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Empire State Building on Thursday, MoMA (which I've never been to before) on Friday.
Ana developed a sudden and crippling fear of extreme heights between the entrance of the ESB and the observation deck, and spent her time huddled in a corner with a book. Eva and their friend were more interested, but after spending all their quarters on binoculars they were done. We were there a total of about two hours, and only spent maybe ten minutes of that on the 86th floor. Sheesh. And, of course, Ana's $23 was totally wasted, but she was a trooper about it, didn't panic or anything.
We were lucky to have gone in the morning. By the time we left, the roped aisles we'd practically raced through were one long line of people. Guys? Wherever you are, if you're doing the tourism thing, remember: it pays to set your alarm clock! Get up early and beat the rush! (And by "rush" I mean the dull tedium of standing in line three or four times as long as you would've if you'd gotten there when they opened.)
MoMA was better, and they really enjoyed it. Apparently, the art lab gives out bingo sheets so you can tour the museum with your kids and try to fill up a bingo board with the various materials the artwork uses. It *does* keep them engaged and occupied. Unfortunately, it also meant they were waaaaay more interested in the notes next to the artwork than the art itself... and to read those notes they had to come close enough to touch the art. Which they never did (whew!) but they *did* touch the wall a lot. That's why we eventually left, actually, Eva was getting a bit too touchy and I could just see her inevitably tripping over something and banging into a painting or sculpture that we can't afford to pay for.
One thing about MoMA, they apparently do not believe in talking down to their visitors. Like, at all. They have, in addition to the notes for each piece, descriptions in each gallery of the sort of art you'll view and the historical context, and those descriptions were impossible. My vocabulary certainly isn't lacking, but I still found myself going cross-eyed at the text. To be honest, I found that a very distancing decision on their part. If you already have to be well-educated to understand what they're saying, you're not going to get as much out of it as you would with slightly simpler writing, and that might turn off some people who already have a hard enough time braving the $25 entrance fee to visit. (They are actually free on Friday afternoons from 4 to 8.) I've been to the Met easily fifty times in my life, not just because of the suggested donation (admittedly a big attraction) but because I can learn something while I'm there. You can't learn something from impenetrable prose, and I wouldn't be surprised if this turns away people who might want to be repeat visitors. Edit: Actually, probably more than 50 times. We used to have a membership when I was a child. But I'm going to discount all the times before I was 10 or so, because my memories are too fuzzy.
But I can't fault the art!
Now, I've got one ticket left in that citypass book, and that's to the Guggenheim. I just might use it myself tomorrow. We would've gone to that midweek, but remember, on Tuesday poor Ana fell down the porch stairs, crashed into the bannister on the stoop, and then had a very heavy wagon fall on her arm. It's not broken, but she spent most of Wednesday hurting, so we canceled with our friend and stayed in.
Ana developed a sudden and crippling fear of extreme heights between the entrance of the ESB and the observation deck, and spent her time huddled in a corner with a book. Eva and their friend were more interested, but after spending all their quarters on binoculars they were done. We were there a total of about two hours, and only spent maybe ten minutes of that on the 86th floor. Sheesh. And, of course, Ana's $23 was totally wasted, but she was a trooper about it, didn't panic or anything.
We were lucky to have gone in the morning. By the time we left, the roped aisles we'd practically raced through were one long line of people. Guys? Wherever you are, if you're doing the tourism thing, remember: it pays to set your alarm clock! Get up early and beat the rush! (And by "rush" I mean the dull tedium of standing in line three or four times as long as you would've if you'd gotten there when they opened.)
MoMA was better, and they really enjoyed it. Apparently, the art lab gives out bingo sheets so you can tour the museum with your kids and try to fill up a bingo board with the various materials the artwork uses. It *does* keep them engaged and occupied. Unfortunately, it also meant they were waaaaay more interested in the notes next to the artwork than the art itself... and to read those notes they had to come close enough to touch the art. Which they never did (whew!) but they *did* touch the wall a lot. That's why we eventually left, actually, Eva was getting a bit too touchy and I could just see her inevitably tripping over something and banging into a painting or sculpture that we can't afford to pay for.
One thing about MoMA, they apparently do not believe in talking down to their visitors. Like, at all. They have, in addition to the notes for each piece, descriptions in each gallery of the sort of art you'll view and the historical context, and those descriptions were impossible. My vocabulary certainly isn't lacking, but I still found myself going cross-eyed at the text. To be honest, I found that a very distancing decision on their part. If you already have to be well-educated to understand what they're saying, you're not going to get as much out of it as you would with slightly simpler writing, and that might turn off some people who already have a hard enough time braving the $25 entrance fee to visit. (They are actually free on Friday afternoons from 4 to 8.) I've been to the Met easily fifty times in my life, not just because of the suggested donation (admittedly a big attraction) but because I can learn something while I'm there. You can't learn something from impenetrable prose, and I wouldn't be surprised if this turns away people who might want to be repeat visitors. Edit: Actually, probably more than 50 times. We used to have a membership when I was a child. But I'm going to discount all the times before I was 10 or so, because my memories are too fuzzy.
But I can't fault the art!
Now, I've got one ticket left in that citypass book, and that's to the Guggenheim. I just might use it myself tomorrow. We would've gone to that midweek, but remember, on Tuesday poor Ana fell down the porch stairs, crashed into the bannister on the stoop, and then had a very heavy wagon fall on her arm. It's not broken, but she spent most of Wednesday hurting, so we canceled with our friend and stayed in.
