Now Museum Now You Don't

I was once on a public elementary school field trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota and I saw Bruce there with his mom (he went to a private school). As cool as my classmates were, nothing was better than getting permission from my teacher to ditch the group for an hour and hang out with my best friend. The prospect of leaving your public school field trip group is pretty unheard of these days, so I'm not exactly sure how I pulled it off. Regardless, it was good times.

I've always loved going to museums, maybe not as much as the arcade or the baseball stadium (or Metrodome, of you will), but it was something I was excited about. Especially since the Science Museum of Minnesota is pretty top notch. Perhaps this is why moving to San Diego was kind of underwhelming. I wasn't a big fan of the museums and since San Diego seemed like a big deal compared to my beloved Twin Cities, I expected bigger and better museums.

As enriching as I find museums, they can also be pretty draining. Perhaps it's my lack of attention span, but I can only take so much learning in one day. My trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York almost overwhelmed me to the point where I needed to call someone before my head exploded. It was stimulation overload and sometimes I need something a little low-brow to bring myself some balance.

Usually museums have something to provide me with some sort of "break". At the Science Museum of Minnesota, it was the musical stairs. At the Getty, I usually talk a walk in the garden and throw coins into the pond, at LACMA it was that giant metal balloon dog, and at the Brooklyn Museum, it was watching Murakami cartoons and music videos before hitting up the rest of the exhibit.

Occasionally I'll get a break just by observing my other spectators, like the occasional asian teenage girl next to her mom mad dogging while her dad takes the picture. Or I'll get the confused toddler putting on 3D glasses in the gift shop. Of course none of this matters if you're the only one to see it. It's in the same vein as a film or a good book, a discussion is the second half of enjoying a museum. Obviously there is a certain amount of pleasure taken in seeing something, but there's something special about discussing it as well. Like most places, museums are often best enjoyed in good company.

So whether you're discussing the latest masterpiece, or the little child that's wading into the fountain, make sure you know someone nearby because there's always going to be something to talk about.