Museum Hopper

i visited the asia society museum once by myself. overall, it was very well done. the museum itself is on the upper east side. its gallery space is quite small though. that is the major drawback to this museum: lack of space. it had two exhibits when i was there. one on kashmir and one on a modern chinese artist. i really liked the kashmir one. it had a lot of religious artifacts that were used in that area. kashmir has had a variety of religious influences: hindu, buddhism, and some local religious beliefs. the chinese was pretty interesting as well. the artist focuses on juxtaposing modern life with the traditional. times visited: 1 time in museum: 1 1/2 hr overall: B+

the american museum of natural history is one of the best museums not dealing with art in the city. i have visited twice. once by myself and once with a fellow engineer. it is a huge museum as well and covers all ranges. it is on the upper west side. a subway stops right under the museum, which is quite convenient. the museum has lifesize replicas of animals (think blue whale). it also has dinosaurs. the A- is for the fact that i don't find the museum very well laid out. the first time i went i didn't even know they had dinosaurs! times visited: 2 average time in museum: 2 hr - 4 hrs overall: A-

i visited the cooper-hewitt national design museum late one afternoon. i was pretty exhausted. the building is beautiful. it is an old house that was probably built in the late turn of the 1800s or early 1900s. And by house, i, of course, mean a house that is half a block. the first exhibit was about an architect who also did some interior design work. it was really interesting. he was around during the mid 1700s. he loved the classics, greek and roman. they had another exhibit about the engineering and design. it was pretty fascinating for an engineer. it had a lot of every day items (think folding chairs). the final exhibit was a man who does innovated lighting. he was one of the first artists in over 30 years to still be alive while the cooper-hewitt does an exhibit. it really revolutionized how i look at light. times visited: 1 time in the museum: 30 min (could have spent longer) overall: B+

i went to el museo del barrio by myself one saturday afternoon. it was an interesting museum. it looks like an old school that you would expect to find in a rougher neighborhood, which was pretty neat. the exhibit was of all the work that the museum gets "left on it's doorstep." some of it was pretty good. others were pretty horrible. also note, the security guard was ridiculous strict. i took out my cell phone to LOOK at a text message and was scolded. times visited: 1 time in the museum: 45 minutes overall: B-

i visited the bronx zoo with about 5 other co-workers on one of the best days in september. the zoo does take a while to get to via subway, but once you are off the subway, just follow the signs. okay, admission. that is the question. this is one of the things that i hate about certain museums. they make you either choose: a) the basic pass and then tack on things incrementally or b) buy a jumbo pass with everything included. i recommend buying the huge drink that you can refill the whole time you are there. there were six of us, so we pretty much shared a lot of germs. the place is pretty cool. worth the trip! times visited: 1 time in the zoo: 5 hrs overall: B

i went to the fraunces tavern museum by myself. it is in the original building and you can eat a really nice dinner on the first floor. it is still operating. the museum has some really great stuff, but it could use a good face lift. it has amazing articles, but no real descriptions. cool stuff, horrible lay out and descriptions times visited: 1 time in the museum: 30 min overall: C+

i have been to the guggenheim twice. it makes a great first stop on the way to the met. that's about all i have to say. it is a beautiful building. walk inside, look up, and then walk out. the exhibits do change over quite frequently, but i haven't seen one that makes me interested to go to the museum. note: the building is under construction so you can't even see it from the outside. times visited: 2 average time in the museum: 1 hr overall: C+

i visited the intrepid sea and air museum with my friend who is a marine engineer. he was visiting and really wanted to go. i was a little hesitant, not sure what we'd see. it ended up being really interesting. to give you a little background, the intrepid was an actual war sea vessel used during WWII. they also have a submarine to see. the top of the vessel has multiple airplanes on the top. some pretty cool old planes and some newer fighter jets. the museum inside is pretty neat, too. it's got information about the battles that the vessel participated in and lots of hands on stuff for kids to play with. also note, it has a great view of midtown from the vessel. note: won't reopen (aka return to it's doc) until fall 2008. times visited: 1 time in the museum: 3 hrs overall: B+

i visited the japan society in the early fall by myself. it is definitely a smaller museum with really only one main floor for exhibits. they had an exhibit contrasting japanese culture in new york city. i thought it was surprisingly good. i think this museum hosts many talks, film screenings, etc. overall, i was pleasantly surprised. times visited: 1 time in the museum: 45 minutes overall: B

so, i tried to go to the children's museum of manhattan today, but the line was too long. the children all looked no older than 6 in line. just a note, bring a stroller that folds if you're going. they won't let you in otherwise.

i have visited the metropolitan museum of art at least 5 times. i mean it's huge. to give you an idea, the perimeter of the museum is almost .6 miles. just to walk around the edge! if you're coming to nyc, you have to go to the met. beautiful museum. it has a recommended donation, which is worth it, since once you're in, you don't have to pay (as far as i have seen) for any of the extra special exhibits. it's biggest drawback is that it is huge and old. therefore it is difficult to find the exhibit you want sometimes. there often are major sections under renovation, which makes it difficult to navigate. while walking to the exhibit though, you do get to see some amazing stuff. so, the exhibits i have seen: the age of rembrandt: dutch paintings in the met , gifts for the gods: images from egyptian temples , pioret: king of fashion , american art (washington crossing the delaware), european sculpture, armour, swords, van goghs, picassos, the temple of den

i went to the museum of american financial history by myself one day. i will preface this with i think the museum just moved locations, so perhaps that would help. the (old) museum was less than impressive. it was probably a little bigger than my nyc apartment bedroom. they had one exhibit going which was about the story of the Dow Jones Industrial, which was pretty interesting, but the exhibit itself was so small. they had another exhibit about making money. hopefully the new location will allow this museum to grow and become as cool and interesting as it should be. i was pretty disappointed on my visit. times visited: 1 time in the museum: 45 minutes overall: C

so, i went to the museum of sex (mosex) with my roommate's sister's husband (aka as my roommate's brother-in-law). he really wanted to go and i had always sort of wanted to go if i could find someone to go with me. so they had 2 special exhibits while we were there. the first one was titled "kink" and was all about (obviously) kinky things. it was surprisingly well put together. all of research and exhibits were well thought out with reasoning, personal interviews, props, etc. it discussed why and how certain kinks exhibit and the different types. it also showed how they can be linked together. the other exhibit was about sex and the moving picture. this one was a little interesting. it didn't flow as nicely as the other exhibit did. also, it was hard to tell if you were catching everything since the videos were showing multiple clips. they started with early film and sort of traced it through (although not completely chronologically). the fin

the lower east side tenament museum is an interesting museum. it isn't so much of a museum as a guided tour through restored rooms in old tenaments. i have been twice for two different tours. once by myself and once when my family was in town. the tours are really well run. the guides are very knowledgeable and if they don't the answer, they'll find it for you. that being said, some things to remember when going on these tours. - they are very limited in space, so if you have a popular time (say 1 pm on a saturday) with a large group, consider reserving in advance. - they are limited in space because the rooms are so tiny. - keep in mind, very limited air conditioning (if any) on the tours...and these rooms get hot. overall, definitely worth a visit. just be cognizant of when you're going. i am looking forward to going back and trying some of the other tours. times visited: 2 time in the museum: 1 hr (each tour lasts for about an hour) overall: A-

so, i tried to visit the china institute . it had listed normal working hours on the webpage, but no where mentioned that the museum was closed. it was a random saturday in august around 11 am. so, that's my impression of the china institute.

i visited the national museum of the american indian as the first of a series of museums downtown. the museum was pretty. it's a beautiful on the outside with beautiful large statues surrounding the museum. it is under on construction inside if i remember correctly. the exhibits are very thorough, but the main exhibit was a little rambling. it was about the tribes of the northwest . they spoke with current members of the tribes and displayed regalia. the museum was nice. just nice. times visited: 1 time in the museum: 1 hr overall: B-