The USA and Canada are almost magical; like Hong Kong, it was built by immigrants and refugees who arrived with nothing and faced with an uncertain future. With determination and grit, they resolved to make this a meritocracy where anyone can make it in life – or so they believed. Read more…
Everyone should be able to enjoy art—focus on the word enjoy. Some art museums started banning photography in the late 2000s when smartphones started having quality cameras to boost gift shop revenue and protect delicate works from automatic flashes, but the decision has been reversed in the mid-2010s partly from Read more…
The Museum of Modern Art in New York is severely overrated. Don’t go, don’t waste your time, there is better art out there available with more dignified treatment with more democratic access. Washington, D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum is free and has a better viewing experience than MoMa, the Art Institute of Read more…
The first time I saw this aircraft carrier docked at New York City I was driving along 12th Avenue heading downtown. It wasn’t until my third visit to the city that I got to experience how deeply mismanaged this attraction is. The security procedures are only for show, the staff Read more…
Underneath the two square waterfalls where the twin towers once stood in New York City lies the memorial to the 3,000 who died. It sits in the original basement space of the towers with fragments of the mangled structure on display. I had previously seen one such fragment in Albany Read more…
It was hot. Although the observatory said the temperature hovered around 16 to 20 degrees for the two days the King was in Ottawa to open Parliament, press positions were often unshaded, on concrete, with no access to water or toilets outside the secured area. If we left the secured Read more…
Baltimore doesn’t have a history museum or a municipal museum, but its growth has been so closely tied to the industrialization of food, machines, and trade that the museum of industry might as well be its history museum. In the mid 20th century, Baltimore had plenty of vegetable, meat, and Read more…
Their use of a side-by-side comparison of perspectives confronts the Manifest Destiny narrative of American expansionism. Start your visit at the fourth floor and work your way down to get state-by-state and issue-by-issue highlights of what went wrong at every step of the way. The second and third floors are Read more…
After looking at galleries of old world art and last century American art, it’s nice to be in a space where the building’s physical layout makes sense. The logical donut shape makes it easy to navigate between galleries and levels. If you’re not a big fan of modern art like Read more…
The galleries are placed in chronological order from the lobby to the far end, but most visitors will do a loop at the back of the building to minimize distance walked. This means the Chinese art galleries go in reverse order from gallery 13’s Qing Dynasty vases to gallery 19’s Read more…
There are two places to visit. This downtown Washington, D.C. location on the national mall and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. Visit both for free. The first floor exhibits are only interesting for anyone who has never been to an airport. You can board the B747 and DC-7, Read more…