Fernweh

(A Long and Short Reviews Wednesday Challenge post.)

Today’s topic is about museums that I’ve visited or want to visit. The fact of the matter is that the list is long for BOTH prompt possibilities that I’ll have to not wax poetic and make my list succinct.

Those who know me know that I’m a history geek, and my love of history comes primarily from my mother who cultivated this aspect of my life from my childhood, and oh yeah, she taught social studies. Summers were times to explore places so she could bring pictures and resources into the lives of the kids she taught…and I tagged along. My sister, uncle, and I now laugh at the million and a half hour long ride to Cherokee, North Carolina (It felt that way to an 11 year old, okay?). We had TWO 8 Track cassettes with us (Look it up.) Hearing Ronnie Milsap’s “Smokey Mountain Rain” gives me flashbacks.

But this is supposed to be about museums. My ALL TIME FAVORITE museum has to be the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. I was chaperoning a tour group of 54 American high schoolers (Yes, I am crazy. Why do you ask?), and the tour went there. I’d been to Paris long before the museum opened, so this was new to me…and it contains master works from one of my favorite period in art: Impressionism. I have no extant photos because I was so blown away by the art that I forgot to take pictures. So here’s one from another museum I’ve loved: the Louvre.

It’s not a great photo, but it was 2007 and the digital camera I could afford wasn’t great, and remember the chaperoning thing?

But I also love the Smithsonian and Dublin’s National Museum, and I’m not going to lie, I’ll visit just about anything historical. Here’s me in front of the Jane Austen museum in Bath, England. It’s also not a great picture, but I’d sprinted across town to get there, and my time was tight.

And the Art Institute of Chicago is a favorite of mine, too. (You know, the one from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.)

So, if you like museums, let me know your favorite in the comments!