missypie

I know that lots of folks don't like Rick Steves, but his walking tours of the large museums of Europe suit my family well...moderately informative, fairly quick and occasionally humerous. Is there an equivalent in any of the NYC guidebooks? I hate the idea of just wandering around the Metropolitan Musuem of Art with no plan or guide, but I don't want anything too terribly deep (traveling with teens with limited attention spans).

happytrailstoyou

The following link informs about the Museum Mile. It does not include the Frick Museum, which I think your teens will like because it isn't overwhelming and because it is housed in a mansion.


http://www.ny.com/museums/mile.html
http://www.frick.org/

travelbuff

If you go to the Met website www.metmuseum.org there is a page for kids with ideas for family viewing.

Also you might consider seeing the Cloisters which is up in my neck of NY. The Cloisters is part of the Met, and has a priceless collection in the museum called The Treasury, which is some amazing pieces. Also there are several gardens that you can tour and the views of the Hudson River are beautiful.

You can take the A train up to 190th St and walk up through Ft. Tryon Park, to the Museum, or wait for the bus and it's a 5 minute ride or a 10 minute walk through the park.

janie

I think the Michelin Green Guides have a few pages devoted to highlight of major museums.
As many people have pointed out, the museums themselves do great guides to their own collections for those who feel overwhelmed by the choices.

By the way, I respectfully disagree with happytrailstoyou about the Frick. While its charm is in the small size, I think the collection itself would be a bit of a bore to most teens (how old are they?). Take a look at the website and see if the collections listed sound like your kids would enjoy
The Met is huge, but you can easily go to specific sections and then just bail out when they lose interest. Same with MoMA--lots of things that I think would be more interesting to them

happytrailstoyou

I lived near the Frick Collection for thirty years and always took young people there when they visited New York City. All the teenagers I know, loved the place.

If your children are bored by beauty, they will be bored by the Frick Mansion and Collection.

ggreen

Hi Missypie, I know you've already made a list of the museums you're looking to visit and now just want some assistance with viewing them!

Excuse my ignorance, but does Rick Steves do an NYC book that includes museums? Otherwise, I'm not sure there's an equivalent.

My suggestion would be to look at the kids area on the Met website; it should list the must-sees like the Temple of Dendur and the American Sculpture Garden. You might also want to look for areas related to interests of your kids. If you have questions about what certain areas are like, post them and we can give you a feel for what that section of the museum is like!

What other museums did you decide to visit? If you've added the Natural History museum, I (and others) can give you some tips on that; the MoMA has a nice open floor plan so you could probably just "browse" without feeling too overwhelmed...

HCart

I'm not aware of an equivalent of Rick Steves walking tours for the US. He does a great job of simplifying amazing collections. Most of the guides I've encountered for NY musuems have much more detail.

Something else to consider for at least one museum is Watson Adventure scavenger hunts (www.watsonadventures.com). They have family hunts for both the Met and the Museum of Natural History. The hunts cover the highlights in a fun and unique manner that I think your teens would enjoy.