a black hole... I really wanted to own them all.


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

99Limited said:


> My wife had a five month assignment to Washington DC. While she worked I spent my days visiting every museum I could find, some multiple times. It seems like the best museum I've ever been to is the British Museum of Natural History. I say "seems like" because that was 30 years ago and all I'm left with is the impression that it had a lot of cool stuff to look at. Chicago's Field Museum was wonderful and the nice thing about its location is the Shedd Aquarium is next door so you could make a day between the two places.



I wish I could visit British Museum..... I think I can literally spend my life there! It was one of my Dad's favorite too...

Jon took me to the Shedd Aquarium, and I loved it too - they had such a neat way of organization and design. I always save brochures, and photos


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## DeepCSweede (Aug 27, 2012)

Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Chicago Art Institute, Atlanta's High Museum of Art, Caltrava in Milwaukee, Das Kriminalmuseum in Rothenburg, Germany was really interesting.


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

ecchef said:


> Takoyaki museum in Osaka.



you will love the ramen museum....


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

DeepCSweede said:


> Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Chicago Art Institute, Atlanta's High Museum of Art, Caltrava in Milwaukee, Das Kriminalmuseum in Rothenburg, Germany was really interesting.



Other than Chicago, I haven't gone to any of those areas you mentioned. I guess I have a lot of places to go!


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

Lucretia said:


> Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL. Much more than circus art...




I googled it.... it looked such a great place to visit. Definitely on my list!


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## James (Aug 27, 2012)

Absolutely love the Met in NYC


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## DwarvenChef (Aug 27, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> I took my nephew to Natural History Museum in Downtown LA.... the bird section really freaked me out though! Gem section was like a black hole... I really wanted to own them all.



My wife has a degree in gemology... She will meet you in the black hole


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## [email protected] (Aug 27, 2012)

DwarvenChef said:


> My wife has a degree in gemology... She will meet you in the black hole



I didn't know there's such a special field called gemology... sounds very very interesting. :coolsign:


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## Crothcipt (Aug 29, 2012)

Honestly I always loved walking around a natural-art museums. One I saw on PBS some time in the 90's was a walnut art museum some were in Kansas(I think) that I have always wanted to visit. Think faberge with walnut's. It was just in passing and I wish I had written it down.


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## Salty dog (Aug 29, 2012)

Milwaukee Art Museum. As previously noted, often called the Calatrava after the architect that designed the new addition.


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## Salty dog (Aug 29, 2012)

It's pretty cool.

[video=youtube_share;eGQJPkQL0fU]http://youtu.be/eGQJPkQL0fU[/video]


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## [email protected] (Aug 29, 2012)

Salty dog said:


> It's pretty cool.
> 
> [video=youtube_share;eGQJPkQL0fU]http://youtu.be/eGQJPkQL0fU[/video]



That is very cool... I wish I can spend the rest of my life traveling and visiting museums!


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## mattrud (Aug 29, 2012)

I went to the art museum of Ontario today


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## shankster (Aug 29, 2012)

mattrud said:


> I went to the art museum of Ontario today



The A.G.O or the R.O.M?


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## swarfrat (Aug 30, 2012)

Sara,

If you haven't been to the Huntington Library yet, I'd recommend it highly. (on the 11th they'll be having a lecture on The Urasenke Tradition of Tea)


for those that are into this sort of thing:
Petersen Automotive Museum
The Nethercutt Collection
Mullin Automotive Museum



sr


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## mr drinky (Aug 30, 2012)

I used to live in DC and I would bring my daughter to a Smithsonian 4-5 times a week (except during the summer when they were too crowded). All of them were interesting, but my favorites were:

* The National Portrait Gallery. I love the folk art portion on the ground floor and the very top floor. 
* The Building Museum. It's an impressive building with rotating exhibits, a kids building zone, and if you like design stuff, they have a good museum shop.
* The American Indian Museum. 
* The Natural History Museum and Air & Space are also good, but quite crowded, and the latter is a bit run down IMO.
* I also enjoyed the smaller Freer which has an Asian theme, and the African Art museum.

Children's Science Museums are a favorite of mine too. The one in Baltimore is really nice. 

In the rest of the world, I have been to the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The magnitude of those places is bewildering. I also like the Topkapi Palace and Archaeology Museum in Istanbul and the cisterns under Sultan Ahmet, both in Istanbul. The Mosaic Museum in Antakya Turkey was also amazing.

I lived in Den Haag for a bit, and there is the Mesdag Panorama Museum that is small but superb, and Den Haag has an excellent art museum, the Mauritshuis. It is probably one of the smallest, best art museums out there. Of course the big ones in Amsterdam are amazing too. 

The Jewish museum in Jerusalem was good, and along that line I have been to two concentration camp museums (Dachau and Auschwitz), which speak for themselves.

I thought the WWII Resistance Museum in Oslo was very good, but one of my relatives was in the Norwegian resistance, so I might be biased on this one. 

The D-Day Museum in New Orleans was good to, and presidential libraries can be very cool. I have been to the George Bush and LBJ libraries. 

Anyhow, those are some of my favorites.

k.


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## Zwiefel (Aug 30, 2012)

If you ever make it to NorthWest Arkansas, visit the Crystal Bridges Museum:

http://crystalbridges.org/Trails-and-Grounds/Overlook

It was started from the private collection of one of the Wal-Mart heirs...great exhibits and interesting building and setting.


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## mr drinky (Aug 30, 2012)

Zwiefel said:


> If you ever make it to NorthWest Arkansas, visit the Crystal Bridges Museum:
> 
> http://crystalbridges.org/Trails-and-Grounds/Overlook
> 
> It was started from the private collection of one of the Wal-Mart heirs...great exhibits and interesting building and setting.



When I was driving through Arkansas, I stopped in Hope to go to the Bill Clinton museum. It was pretty funny. They basically had pictures of Bill right next to the winners of the giant watermelon contest. Also, the sign directing you to the museum had about 50 bullet holes in it. 

k.


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## Zwiefel (Aug 30, 2012)

mr drinky said:


> When I was driving through Arkansas, I stopped in Hope to go to the Bill Clinton museum. It was pretty funny. They basically had pictures of Bill right next to the winners of the giant watermelon contest. Also, the sign directing you to the museum had about 50 bullet holes in it.
> 
> k.



Heh...so very unsurprising on both counts. Hope purports to be the "watermelon capital of the world." We also have the "peach festival" in Clarksville...for about 2 weeks a year, you can get some of the best peaches you'll ever find.

Other than that, Arkansas is pretty much all rice and soybeans.


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## mattrud (Aug 30, 2012)

A.G.O


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## shankster (Aug 30, 2012)

Nice.
What did you think?


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## mattrud (Aug 30, 2012)

shankster said:


> Nice.
> What did you think?



It was really nice. I loved the design of the museum it self. Solid collection, mainly featuring canadian artists. I was disappointed that the special exhibit was closed off when I was there.


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## shankster (Aug 30, 2012)

Too bad you don't have time to check out the R.O.M.Very cool museum.
Let us know what you think of Toronto's food scene.I'd be interested to see what you think.


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## [email protected] (Aug 31, 2012)

swarfrat said:


> Sara,
> 
> If you haven't been to the Huntington Library yet, I'd recommend it highly. (on the 11th they'll be having a lecture on The Urasenke Tradition of Tea)
> 
> ...



oh yes! i love huntingon library too! btw, my dad learned under the Urasenke for a long long time... my mom is has a master certification from omote senke... if i can make it to the huntington library on 11th, I definitely will.. thank you so much for the heads up 

as for automotive museums, i think i have to take my brother in law there... he is all about cars! thanks again for sharing info with me  i really appreciate it.


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## [email protected] (Aug 31, 2012)

mr drinky said:


> I used to live in DC and I would bring my daughter to a Smithsonian 4-5 times a week (except during the summer when they were too crowded). All of them were interesting, but my favorites were:
> 
> * The National Portrait Gallery. I love the folk art portion on the ground floor and the very top floor.
> * The Building Museum. It's an impressive building with rotating exhibits, a kids building zone, and if you like design stuff, they have a good museum shop.
> ...




Smithsonian is really high up on my list to visit. I'm so interested in there because of it's historical value and forward-thinking events and exhibitions. Gosh I wish I were a little closer to Smithsonian! 

The American Indian Museum, the WWII Resistance Museum in Oslo, and the American Indian Museum is also definitely added to my list... from this list, you can see why I majored in American History for my BA, and Journalism for my MA...


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## [email protected] (Aug 31, 2012)

Zwiefel said:


> If you ever make it to NorthWest Arkansas, visit the Crystal Bridges Museum:
> 
> http://crystalbridges.org/Trails-and-Grounds/Overlook
> 
> It was started from the private collection of one of the Wal-Mart heirs...great exhibits and interesting building and setting.



As a history nerd, this place is really interesting... I checked out the website, and am especially curious about the "Declaration: Birth of America" exhibition... I'm missing out on so much fun stuff...


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## JohnnyChance (Aug 31, 2012)

For all of you in North Adams MA, MassMoCA is pretty awesome. Big installations and other cool events. I have a gallery of pictures I took last time I was there, just have to dig it up.

Edit: https://plus.google.com/photos/1130...ms/5656468434338821345?authkey=CPSh4t6-lf7jVg


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## [email protected] (Aug 31, 2012)

JohnnyChance said:


> For all of you in North Adams MA, MassMoCA is pretty awesome. Big installations and other cool events. I have a gallery of pictures I took last time I was there, just have to dig it up.
> 
> Edit: https://plus.google.com/photos/1130...ms/5656468434338821345?authkey=CPSh4t6-lf7jVg



really awesome photos! so colorful and beautiful... we really enjoy taking photos at museums too (we had a serious discussion why some museums or some special exhibitions prohibits photo taking....) 

thanks for sharing  !


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