To get bored in museums?

[justnotaballetmum]

I have been away with DH and the children for a week and amongst other things we spent some time in museums.

I found it quite boring Don't get me wrong - it wasn't as if I wasn't interested in anything but where I could have moved through an entire section in less than two minutes, DH could spend an age on it, up to fifteen minutes. It meant I was standing around a lot! I tried, genuinely, to 'see what he was seeing' and fervently read every section about every stone but I still couldn't manage it.

So - AIBU to get a bit bored and restless in museums, and AIBU to think I might be a bit of an uneducated fool?

[Somerville]

Hard to say without knowing the museums...?

I LOVE most museums and art galleries but am a philistine about modern art and get, as you put it, bored, restless, and feel like a badly educated fool in them.

[BorpBorpBorp]

YANBU. Going round museums at someone else's pace is excruciating. Maybe next time arrange a meet-up point and time so you can wander off and look at what you want to, or sit on a bench with a book.

[Sparklesilverglitter]

Museums always bore me. I'm 39 and try to be all grown up and like them but I just can't

[user1467101855]

If you wanted to move through an entire section in less than 2 minutes, you obviously weren't really looking at anything at all.
IF you weren't very interested ONE particular museum thats one thing, it suggests it wasn't your thing, but ALL museums? That suggests a lack of interest and an unenquiring mind.

[LaurieFairyCake]

I think when you've got 3 young children there's not a massive amount of space for learning about rocks

I know that I now love museums and read pretty much everything in them (spent an hour reading about Persian carpets in a museum a few weeks ago) as I've got older and want to know everything - when I was younger I was too busy thinking about the next 'thing' to do - lunch/other shit

[justnotaballetmum]

Oh, I'm SO relieved it isn't just me

I'm not very good with art. Loved the animal parts with DD but when DH was standing transfixed in front of ancient Egyptian slates I was just thinking 'coooomme oooonnn!'

[Lweji]

It depends on the museum and the section too.

I think having a meeting point is a good idea.

When I go to museums with other people, we tend to go at different paces, although not too different. But I'd let them go, or go myself, if the pace really is too different.

Actually, why don't you talk to your OH about the pieces? Ask him what he thinks of them. Perhaps you'll start to see what interests him so much.
Communication is always the key. :)

[mouldycheesefan]

Max 2 hours in any museum. Check what they have in advance and just do the bits that interest you or the " highlights". Guided tours are excellent and often free, they make it come alive a bit more we have done some really good ones.

[justnotaballetmum]

user I don't know - I was sort of looking and reading at the same time. I learned some interesting thing but just the same there are some aspects of history and some aspects of nature that interest me and some don't, so much. I am also a fast reader so I was able to quickly glance and take some stuff in.

But I do sometimes think I don't have a very inquiring mind, especially compared to DH.

[ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam]

Depends what the subject matter is. They have museums for so many different things.

[justnotaballetmum]

Lweji I have made that mistake before

NEVER ask DH about ANYTHING he is interested in unless you have four days to spare

[Lweji]

[justnotaballetmum]

Loads of different stuff.

Lots on history - but none on anything I know an awful lot about. Science (which I'm useless at) animals (liked that bit, a lot) art (zoned out during that part to be honest.)

[teacher54321]

Ds, my dad and I all go through museums at a whistlestop pace. DM and DH linger and walk so slowly. Now we just wait for them at the cafe or the outdoor play area. I read quickly and am impatient.

[LBOCS2]

I like museums and galleries but ON MY OWN. Otherwise I get extremely bored too. I spent some of my last maternity leave doing some of the ones I'd missed and it was great, really peaceful and I didn't have to hang around for anyone to read the bits that I found dull!

[LisaMumsnet]

Ah ha, I have been waiting for years to formally diagnose someone with the same affliction I suffer from... Museum Sickness! I virtually grew up in museums and art galleries (we went about once a week) and so I thought I'd have an endless fascination with them as an adult. However, I find that the more museums I have gone to, the less tolerance I have, and that I actually start to feel a bit odd once I've been there for too long (slight nausea, listlessness etc). So, here is the cure...

1. Only go to museums you have an interest in.
   
2. Set a time limit for how long you'll be in there - I find 90 minutes is a good amount of time to aim for. You can always stay on longer if you think it's utterly fab (my 90 minutes in the Prado turned out to be four hours).
   
3. Never go round with anyone unless you have to (you obviously can't abandon young children but if you're with friends or your OH you can just arrange to meet them after 90 minutes at the entrance). I agree with BorpBorpBorp that nothing is as painful as going round at someone else's pace - it's like breathing at someone else's pace.
   
4. Do a bit of research beforehand so you know what highlights to look out for and also feel more engaged/knowledgeable (impress your friends with your wise musings!) when you get there.
   
5. Schedule in a break in the coffee shop and eat plenty of cake. Walking at museum speed is the most tiring kind of walking there is so you do need to get off your feet. Also sit down to read exhibition signs if you can. If the museum allows it carry a shooting chair to sit on!
   
6. Visit the gift shop - I don't know why but these places always make me unreasonably happy!
   
7. Don't visit museums if you don't feel like it - I once had to choose between the Miro Museum in Barcelona and eating tapas. The latter won and I don't regret it for one moment.

[justnotaballetmum]

I feel vindicated now, LisaMumsnet

I love museum gift shops. I think there is a Sophie Kinsella book where the character tries to save money by visiting museums but ends up just spending loads in the gift shop!

[WhatALoadOfOldBollocks]

Surely it depends on the subject matter in the museums? Personally I love the Natural History museum in London, which I've managed to happily spend a few hours in each time I've visited, and the mish-mash that is The Land of Lost Content in Shropshire. But I would be bored ridged at a motor or airplane museum so it's all about what floats our boats isn't it.

[limitedperiodonly]

YANBU unless you are like my husband.

I like spending ages looking at things and reading the descriptions. He is not at all interested but has a tick-box mentality: 'I'm in Florence. This the Uffizi. Tick. Now let's go and look round the shops.'

We like different things. It makes the world go round but when he whined to me: 'But it's just another picture of Jesus' I swear that his world nearly ended. Then I looked at Our Lord's suffering and forgiveness, I think it was a Raphael, and a calmness came upon me. I said: 'Fuck off' and let him live.

We met for lunch later and went to the shops afterwards where I bought some really nice things. We go to Florence a lot but he has learned not plague me in museums, galleries and churches any more.

[hollieberrie]

YANBU. The tea room is always the highlight of any museum visit.
And i have a History degree

[limitedperiodonly]

I find tea rooms and coffee shops a complete waste of time. Whether I want to look at pictures of bleeding martyrs or buy handbags that's what I want to do. I don't want to waste time eating cake.

[Starwarsorbaby]

YANBU at ALL!!! I can do most museums/galleries in 30 mins tops.

[IggyPopsicle]

Don't feel bad. My background is in animal science and conservation, and I still find natural history museums and David Attenborough programmes borrring as fuck.

Give me the Tate Modern or Imperial War Museum any day of the week.

[TheGreatDessert]

The only museum I tolerate is the Science Museum - there are buttons and 3d films. Other than that I have no interest in museums or galleries. I have solved this problem by not going in them. Anywhere.

Thankfully DP is the same. We will be going to the Louvre later this year but I predict we will be in the queue longer than we will be inside. Pop in, have a look at the (remarkably unspectacular) Mona Lisa so he can say he's seen it, leave.

I like well preserved Roman & Egyptian ruins (viewed at a walking pace), natural wonders (caves etc) and wildlife viewing. I could watch animals for hours on end.

[CheeseFan]

I do find the occasional museum interesting, but the most exciting bit for me is always the GIFT SHOP!