Museum Hopper

i visited the cloisters with sam chan and his wife. the cloisters is part of the met and houses the met's medieval art collection. it is beautiful. it is up in the very northwest corner manhattan. the land across the hudson from it is/was owned by rockafellers, so it's undeveloped. it is a little bit of a walk up to the cloisters, but we didn't think it was bad at all. you forget that you're in manhattan while you're up there. the only downside is that the subway took about an hour to get up there since the express was not running. the museum itself is designed to look like an old church or convent. the garden is beautifully incorporated with the statues. the artwork is beautiful. i think sam put it the best when he said, "could you imagine people in 1000 years looking in wonder at our modern art?" there are statues, paintings, tapestries, etc. the art work looks amazing in the museum. well worth the trip, obviously. times visited: 1 ...

the tate modern ... ...more to come times visited: 1 time in museum: 2 hrs overall: A-

the tate britain is a moderate sized museum. i visited this museum by myself on my art museum hopping day in london. i was probably least impressed by this museum. it is a very nice museum and is laid out nicely. the art in this museum is british artists. i saw some beautiful landscapes and some more kings and queens. overall, if you aren't in london for a long time, i think you can skip this one. times visited: 1 time in museum: 1 1/2 hrs overall: C+

the national gallery is right up there with the british museum. the national gallery + british museum = the new york city metropolitan museum of art. it is laid out really well with a nice map. it literally numbers each room, so that you can follow in order! it's got great masterpieces. you can't go wrong. personally, i like the botticelli and van gogh's sunflowers and the raphael and the titian. basically, a must visit. times visited: 2 time in museum: 3 hrs overall: A

the national gallery portrait is pretty good. i walked into it by accident thinking i was walking into the national gallery. the museum is literally feels like it is a tiny subset of the bigger one. it is very well laid out: chronological order. they have a great collection of tudor paintings and other kings and queens. they have the paintings that you feel like you have seen in history books. times visited: 1 time spent in museum: 1/2 hr overall: B

the british museum is amazing. i love it. straight up. so, it looks huge on the map, but it is so nicely laid out. it is very do-able. plan on spending about an afternoon in the museum. it's great. they have roman and greek stuff. the egyptian artifacts are amazing. they have cleopatra! not much to say other than that this is a must stop on anyone's trip to london. times visited: 2 time in museum: 2 hrs overall: A

i have visited the frick twice both times by myself. the frick displays henry frick's, the steel mogul, personal collection in his personal house. the museum is his house. so, it's a very manageable size. it is beautiful. it has a really beautiful courtyard in the middle and a garden on the side, which is very pretty. the art is very much personal art. it was his personal collection and is very "liveable." in this collection are some really great pieces of art. my favorites are renoir's Mother and Children , and hans holbe i n the younger's sir thomas more. the collection has a lot m ore , but these are my two personal favorites. i visited the second time to see a painting (yes, one painting), antea , they have on loan from naples. it's the first time it's been in the usa in over 20 years. it was painted by parmigianino. it is a classic beautiful portrait from the renaissance. little is known about the subject...kind of like the m...

i visited the jewish museum on a very rainy saturday all by myself. it is free on saturdays (fyi). while i was there, they had an exhibit on william steig called, from the new yorker to shrek: the art of william steig . yes, as noted by the title, he did the new yorker and shrek ! this exhibit was really well done with lots of drawings and nice captions. it was very child friendly although a little on the loud side. i was very impressed with this special exhibit. the rest of the museum...not so much...it might have been the fact that there were about 20 squealing teenagers. yes, i sound like an old person. it was a little too spread out for me. can't really put my finger on it, but i am not really sure what i didn't like about it. times visited: 1 time in museum: 1 1/2 hrs overall: B

the body museum is a pretty darn good museum although on the pricey side for a museum ($27.50 for entry on the weekend). i went with the same guy who really wanted to go see the intrepid museum. the museum is very well laid out, easy to navigate. it was pretty crowded on the weekend though although that was 1 1/2 years ago in its first summer in new york (i believe). the museum is very well done. everyone should go to one of these once in their life. it definitely confirmed my belief that i should not be a doctor! that's for sure! i think most of the bodies were male chinese prisoners if i remember. they cover all parts of the body and also have some fetal bodies. they do warn before entering that area. it also really encourages you to live a healthy lifestyle. overall, really good, but don't need to go again! times visited: 1 time in the museum: 2 hrs overall: B+