WorldGallery

Just a quick question. I noticed on other threads that the tenement museum is hightly recommended and we do plan on going for sure. What I haven't been able to decide on is what tour to do with kids ages 10 - 17. The Confino tour is out because it is only offered on the weekends and we can't go then. I called them directly to ask for their opinion and I have to say that I was rather surprised by their response. They suggested the walking tour only with kids because they said that once the weather gets slightly warm (which is now), inside the building can get as hot as 100 degrees. She said it was like being in an attice and that kids do not like it. I almost felt like they were talking me out of bringing my kids. We are interested in the Getting By tour because some of our ancestors are from Italy. Has anyone been at the end of May? Was it that hot? How is the walking tour, "Immigrant Soles"?
Thanks for all of the help over the months.

mclaurie

I think they're giving you good, honest advice. I've also heard that in summer, it's beastly hot inside. None of us can predict the weather. Right now it's unseasonably cool and rainy for this time of year.

starrs

All the tours are in the same tenement building. You walk across the street and go in the building (from the ticket office/store). As they restored different apartments, they created different themes. IMO all are good. I've been in all seasons and have never been unbearably hot or cold. If anything, a hot stuffy apartment will make even more of an impression on your kids. IMO the Tenement museum is one of the best experiences for kids in NYC.

lantana

We went last year on June 8th and did the Getting By tour. We LOVED it. My daughter was 13 at the time. It was a gorgeous day and not at all hot but it is t-i-g-h-t inside the building and some people, including my mom, were a bit warm. Not awful. But our guide offered cute paper fans at that point
If the children will be content to stand still in fairly small space for an hour or so, then i say go for it!
(IMO part of the experience is seeing and feeling how cramped it was to live in a tenement.)

yestravel

We were there at the end of May and it was pretty hot and stuffy inside. I think lantana describes it perfectly...depends on your kids.

WorldGallery

Thanks for the advice. I am really not sure yet. Maybe I will wait a few days and check the weather forecast then decide on either the inside "Getting By" tour or the Immigrant Soles walking tour that doesn't go inside at all.

Has anyone been on the walking tour? The Immigrant Soles tour covers the earlier period of immigration and sounds interesting.

DebitNM

We went last August on a hot and humid day, it was pretty warm inside and not much in the way of a breeze. We were so engaged in the tour, that the temp only bothered us slightly [and I don't like the heat]. We did "Piecing it Together," because my grandfather was a garment worker and lived nearby.

volcanogirl

Bookmarking.

starrs

Sorry for the misinformations, WG. The only walking tour I've taken has been with ellenem, but here's a description of the walking tours the tenement museum has added -
http://www.newyorkology.com/archives...ement_mu_1.php

SueNYC

Do your kids like standing still for an hour in a confined space? That is the question. (Of course if you reward them with stuff from Il Laboratorio Del Gelato which has moved across from Katz's, that might make a difference!

sf7307

It's only an hour, and it's such a great experience, I'd still go for it (my DD, who, let's just say, is not the biggest fan of museums, found it very interesting).

azzure

I went in July; it was warm and humid but since we took the first tour of the day, it wasn't unbearable. There are fans going in some of the rooms.

bigbomoho

get therefor the frist tour and youll be fine--we went during last years heat wave when it hit 98,got there for first tour and it was fine

northie

I've done the tenement tour in July and it was not to be missed. Wasn't stinking hot the day i went so risk it!!

WorldGallery

Thanks so much. I definitely can't wait. If it were just my husband and I, we could do several in a row but my kids probably wouldn't appreciate that. I love this kind of tour.

I just had to change our Sunday lunch resevation time because Russian Samovar called to say that they are not opening at their normal time on Sunday (so now we will go there for dinner), so now I have Sunday morning/afternoon open, which means, I can switch to the Confino tour, which is the one recommended most for kids. But I am not sure I feel like rearranging our days unless the Confino tour is considered the absolute best for kids. Has anyone been to more than one tour to compare the Confino tour with the Getting By tour?

Also, we will be going from the Tenement Museum to Lion King at 3:00 on a Sunday? Is this easy to do or to far out the way to put these two things on the same day?
Thanks!

Bowsprit

All the Tenement Museum tours are good. The tenement is hot, dark, and cramped just as it was always intended to be. Pick a tour that will afford you enough time to get a bite to eat and make curtain at The Lion King. This sounds like a great family trip; make sure your kids know just how much you'd like to visit the Tenement Museum.

You can get directions and length of time for trip from the Tenement Museum to your theatre on google maps.

SueNYC

When you are at the tenement museum, the bookshop is great and the Meatball Shop is nearby. The weekend you are in, Murrow's Boys will still be playing at an off Broadway theatre in Brooklyn. See it!

http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...rows-boys.html

suite7

Frankly, the more hot, humid and cramped the Tenement Museum is, the better if you want to have any real sense of the immigrant experience. I took my 3 "indulged" teenage nieces and their eyes were opened wide. It's an illuminating and sobering look at the brutal conditions of immigrant life, what hard work meant to them and how much hope America represented for them. Every visitor to New York should go (especially teenagers). It's both fascinating and humbling.