Free Admission, On Your Schedule, In Your Jammies!

It's International Museum Day, and as much as I'd like to say we spent the day filling up on culture and learning about history, we didn't. It's a school day. We have t-ball practice in the afternoon, and sometimes cool observances like this just don't fit the schedule. However, we did get a glimpse of some classical art at the Louvre, a dinosaur skeleton or two at the National Museum of Natural History, some ancient astronomy tools  at the Museo Galileo, and check out some presidential aircraft at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.


What's that? How could we possibly visit all those places in one day? Well, of course, we did some virtual travel. You too can visit all these cool places and more (for free!) from the comfort of your couch, or I suppose even your car or the grocery store with a web-enabled phone. 

The National Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian Complex, offers a comprehensive virtual tour. Two floors of dinosaurs, mammals, sea creatures, insects, and more navigable via an interactive map. You can sit back and watch the 360 degree views of each exhibit, or click, zoom, pan, and explore on your own. The photography is amazing - you will feel like you are there!

Touring the Louvre, in Paris, France is not quite as intuitive or comprehensive, but some patient clicking around will reveal an interactive map and the ability to zoom in on particular works of art. The highlighted pieces (paintings, sculptures, etc) include textual explanations and background. The page is in (obviously) in French, but many browsers (I use Chrome) will do the translation for you. 

The Museo Galileo can can be explored by room, by object, or in thematic videos. I loved the narrated video options. The narration is interesting and highlights objects by zooming in and rotating as appropriate. It is a very high quality tour. My 5 year old is enamored with space and astronomy lately, so we will be "returning" to this museum on a regular basis. 

For a taste of both the historical and the modern, spend some time at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. View planes and other aircraft from the days of the Wright Brothers right up to space travel and current research and development. Panoramic interactive photography and a easy to navigate map are highlights of this tour. Choose to view at your own pace or use the audio tour button to "guide" you through the museum via podcast. 


If you still haven't had enough, check out the Google Art Project, a collection of virtual tours of art museums and exhibits around the world. Explore interactive museum panoramas using navigation much like Google Earth satellite maps, or view individual works of art by collection. The information on each piece is not as comprehensive as you might find at the physical museum location, but the vastness of the collection and ability to zoom and rotate each piece is unmatched. 


Where will you go first?