Travel cheap. Save money. Have fun.
Given that the Pinball Hall of Fame is now #13 of 692 things to do in Las Vegas on Trip Advisor, I wanted to put in a plug for another fabulous pinball gallery.
You need an advance reservation to visit the Paris Pinball Museum, which is only open on weekends.
Each room in the museum is devoted to another decade.
Yesterday, I wrote about where to find cheap transit tickets for Paris, France.
Today, I have another travel tip to share.
You may also be able to snag a discounted Paris Museum Pass on Ebay.
I was able to buy two 4-day Paris Museum Passes at about 25 percent off the retail price on Ebay.
These passes provide admission to 60 museums and monuments in Paris and the surrounding area.
With admission at Paris museums averaging about 10 Euros, I am sure we will get our money’s worth out of this baby. The pass allows you to skip the lines for ticket purchases at the Louvre, and you can visit multiple times with a single pass.
The sites included in Paris are:
Twenty additional sites around Paris are covered, including Château de Versailles et Trianon and Château de Fontainebleau.
Do not confuse the Paris Museum Pass with the Paris Pass, which is a different product. If you do a google search for Paris Museum Pass, the Paris Pass is the first listing. The Paris Pass includes the Paris Museum Pass, a Paris Visite transit pass, and a number of other admissions, and is much more expensive than the museum pass alone.
A purchase of transit or museum passes on Ebay presents some risk, so be sure to verify the seller’s track record before bidding.
Twenty Los Angeles area museums open their doors to the public on Saturday January 31, 2015 for the tenth annual Museum Free-for-All.
The list of participating venues includes diverse art, cultural heritage, natural history, and science museums.
There are a number of top attractions participating — such as the Los Angeles Museum of Art and the California Science Center, but if I had my druthers I would head over the the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Kids love dinosaurs and what could be better than an active excavation site for dinosaur fossils? We spent half a day at the Tar Pits when we last visited LA with our then school-aged daughter. Regular admission is $15 per adult and $8 per child, so free admission is a really great deal for families!
Here are links to the museums that are participating in this year’s open houses. The Jan. 31 offer is good for general admission only and does not apply to specially ticketed exhibitions.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Annenberg Space for Photography
Armory Center for the Arts
California African American Museum
California Science Center
Chinese American Museum
Craft Folk & Art Museum
Fowler Museum at UCLA
The Getty Center
The Getty Villa (Timed tickets required)
Hammer Museum
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles Fire Department Museum and Memorial
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Museum of Latin American Art
Museum of Tolerance (Feb. 1)
The Paley Center for Media
The Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits
Pasadena Museum of California Art
Santa Monica Museum of Art
Skirball Cultural Center
The Torrance Art Museum
USC Pacific Asia Museum
William S. Hart Museum
Zimmer Children’s Museum (Feb. 1)
If you can’t make it this coming weekend, plan to take advantage of the regularly scheduled free admission days at Los Angeles area museums.
FreeMuseumDay.org publishes a calendar of free museums and free museum days for LA and for these major cities:
Check it out!
One of the commercial travel deals sites that I follow is Travelzoo.
They regularly send out enticing offers — not just for flights and hotels, but also for shows and cultural attractions at a deep discount.
New York City is an expensive city to visit so a Travelzoo deal for cut rate admissions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum caught my eye.
Travelzoo is offering admission tickets to the Met for $19, or four tickets for $60.
The usual “recommended” admission to the museum is $25 per adult, and free for children under 12.
The regular fee includes admission to the museum including all special exhibits plus same-week admission to The Cloisters. The website states: “To help cover the costs of exhibitions, we ask that you please pay the full recommended amount.”
But when you go the purchase tickets page, you see this notice in the fine print:
If you would like to pay less than full recommended admission, please go directly to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to pay as you wish.
I turns out that that the Met and a number of other New York City institutions are required to accept voluntary donations for admission.
You can pay whatever you want, every day, all year long.
The execution of this policy was the subject of some litigation in 2013. The lawsuit contended that the museum was obscuring the option to pay less than full price, because the sign by the entrance indicated “suggested donation” in small print. You can read more about this issue in The Atlantic and the New York Times.
I have fond memories of visiting the Met and the Cloisters as a kid. Both were pretty magical places, where I felt transported back in time.
I think the admission fee is fully worth it to visit a world class art museum. However, if the cost of admission is holding your family back from a visit, know that you can pay what you wish and it is perfectly okay.
Some other New York museums that have the pay what you wish policy are the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Residents of Washington, DC are spoiled by easy access to free museums.
Here’s a reason to expand your horizons and travel to Richmond, Virginia.
On September 13th and 14th, 2014, ten historic home museums in Richmond are putting out the welcome mat and offering free admission.
Ten of Richmond’s historic homes and museums will offer visitors a passport to time-travel during a special admission-free weekend on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 and 14, 2014.
Ten participating sites will offer complimentary admission to visitors who show a Time Travelers Passport available for free online.
The ten museums are:
If you manage to max out this offer, it equates to savings of more than $55 per person. Here’s the link for more information.
Some of the highlights include:
Agecroft Hall was first built in England in the 1500s, then transported across the ocean and rebuilt in Richmond in the 1920s. The Tudor mansion is furnished with art and artifacts from 17th century England and there are manicured gardens overlooking the James River.
The John Marshall House, built in 1790 in the fashionable Court End neighborhood of Richmond, was the home of the Chief Justice for forty-five years. Listed on the National and Virginia historic registers, the John Marshall House has undergone remarkably few changes in the last 200 years.
The Poe Museum holds the world’s largest collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s manuscripts, letters, memorabilia and personal belongings. The Poe Museum provides a peek into early nineteenth century Richmond where the author of The Raven lived and worked. One of the structures in the museum’s four-building complex is the 1754 Old Stone House, the oldest residential structure within city limits.
Maymont, a 100-acre estate, was the home of businessman James Dooley and his wife Sallie from 1893 through the 1920s. The Maymont Mansion with 21 restored rooms offers a complete depiction of upstairs-downstairs life in the Gilded Age. The upstairs interiors are adorned with Tiffany stained glass, and frescoed ceilings and filled with original furnishings and artwork. Downstairs service rooms tell the story of household tasks and technology and the challenges of working in domestic service during the Jim Crow era. The surrounding landscape features Italian and Japanese gardens, and a carriage display as well a children’s farm and nature center.
Wilton House Museum overlooks a placid stretch of the James River. It was constructed in the 1750s as the centerpiece of a tobacco plantation by the prominent Randolph Family. An impressive example of 18th-century Georgian Style architecture, Wilton House boasts its original detailed paneling and a collection of fine and decorative arts from the Colonial and early Federal eras.
Did you see the Argo? Now you can meet the spy that inspired the movie at one of three free events sponsored by the International Spy Museum!
International Spy Museum Briefing
Meet the Tony and Jonna Mendez. Both are former CIA Chiefs of Disguise, responsible for changing the identity and appearance of thousands of clandestine operatives around the world.
Tony is most famous for his rescue of American diplomats from Tehran during the Iranian Hostage Crisis as depicted in the award-winning film Argo.
Rendezvous Info
The rendezvous takes place in the book store at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Admission is free, and no pre-registration is required.
There are three dates scheduled:
Every town on the Jersey Shore has a distinct personality.
One summer, we landed in Wildwood because of our interest in neon signs and mid-century architecture.
The thing that attracted us to Wildwood were the dozens of mid-century motels still standing, though sadly, many have been razed to build condos.
There are three distinct towns on the barrier island: North Wildwood, Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest — where the greatest concentration of mid-century modern resorts still operate. The motels, are themed, with Vegas-like neon signs, plastic palm trees, and fantastical architecture.
Doo Wop Motels in Wildwood Crest
In Wildwood Crest, which is the family-oriented southern stretch of beach, you’ll find the Jolly Roger, the Astronaut, the Apollo, the Gondolier, the Safari, the Aztec, the Tangiers, the Viking, and many others.
The architectural style is known as Doo Wop, Googie, or Populuxe. These terms describe the kitschy style of Wildwood’s 200 motels built in the 1950s and 1960s.
Summer vacation is almost upon us, but it’s not too late to think about fun activities for that awkward age: teenagers 14 to 16 years old. They are too old to go to summer camp, and too young to get a job. Or something like that.
Here’s a novel idea for a practically free three-week summer program offered by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
Portraits Alive! is a museum theater program based on people in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
Students create a collaborative museum-theater piece after choosing a portrait from the museum’s collection. Each program participant writes and performs an original vignette to accompany the portrait.
Okay, so my kid wouldn’t be interested in this program in a million years, but maybe you know someone who would! Some of the students are actors, others are writers or have an interest in history. Check out this short video of last year’s performers on You Tube.
The fee for the three-week program is just $100, which defrays the costs for costuming, dry-cleaning, workshops, and supplies. Teens can earn community service hours for their participation.
There are two sessions this year:
The National Portrait Gallery has just extended the application deadline for the program until June 6, 2014. E-mail ProvostG@si.edu to request an application. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance by Monday, June 9 2014.
The National Portrait Gallery is not the stuffy museum you might imagine.
This summer may be your last opportunity to visit the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as it is slated to close in the fall.
The art museum offers free admission every Saturday from now until Labor Day weekend, as part of their free Summer Saturdays program, including gallery tours, workshops, demonstrations, and performances.
Admission is on other days is $10 per adult, $8 per student, and free for children under 12.
Below are a few highlights of the family programs:
Saturday, May 31: Botanical Collages Workshop
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Inspired by Aaron Douglas’ painting Into Bondage, from the Corcoran’s collection, create your own tropical landscape.
Saturday, June 28: Haiku Mistress
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Working with Haiku Mistress Caley Vickerman create haikus inspired by the works in the collection. Share your literary works of art in a collaborative sidewalk chalk display!
Saturday, July 19: The Ultimate Urban Safari
10 a.m.-12 noon
Join us for a wild summer day dedicated to the animal kingdom! Spurred on by the American Metal: The Art of Albert Paley exhibition, discover how creatures big and small can inspire through workshop activities, book readings, and a live performance.
Saturday, August 2: Family Workshop: Animal Maquettes
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Inspired by Albert Paley’s maquettes, families work together to create their own animal displays.
You can find the complete schedule of tours, performances, and activities here: www.corcoran.org/freesummersaturdays.
The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas houses the world’s largest pinball collection, with over 200 vintage games available for play.
The games are from the 1950s to the 1990s, and have been meticously restored and maintained by pinball maven Tim Arnold.
We met with Arnold when we were in Vegas in 2012, and he graciously explained everything that goes into running such an enormous operation.
The Pinball Hall of Fame
There’s no admission charge, and all the older pinballs are set to 25 cents per play, with newer 1990s models set to 50 cents per play.
You and your family can have a lot of fun here for a roll of quarters!
The museum is a nonprofit, and all proceeds go to local charities, such as the Salvation Army.
Arnold says:
I like the Salvation Army a lot because they’re kinda like us. They’re downtown on the cheap side, and they put all their emphasis on the areas that need emphasis, and not a lot on hierarchy and organization.
The Pinball Hall of Fame is located about 2.4 miles east of the strip at: 1610 E Tropicana Ave, Las Vegas, NV. The museum is open every day from 11 am to 11 pm, except Friday and Saturday, when it stays open until midnight.
The Neon Museum Family Activities
Another Las Vegas Institution well worth a visit is the Neon Museum and its boneyard of discarded signs from casinos from days gone by.
Our family greatly enjoyed our visit to the boneyard.
If you are looking for some family friendly activities in Las Vegas, the Neon Museum has expanded its educational programming to include a series of events for kids and families.
Here are a couple of noteworthy events for kids coming up:
Family drop-in events are free and open to the public. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Register by sending an email to education@neonmuseum.org.
Sign Design: Past, Present and Future
On Tuesday, April 22, the Neon Museum will host its next PRISM Times of the Signs event, a panel discussion: “Sign Design: Past, Present and Future.”